Another day in Paradise!

We had a comfortable night. It got down to about 30 below, but we were all comfortably ensconced and cozy. Most of us slept in - it was too nice to get out of the sleeping bags! We had a good breakfast of hot porridge and coffee and tea. The cooking tent that Doug brought along is just fabulous - we can sit there comfortably for cooking and eating, nice and warm.

We had a full day. We walked from here about four miles south, down as far as Crozier'sLanding, which is just beyond Victory Point. Victory Point is about two and a half miles south of here, and Crozier's Landing, where the crew supposedly came ashore, is just beyond that. We passed what we think is the cairn called Ross's Cairn, which was put here by James Ross in 1830.

	Lieutenant Hobson and his party from the Fox at Cape Victory on the north-west coast of King William Island, breaking down the cairn containing the last record of the Franklin expedition. Articles thrown aside by the men of Erebus and Terror lie scattered round about.
Relics of the Erebus and Terror brought back by McClintock in the Fox. They include a dipping needle (at right) a pair of snow goggles (left foregrougnd) a gun, medicine-chest, prayer-book, etc. The spears in the background are Eskimo weapons.

The note was found by a man named Hobson who was part of the McLintock expedition of 1859. The note was in a metal cannister lying on the ground beside a large cairn bult by Ross in 1830 - it had obviously been left on top of the cairn and had fallen down. Many other relics were brought back including the medicin chest . I am not sure that the destruction of the cairn happened to the extent shown in the sketch, but it was felt that Ross's cairn was somewhat torn down to look for more notes.

We got down to Crozier's Landing and there was an igloo there!

LOUIE AND DOUG STANDING ON ('STRENGTH TESTING'?) LOUIE AND CAMERON'S IGLOO.

We knew someone was coming up from Calgary, a bookdealer and fellow "Franklinite" named Cameron Treleaven. He was there with his good friend Louie Kamookak from Gjoa Haven. Gjoa Haven is about a hundred miles away, down on the southern coast. The community there had asked them to put up a plaque in honour of the 150th anniversary, so they were doing that. It was nice to see them. We were greeted, went inside the igloo. It looked as if they were very comfortable in there. We're going to build one here at our site in the next day or two as well.

There's a cairn at Crozier's Landing with a plaque on it. There's also a pile of stones that is supposed to be the grave of one of Franklin's men, named Irving. Actually, it would be his former grave, since the bones were collected and taken to England.

We headed back along the shoreline, stopped again at Ross's Cairn and made our way back here. It was along hike, about 5 or 6 hours, and we enjoyed it. Then we had a nice meal of musk-ox steak which Doug had brought along. It was very tasty, as nice as any beef meal that one could experience.

The sun is just getting low. It's about 15 below right now, and it's going to get cold again tonight. No wind. The sun dogs are starting to form again - it must be a nightly event that happens. It's just gorgeous out here. The snow is blue and the sun is yellow and it's just the prettiest sight you'd want to see! We've tried to take pictures, and I've done a sketch.

We're quite comfortable; lots of food and fuel, and we're just fine. (Webmaster's note: Here I commented that this trip sounds "cushier" than any of the trips so far, even though it's only April.) John Harrington replied: Yes, I've certainly been less comfortable on some of our summer trips than on this one. We're having a wonderful time! We'll talk to you tomorrow night.

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