Day 15: April 17, 2026
Will is "really mellowed out" and enjoying a stretch of stable cold weather with low wind as he navigates the high-altitude (for the Arctic) headwaters of the Haldane River.
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Hello, Will here. April 17th, 2026, Day 15, Haldane River, the Headwaters. It was a really beautiful day today. It got as high as minus 5. It's been clear and without much wind. And it's quite a luxury actually traveling in these conditions. You don't have any problems with visibility. A lot of times here in storms, you can't see more than 100 yards, especially when you're relaying. I can relay way ahead without any problem of losing ... with my cache out in the distance and that. But it's just ... for traveling, an all-around beautiful experience here.
The terrain has changed quite a bit this day. It was before ... the last couple of days, a small river, you know, little gorges and that and beautiful profiles like that. But today it was all like, pretty much like what Saskatchewan looks like, rolling hills, small rolling hills. But everything is white here. The river is very small. You wouldn't even know there's a river in between the gullies here. You'd probably miss it. But there is one. I mean it's, of course, frozen right now. And we're getting into a little bit more topography tomorrow. A gain, of about, I think, about 150 feet. I'm at about 1,250 feet now, which is high, as I mentioned before, high for the Arctic. That's why I'm having the cold weather right now. But also, I think it's ... we had, up here at least, an unusually cold winter and late winter especially. So that may be hanging on.
During the day, you know, I'm totally warm. I was down to about three layers here today. And I was overheating a little bit. There's an intensity to the sun. So there's warmth, you know, when you look at it. But it really drops off once it's on the horizon. It just drops down another 20 degrees, like 25 below in several hours. What I do with my time, I'm always observing. Another red fox tracked across my trail, not far at all from me and looking at me. It wasn't quite as tame as the other one I met about five days ago. Still, he was curious. But it was on a mission heading somewhere in a certain direction. So, man, they're out hunting grouse. And rabbits are the main food right now. Grouse is like a, or a ptarmigan, I mean. Ptarmigan is like an Arctic version of a grouse. They turn white in the season and then turn brown during the summer season.
And then there's these incredible patterns in the snow drifts from the high winds, all sorts of different silhouettes that catch the sun, especially when the sun is lower. It's quite stunning. Crossed two little lakes, one two miles long by not that wide. Another one like a teardrop lake, about a mile and a half. And those had very good-sized drifts that were a little hard to negotiate and pretty exhausting, you know, pulling up and down them. But it looked like a frozen ocean, like the waves had just totally froze. And then put up the usual camp. It's pleasant in the evening before the sun goes down to put up the tent. There's a lot of chores you have to do. You don't just go pop in and, you know, get ready for bed. You've got to dry your clothing the best you can. Preparing dinner and water. There's a real involved getting sleeping bags ready and, you know, just a lot of formality. Not formality, but in order to stay warm.
Yeah, and I'm pretty much busy from the time I wake up. I do the morning chores and the cooking is like melting a lot of water for the day. And that's the time when I write. I write about 45 minutes. That's my general time off. But other than the writing, you know, while I'm doing the chores, I'm busy all day long. I take some breaks. It's very peaceful, very good for the mind. I don't have much, any dreams now like I used to, chaotic dreams the first week or so. And I just kind of really mellowed out here.
It is with this air mattress—I mentioned that it leaks. It's the only problem here. Someday, probably next week, I'm going to take a day off to try to figure out the leak. You know, you put soapy water over the whole thing. It's kind of involved and kind of a miserable job when it's below zero weather. So I'm waiting for it to grow ... warm up, maybe 10 degrees someday. And I'll take some time and go over. It does feel good when you find the hole, the little hole. It's kind of a pain of air mattresses. And I have a small little repair kit, too. I take very good care of it, though. You never, you're never sleeping on gravel or you do that when you're in for some hard nights of sleep. I take, you know, supreme ... pack it away in real delicate, making sure there isn't any fork or knife around. And just take good care of it. And it hopefully will change. It will change my life quite a bit here if I didn't have to wake up and blow it up. Once you're sealed into a sleeping bag, you know, it's not easy to get out. You have to unzip and pull cords. And then it lets all the cold air in. And then by the time you crawl back in, you've got to do it, you know, do all the zippers. And now it's dark. And, you know, driving with a headlight doesn't work. But that's part of the Zen experience. But I'm pretty much all present all the time. It's, you know, I'm making good progress towards the headwaters right now. That will be a huge relief when I make it to the Horton. That will be a milestone for me. And I'm not too far away from that now. So, anyways, this is Will here, April 17th. I think I have about five days going with this really good weather. It just continues. The cold weather stays on, which is not that much of a problem. It's going to be nice once it warms up a little bit. And so, Will here, over and out, day 15, April 17th, 2026. Over and out.
Will’s location at the end of Day 15. Visit Will’s interactive map for complete control of magnification and orientation.
Ptarmigan: A hardy grouse of barren ground in the high Arctic, well adapted to harsh surroundings. Camouflaged by white winter plumage and mottled brown summer plumage.
This image was taken on Will’s 2008 Ellesmere Island Expedition.