Day 63: June 4, 2026
After a rain-delayed start to the day, Will officially set out overland, hauling his heavy 75-pound pack up a stairway of limestone ledges to ascend out of the riverway.
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Yeah, Will here on June 4th, day 63. The weather turned really ugly today. I kind of lulled, kind of lulled through the fine weather that I've had this last week or so. But in the morning it was raining kind of hard, 38 degrees, kind of the worst hypothermic weather, and quite a bit of rain. And then I thought it stopped, and I looked out, it was snowing. And I delayed my takeoff on my first day here. I had a lot of organizing to do, but I really couldn't take off until, I could get everything dried to pack it. But unfortunately, the rain and ... the rain stopped, and then the wind came up a little bit from the north. It's a little cold and cloudy now, the usual weather. From the north.
And, but I did get out at least, left by about 5 o'clock. And my goal was to get towards the top of this small little mountain here. And the pack is super heavy, about 75 pounds. And it's very marginal. It's too heavy. But I have it down as much as I can. I can shave maybe another couple pounds off it. But dealing with this weather, like now, what it is, you have to really be prepared. You can't go skimpy on your clothing. You have to watch everything you bring. I basically, during the day, if it's a cool day, I've got all my clothing on. It's not a type of clothing of fleece and wool like that that can get wet and you can dry it. And I have proper rain gear. And real good, I have a ballistic rain pants that I wear all the time other than pants because it's lighter. So I have protection from the rain. And then I use my real fine down, that 800 down, super lightweight. But if it gets wet, it's not any good at all. It's just nylon if it gets wet. But I have that double waterproofed. And in case you don't fall in a creek or something, I'm not going to get it wet. And I take really good care of that. But I have a little extra fuel, not much, and enough that I could dry things out for a couple hours.
Right now, it's heavy clouds. I'm the most stunning view I've ever camped on. It's just ledges. This is all limestone in this country. And as I ascend it, you can scramble up these hills. You know, there's 30-foot drops and 20-foot drops, ledges. You know, it goes up in, like, benches and steps. You know, typical limestone. It's very beautiful. I'm not used to hiking in limestone. It's not very slippery. And there's little ledges, and then there's terraces, and then more ledges. And the number of waterfalls, very beautiful. Kind of like they fall down stairways. It's higher when you get near, into the tree line. They do go like stairways. When they get down further, they drop about 20 feet at a time. And all I can say is it's just absolutely stunning beauty here. It's really took me by surprise, despite the weather. And I have an incredible view, I can see 10 miles up the river and all around.
I'm waiting for tomorrow morning. I'm hoping maybe it might clear off a little bit. But in this country that I'm in, when I first, four years ago, I was looking for a very remote high place in this region. And that was my prerequisite. I really wanted to get to the heights, to the real remote areas. And that's where I came upon this Horton River country, especially what I'm in right now. And I'm as high now as it is at the divide, the source of the river. I'm back up to 1,500 feet. But I'm much further north again. But the weather is progressing.
I did watch this Arctic, you know, from the Arctic Ocean, this weather try to kind of nudge in here the last three days. And probably took over this morning. And one thing nice about camping and hiking, I guess, is it's so simple. I have just a bare minimum, just the way I like it. Because I have a real small little tent that weighs two pounds. And it's good in a 100-mile-an-hour wind. I got a down bag. I got everything I need here. A little cramped. But I traveled in this same small tent in 2023. I did the Coppermine over the Great Bear over the McKinsey River. About a 500- or 600-mile trip. But I used this super light tent. But very cramped. But I got used to it and that. I just took it and I thought, well, I'll get used to it. And it did take me a while. But in this case, I'm just hiking. I'm only maybe seven, hopefully seven days I can get out of here.
But I'm real curious when I get to the top. And I'm very close to it. The views are going to be just spectacular. Most of my life, I like, one reason I really like climbing is I like the view from the top. I always sought out high-level views. And this is about as pretty as a country I've ever been in. It's so remote here. No one. I haven't seen anyone for 63 days. I won't see anyone until maybe a day or two from Paulatuk.
And so, at any rate, I'm fine. I was really pensive when I started out. I was really concerned. And I'm not true and tested on heavy loads over long distances and rough terrain. And I didn't know how the hips and the legs and everything would hold out. But the ascent here, I did take a lot of breaks. And not I'm one for just going. But I took breaks, I managed to get this far up. Right now and I'm going, probably will be slow for another day or two until I start dropping some more weight. And so, I'll check in tomorrow. And this is Will here, high up in the Horton River country, June 4th, day 63, over.
The elevation contour shading underneath Will’s location tells the story of Day 63, as his northbound route requires him to ascend the limestone ledges that channel the Horton River. Visit Will’s interactive map for complete control of magnification and orientation.
Cliffs framing the frozen Coppermine River on the 2022 solo expedition give an idea of the task ahead of Will in today’s dispatch.