Day 31: May 3, 2026
Will outwaits the dissipating storm to conduct a complete inventory of gear and supplies in preparation for more hauling up the Horton River.
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Will here. May 3rd, 2026. It's day 31, right on the divide there with the Horton River. This is the day after the storm. The storm lifted last, just in the morning, this morning, late, maybe 6 o'clock or so. But it's started settling down a little bit, and the upper layer of clouds—which is a good sign—kind of disappeared. Still, the sun was, you know, hazy. But it was there all day, for most of the day. So I spent the time outside. I waited until around 1 o'clock when the winds were down and the snow quit blowing a little bit. Actually quite pleasant. Still a little bit of a wind chill. The temperature is upper 20s.
And I dug the sleds out. I went through really all the gear. For the first time, I really went through everything. I'm now over the divide. So I wanted to inventory everything that I had. I have a full outfit, you know, for whitewater rafting, which includes the 8-pound alpaca raft, which is an incredible raft in big water. It works well. A couple paddles, life preserver, dry suits, everything that's, you know, involved in whitewater rafting. Boots. I have a full inventory here for what's to come, also for hiking out a pack in case I have to hike out.
But I went through everything. And got everything all cleaned up, you know, brought the snow out of it, and totally got everything. All my food inventoried out. I've got plenty of food. I was, you know, concerned maybe there might be some food missing or whatever. I thought I made a mistake with the almond butter. Almond butter is a very important item for me in the morning with the oatmeal. I do oatmeal, of course, every morning. I do about three ounces of almond butter, which makes that dinner, that meal, a complete real good protein. I get energy. I'm able to maintain, you know, my body weight, I think, through that, too. And I use almond butter for myself. It's a little rough for digestion, but almond ... I tried all the different butters, but the almond butter, for myself, is good energy and that, organic. And I thought I made a mistake of missing ... because I was missing ... I had three pounds of it in the tent, which I used up during the storms. It was a real vital food to keep my energy going. And I thought for some reason I couldn't figure out how did I miss the rest of it? How did it disappear? I knew it was in my gear. You never know on your way up when you're moving and reorganizing back and forth. But then today when I really dug deep, I found the rest of it, which was a huge relief for me. Meat and cheese are the main protein. But to round that off, the almond butter is real essential to maintain your body, your strength, and your body weight in particular so you can keep going day after day. So that was really good, really good news because I thought for some reason that it wasn't packed in.
But everything on my full inventory for the entire expedition, all the small things, I didn't miss anything, which was really great. I mean, it's a meticulous list that I keep from the year before and so forth. So there is an art to packing out, and it's very easy to miss key items and so forth. So I was ... I had inventoried everything and ... Repacking the three sleds: when you're hauling sleds and weight, it's not just weight, it's really the bulk is a big issue. Bulk is hard to pack, and a sled that's not packed right pulls harder. And a pack that's really well lashed and heavyweight in the lower end and the bottom and so forth, pulls much easier. But, you know, and then I have a lot of bulk, like the raft. You know, it goes down to a large-sized stuff stack. But it's still paddles, you know, that collapse apart—all this oddball stuff that's hard, it's really hard to pack. So when I did the day, and it was really kind of fine weather in the later afternoon, I repacked everything for the trip now, and I'm still going to be, have to haul now. But I'm all set, ready to go for tomorrow.
I've had three storms in a row now, two-day storms, and then whiteouts in between about 10 days, 11 days now. I haven't seen the sun. And I've traveled in ... I didn't travel with storms. I could travel these storms maybe, but there's no reason to do it. But I travel in the whiteout in-between conditions, which is pretty normal. But still, you know, you've got to be real careful not to get lost between your loads. But I'm hoping tomorrow—I don't count on anything—but the weather should break here pretty soon. But, again, it could go on for a long time. But spring is coming because there's energy in the sun, and there's not much darkness left anymore. So I'm pretty optimistic. I'm very optimistic. And I'm ready to go now.
I'll talk a little bit more about my strategy on hauling. I'm kind of hoping that it clears up a little bit. I hate to travel in the whiteout. A lot of times you travel through this beautiful country and you never even see it. And especially on the top of the, you know, the very top of the divide, like on the meadowlands right here, it's just the most beautiful area. So hopefully I'll have good weather so I can see what I'm doing. But I am planning to haul tomorrow on a good night of sleep. I just gave up on this air mattress stuff and made my own bed. I just leave it on my clothing and that made a pad that way. And I'll deal with this [...] air mattress. It's difficult. You've get hole in or a leak. It's a real process where you need water, cooking water, to find the leak. And it's tedious, and it takes ... it's a mess, and especially in a small tent in cold weather. I wasn't ... I've been dealing with that thing, waking up and all a few times a night and blowing it up, this whole thing. Finally I said, "The heck with th mattress, I'm just going to go without it." So I'm going to go through it all so... When you go 30 days with tough weather and that, you usually, your reprieve is usually good sleep. And I've been kind of robbed of that, you know, reassurance, security, whatever. But it's just part of an expedition. I mean, things, sometimes they go your way and sometimes there are, you know, all sorts of surprises. But, you know, one thing, one rule in life is change. Everything changes from molecular weight from second to second. But social life and your whole everything is change. And you have to roll with the punches and not try to, you know, push that and go with it. And that's where the expedition, the "explorer's mind," is all, really all about that. Preconceiving, you know, trying to plan your world and the type of stress we always put ourselves under because we're trying to make things happen or expecting or hoping that maybe the good day would be there and if not, you're disappointed. I don't live a life like that. I just take it. I go with the punches.
And, but, the spring is coming, that's for sure. And I have a migration of the, a free flow of migration of the waterfowl in particular coming. So good standings here. It's been, for sure, the most pleasant afternoon I've had. Good sign. And so I'm Will here, over and out. On day 31. On the, let's see, where are we here, on the Horton River Divide.
As the storm cleared, Will stayed put and performed inventory. Visit Will’s interactive map for complete control of magnification and orientation.
“Life is change.” Will has time to be reflective on a day where conditions are better for preparation than travel. This photo was taken on the 2008 Ellesmere Island Expedition.