Some wolf tracks found. More investigation warranted.

Mech and Medwid: Yesterday we found four additional musk oxen carcasses with numerous old and new wolf tracks; these were located some 10 to 15 miles from the traditional den. We will try to investigate the area further in the next few days. Two of the carcasses were eaten by wolves and the other two had apparently died of starvation and decomposed and were only recently found by wolves.

Dave Mech examining a dead musk ox for bone fat content; this appears to have been an extremely severe winter, snow remaining in valleys that Dave has not seen in 15 years of research here.

Yesterday morning we awoke to sunny skies and relatively warm temperatures and mosquitoes! But in an hour or so the skies clouded over bringing temperatures down and also doing in the mosquitoes at least for the moment. Arctic foxes continue to visit camp daily and we spotted one fox pup.

The sun has been out all day today. We've seen 5 arctic hares in a hike of 5 miles today. Our vantage points gave us a view of 10 to 20 square miles with no other sightings of wildlife.

No sign of Explorer yet. Hare and Musk Oxen scarce too - wolves may be elsewhere in the thousand square miles considered their territory.

Mech and Medwid: After spending 4 and a half days of searching for wolf track/droppings we have begun to become pessimistic about finding Explorer. We have checked all the usual travel routes along the creek bottoms and other areas and have found only the sign of one wandering wolf that shows signs of not being familiar with the area. For example it passed within 1/8th to 1/4 mile of two intact musk ox carcasses without even checking them, as if it did not know they were there. We believe that if Explorer and her mate had been frequenting this area as they usually do at this time of the year, they would have found the carcasses and fed on them. However their territory covers a thousand square miles or more and maybe they are elsewhere in it. We have not seen any more hares than the one reported earlier, and not many more musk oxen so this may explain the wolves' absence. During this past winter the snow was particular deep and seems to have had a very detrimental effect on the prey. We have now found a total of 5 musk ox carcasses. Two of them were eaten by wolves in fall or winter but the other three died in late winter or spring and are still intact. Samples of the bone marrow fat on two of the three indicate that they starved to death.

This is an especially cold year. Last night almost broke the low temperature record for the day and it snowed in camp last night and this morning. Pockets of last winter's snow remain throughout the area with fresh snow lingering in the higher elevations.

There appears to be a greater than usual number of arctic foxes in the area and one has been a regular visitor to camp.

Despite the colder than normal temperatures the various arctic flowers bloom brightly in widely scattered patches. We discovered an outcropping with petrified wood from trees that lived some 50 million years ago when the climate was vastly warmer. Fossils of marine organisms abound here. Signing off......

Very little wolf sign so far, but still a large area to check.

Mech and Medwid: Fresh snow has covered the nearby mountains. Temperatures are in the low 40's with strong winds producing a windchill that requires us to dress like Minnesota in January.

Very little wolf sign; track of one wolf that appeared to be about a week old; no sign of any at any of the dens we've checked; we still have a large area to check; very few musk oxen or arctic hares seen. It appears that the population of both species are at a 15 year low. We saw polar bear tracks that appeared quite recent-within the last few weeks. We've seen several arctic foxes; red knots at two nests with eggs; lots of long-tailed jaegers; a raven, arctic terns, snow buntings; and ruddy turnstones.

Our camp consists of two tents and spectacular views of the fjord. Rain has been frequent although it appears to be clearing as we write. Despite the feel of winter many plants are in full bloom-willow, dryas, arctic poppy, heather, and purple saxifrage are all adding touches of bright color.

Happy Fourth of July to all!

An empty den, disappointing but not discouraging.

Mech and Medwid- We travelled out to the traditional den this evening and found it unoccupied. Although a big disappointment this does not necessarily mean that the wolves aren't around or they don't have pups; they could have had them elsewhere. We will begin to start searching for them in other places later today. We did see an arctic fox, two other groups of musk oxen from the ground and found the remains of one eaten by wolves this past winter.

Mech and Medwid were able to fly further into the arctic today, near the home of the weather station that is closest to the North Pole. 

Mech and Medwid: Our last night in Resolute brought snow flurries; for dinner we enjoyed musk ox stew-it was great! Musk oxen is an important for food source for the Inuit.

We arrived at our base today; just missing a big snowstorm which has made things quite muddy. En route from Resolute we saw only 22 musk oxen from the air in over a hundred square miles-the number of musk oxen is lower than we had anticipated. The fjord is still frozen in; a polar bear was seen here about two weeks ago. There have been a few wolf sightings in the last few weeks giving us hope that we may see them for ourselves.