jay | headed southward

Yesterday I packed... the rain stopped, so my tent was mostly dry by the time I took it down. Already, the main camp facilities were going down -- kitchen being shut down, heaters removed, etc. My workspace was filled with lumber (to brace the sides against winter snow drifts).

Arriving here in Resolute... I waited a long time, first for laundry, then a shower (no hot water). At least we had hot water on Devon...

This morning, I went over to Polar Shelf and took care of cargo shipments... the gravity meter back to Toronto, my two duffels back to California. Shipping southward costs 4x the cost of shipping up here (grumble).

I'll be leaving for the airport in an hour, headed to Cambridge Bay, Yellowknife and finally Edmonton.

After the minivan and my 5.0 Mustang at home, the vehicle I drive the most is "my" ATV... actually, a NASA project-purchased vehicle that I then shipped up to Haughton Crater three years ago. It has NASA US Government plates -- is actually part of the Ames motor pool ;-). When I'm in camp, myself or any other NASA employee present get exclusive use of it... very handy. It has gotten me into and away from some tight spots.

Yesterday and today, camp is being broken -- there's John Schutt (of Antarctic meteorite fame) removing the heater chimney from the communications tent.

A last glimpse out of the door of the Twin Otter, just before leaving Devon Island and HMP-04...

Note the numerous parallel finger-like valleys... snow and runoff shape these in a "V" rather than the typical "U"... an analog to similar parallel V-valleys found on Mars. There's also a lot of retained snow this year, it has been unusually cold and wet.