Turning around at Washington Bay

We’ve made the call to turn around at Washington Bay. For those following along you probably noticed by the tracker. We’ve been religiously following the Windy app (which is uncannily accurate) and the long range forecast is for high winds and many stormbound days here on King William Island. This forecast makes it clear to us, that we don’t have enough food, fuel, or paddling days for a full circumnavigation of the island. It isn’t happening on this trip. And honestly, that’s fine.

The goal of the journey was never just to circle an island. We came here to explore the Franklin mystery, and if we were lucky, to find something. Well, with the assistance of a local hunter, we did find something. Something very important, indeed. It’s ironic but the very storms that pinned us on shore for days are the reason we were made privy to this find. Reality is that if the weather had cooperated and we’d been able to push straight through, we’d have paddled right past it and found nothing.

That’s the nature of a trip like this. It isn’t a physical test where the clock and the mileage are the measure of success. That’s tough for us though because we’re all athletes who thrive on faster, farther. But this is exploration and exploration means staying open to what the land and the weather hand you, even when it upends the plan. You have to expect the unexpected, and be flexible enough to let the unexpected be the point.

So we’re turning around at Washington Bay with a lighter kilometre count than we’d hoped for, and a discovery we couldn’t have planned for. I’ll take that trade every time.

More soon,

Kevin