A Trip to Cape Evans

A few days ago I heard that there was going to be a group of people going out to a place called Cape Evans.  Cape Evans is a historic area here in Antarctica, where early explorers built a shelter on their route to the south pole nearly 100 years ago.  So anyways, I checked into it, and I was able to get the last slot on the list to join the tour.  We headed out this morning at 11:00am and boarded the "Delta", which is basically McMurdo's version of a bus (even though it is more like a monster truck than a bus). 

It took apporximately an hour and half to drive out accross the frozen Ross Sea and arrive at Cape Evans.  Along the way we were able to get out a couple of times and take some pictures of the area, and we also saw a few seals along the way.  The hut at Cape Evans is awesome! It is a very interesting place in that it has remained completely untouched for 100 years.  Everything in the shelter is exactly how it was left in the early 1900s when the expedition was called off and the starving explorers dropped everything and just fled the area.  All the shelves are stocked with food and supplies, there are pictures and tools all over the walls, and there is even a frozen penguin laying on the table that they were prepping for food, completely preserved because it is so cold.  There is also a stable area where the horses and dogs were kept, and in the last stall there is a dog chained to the fence, well the remains of what was once a dog that is.  A complete skeleton with the leash and colar still around its neck!

After we looked all around the hut and surrounding area we loaded back onto the delta and started back, but on the way we were able to stop at a huge Ice Burg, which was by far the coolest thing I have seen since I have been here!  This thing is the size of a small mountain, and two thirds of it are still under water.  We got out and it took about a half hour to walk all the way around this thing.  I tried to take some pictures, but the camera does not do it justice.  The color of blue on this thing is undescribable, almost like it is glowing, but unfortunately my camera just doesnt pick it up very well. 

The whole trip took 6 hours and I just got back a little while ago.  Today was by far my favorite day since I have been here.  Truely sights that you could only see in Antarctica, and the type of things you think of when someone talks about the South Pole or the Arctic, etc.  Never in my life would I have thought that I would have seen something like the glacier I saw today.