Hikes

As the weather gets warmer down here more hiking trails are opened up for members of the local communities to use.  Having hiked only up Ob Hill so far (unless you count my stroll along the pressure ridges) I decided I needed to get out a bit more.

A nice length walk around the coast to the West of McMurdo (Ob Hill being just to the East) got me off to a good start.  The ground here is still loose like Ob Hill, though not quite as treacherous.  But the best part was views over the sea ice - away from McMurdo and with views of neither town, LDB or Scott Base for the first time since the ice caves (when I wasn't sick of them anyway).

I've also been cross country skiing a few times, mostly around the balloon pad which isn't exactly a great distance but still leaves muscles aching.

On Thursday, to keep up the good exercise routine I joined Andres and Abby in walking all the way back to Scott Base from work.  It's about 8 miles and was pretty refreshing.  The view across the ice shelf, even towards Ross Island, just didn't change for the first hour, which was actually quite calming.

But it turns out that drinks are cheaper at Scott Base than McMurdo.  The walk home was interesting ....!