Route

Annapolis - New York - Burlington VT - Sept Isles - Wabush - Kuujjuaq - Iqaluit - Broughton Isl (via Pangnirtung Pass) - Pond Inlet (via East Coast of Baffin Island) - Resolute - Ellef Ringness Island (N78 W103) - Cambridge Bay - Baker Lake - Churchill - Pickle Lake - Duluth - Madison WI, - Annapolis

12 Days

6,000+ nmi

68 hrs

603.4 US Gal

N134MA

2001 American Champion Aircraft 8GCBC / BL8

Lycoming O-360 C1G (180 hp)

70 US Gal Fuel Tanks

8.7 GPH @ 2000 RPM / 24"

9.2 GPH @ 2400 RPM / 24"

Garmin GNS 430 IFR-GPS

Day 2

After stopping at Teterboro for weather and seeing a show on Broadway, we flew down the Hudson River VFR corridor before leaving for Burlington VT.

Day 4

Iqaluit

Wabush to Kuujjuaq and finally Iqaluit. The only high anxiety was the trip when we had to fly IFR over the Hudson Strait. Bert Rose and Jeff Mahoney (Air Nunavut) were great help getting us ready for the trip.

Day 5

Over Pangnirtung and through the spectacular Akshayuk Pass. This leg alone would have made the trip.

It was as great as Paul Nopper, legend Bill Morris and USNA Prof. Dave Rogers had told us it would be.

Qikiqtarjuaq (Broughton Island)

We decided to stay in Qikiqtarjuaq when ice fog threatened Clyde River and Pond Inlet.

Day 5

Qikiqtarjuaq

Day 5

Qikiqtarjuaq

Seal skins.

Day 6

Baffin Island's Eastern Shore

Day 6

Baffin Island - 425 nmi of spectacular fjords, glaciers, ice caps, moraines.

Day 6

Pond Inlet

Day 7

Resolute

A perfect weather day to attempt the 544 nmi / 5.5 hr trip to the land closest to the Magnetic North Pole, the Isachsen automated weather station on Ellef Ringness Island.

At Resolute, South Camp Inn owner, Ossie Kheraj, checked our weather and made sure we had everything we needed (gas) to get to Isachsen.

Day 7

Dome Bay

Ellef Ringness Island

1994 Site of Magnetic North Pole

Day 7

The WAC chart showing the course for the Isachsen Weather Station and the 1994 location of the Magnetic North Pole. The last time the Canadians measured in 2001 the pole has moved 180 nmi. to the north-northwest.

Day 8

Resolute

After a good night's sleep we were ready to start home the next day. The weather had been so good coming up that we decided to go home down the western shore of Hudson Bay

Day 9

Long time Baker Lake resident, pilot and school teacher, Orin Durey, shows us the teeth and claw marks a polar bear left on his Maule.

Day 9

A heard of caribou along the Maguse River. We saw a bunch of Beluga Whales north of Churchill but no polar bears or musk ox.

Day 9

After stopping for gas at Churchill we threaded our way through rain shower towards Pickle Lake.

Day 10

Stopping at Customs in Duluth we headed for Madison Wisconsin to visit friends and our alma mater.

Day 12

The final day to Annapolis. It has been a long time since the Blue Ridge Mountains saw the kind of ice that was on Baffin Island.

Day 12

Joanne met us at the airport. Here she asks how many changes of clothes we had taken. John said that clean underwear was over rated and we needed the weight for fuel.

TOTALS