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Thomas Orde-Lees

In touch with the Shackleton expedition – literally.

Although I am woefully far behind in processing and sharing images from our trip to the Falklands and South Georgia – over two months ago! – I still dream of those landscapes and the intense history behind them. Today (May 20) is celebrated in South Georgia as Shackleton Day, recognizing this day 107 years ago when Ernest Shackleton and two of his crew (Frank Worsely and Thomas Crean) stumbled into the tiny whaling station of Stromness, on the east side of South Georgia. That was their first contact with civilization since they had left South Georgia 18 months earlier, having failed in their expedition but accomplished one of the most incredible feats of survival and navigation ever recorded. (I’ve written about that story before.) I had the good fortune to walk in Shackleton’s steps during our visit in March, descending into Stromness just as he and Worsely and Crean had done a century earlier. (More on that hike to come later!) But since returning home I’ve had another amazing opportunity to connect with that incredible expedition: to read and to hold the diary of Thomas Orde-Lees, the expedition’s ski expert and storemaster. Read on!

Diary of Thomas Orde-Lees, written during the Shackleton expedition to Antarctica in 1914-16. (Collection of Rauner Library, Dartmouth College)

Mount Cube – Mother’s Day

Today was breezy and a bit chilly, but nonetheless a spectacular spring day. I took the opportunity to head for Mount Cube, one of my favorite nearby/short hikes. The Rivendell trail ascends quickly over the span of two miles, meeting the Appalachian Trail at Mount Cube’s granite summit. From there, there is a broad view spanning the Green Mountains of Vermont and the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and the plains of the Connecticut River valley.

Today, though, the best part of the hike was the way that spring was bursting out all over, with wildflowers blooming small and large all along the trail. Below is a trillium, in a deeply maroon color. For a few more photos, see the gallery.

Dartmouth Pow Wow

An annual event for more than half a century.

Every year at this time – for more than fifty years – Dartmouth hosts a Pow Wow. Native Americans from all over the region, and sometimes beyond, convene in Hanover for a day or two of traditional drumming and dancing. I always enjoy attending, in part for the beautiful nature of the event, with its colorful regalia and impressive drumming, singing and dancing. But also for the deep meaning that is conveyed by the gathering of members of so many Native American nations, coming together to celebrate their heritage, culture, and traditions.

This weekend the weather has been spectacular, warm and sunny with a burst of spring flowers in sight in every direction. A huge crowd gathered on The Green to watch the opening session, which this year included an emotional ceremony in which Dartmouth’s Hood Museum repatriated a headdress to the Gitxaała Nation. Here to receive the headdress, which had long been in the Hood’s collection, was an elderly woman… whose grandfather had made this headdress decades earlier. I was honored to be part of that ceremony.

I’ve collected some of my favorite photos in a gallery. I recognize some of the dancers from 2022 and 2018!

Porcupine

Sometimes it pays to look up.

Now that the snow has mostly disappeared from my little patch of woods – ‘my’ home forest, where I like to ramble in the early mornings when I have the opportunity – it feels like there is less to see. In the the depths of winter I can wade uphill through fluffy drifts of new-fallen snow, or crunch my way through older sun-worn snow, enjoying the fresh air and the opportunity to see (quite literally) the comings and goings of the local wildlife mapped out on the terrain in the form of their footprints through the snow. So today, as I topped the ridge on a warm spring morning, the sky as blue as ever but the leaf-covered ground as bare and brown and boring as it ever can be, I thought to myself that spring is just not nearly as interesting as winter. At least, for an untrained observer like me, not accustomed to ‘reading’ the complex groundscape of leaf and twig, stone and brush. Sure, I’ve noticed the places where the local residents scratch among the leaves in search of last year’s acorns, and I’ve examined piles of scat to discern who may have been through here – or whom they’ve eaten – but it’s much harder to see what’s going on. Then, I looked up.

Winter’s last gasp

It’s not over until it’s over.

You and I both know that the spring equinox arrived last Monday, but the New Hampshire weather seemed not to notice. It snowed yesterday, just a bit, and drizzled this morning. But as I looked out at the morning drizzle and 33º temperatures, I just knew it would be an all-snow event a bit higher up. So I drove to the other corner of Lyme, to those ski trails-that-shall-not-be-named, and stepped out into fresh powder.

Smarts Mountain looms beyond the pristine surface of Cummins Pond, scratched only by the tracks from a pair of early-morning skiers.

South Georgia and the Falklands

Wrapping it all up – with the best photos!

Well, that about wraps it up folks. I’ve just finished blogging about our February-March trip to South Georgia Island and the Falkland Islands. (It’s now mid-June, and I’ve been backdating the posts to keep them in chronological sequence with the trip.) If you’ve landed on this post and want to read the whole story in order, start here.

Jack and David (at center) trying to photograph seabirds.

During the trip I snapped over 10,000 photos and videos. I kept about 2,900, and posted about 400 in the galleries associated with this blog. Four percent – not bad. But I have one final gallery for you: my 40 favorite photographs. Enjoy!

Carcass Island – Falkland Islands

Tea & cakes are a splendid way to end a hike!

[backdated to fit into the sequence of posts about our trip to the Falklands and South Georgia in March 2023.]

Our last stop in the Falkland Islands was on Carcass Island. As Wikipedia notes, its “grim-sounding name comes from the ship HMS Carcass, which surveyed the island in 1766.” Despite the grim name, we visited on a beautiful day and had a lovely hike up the steep and grassy slopes, past a small Gentoo settlement and through sheep pasture, to a rocky summit with broad views of the bay and surrounding islands.

David, and a view of the “Endurance” while on a hike over Carcass Island – Falkland Islands.

Steeple Jason Island – Falkland Islands

The world’s largest breeding colony of black-browed albatross.

The sun was still low as we pulled into a beautiful harbor between the two halves of Steeple Jason Island and shuttled ashore in Zodiacs. As we climbed into the grassland above the beach, passing a small colony of Gentoo penguins, we followed our long shadows around to the western shore of the island – home of the world’s largest breeding colony of black-browed albatross. (Indeed, over 70% of the world’s population breeds in the Falkland Islands!)

Jack hiking on Steeple Jason Island – Falkland Islands.

It was a spectacular experience – spending the morning with tens of thousands of albatross chicks, with adults occasionally swooping in from their days-long fishing expeditions to find and feed their youngsters… all while Caracara birds kept a watchful eye out for any opportunity to make a meal out of an unwary or unprotected chick. Read on! and check out the gallery of photos and videos.

Saunders Island – Falkland Islands

History, farming, wildlife, and more!

We arrived back in the Falkland Islands after two full days at sea; this time, we aimed to visit some of the smaller islands on the western side. (We had intended to make these visits on our outbound trip, but an incoming storm convinced the captain to head early to South Georgia and pick up the Falklands on the way back; good call!)

Albatross chicks at an Albatross rookery – Saunders Island, Falkland Islands.

We spent today on Saunders Island, site of the original 1765 settlement, a garrison established by the British Navy. We spent the morning visiting an active sheep farm, and the afternoon visiting a cliffside rookery for albatross and rockhopper penguins. Read on! and check out the gallery of photos and videos.

South Georgia – whales

Incredible encounters with whales, off the shores of South Georgia.

As we departed South Georgia on 9 March for the long journey (two and a half days at sea) back to the Falkland Islands, we settled in for a post-lunch lecture on whales by one of the naturalists in the expedition crew. Not long after he had begun to describe the various types of whales, and the history of whaling and whale conservation, a guest near the windows shouted “whale ho!” The lecture was quickly paused and soon we were all out on deck to view and photograph the largest mammals on earth: Blue Whales. And this was just the start! Read on and check out the gallery of photos and videos.