First "hike" around the post

Now that I have endured about all the safety meeting one can, I finally went out to explore. I picked the closest point to my building. Unfortunately a couple wrong turns made it a little longer than it should've been. That said I gazed into the distant tundra ......

That's me.....and in the distance....the frozen tundra.........

That tiny hut in the distance is where I was going. It is Scott's Hut. A brief description from the web:

Scott's Hut is a building located on the north shore of Cape Evans on Ross Island in Antarctica. It was erected in 1911 by the British Antarctic Expedition of 1910–1913 (also known as the Terra Nova Expedition) led by Robert Falcon Scott. In selecting a base of operations for the 1910–1913 Expedition, Scott rejected the notion of re-occupying the hut he had built by McMurdo Sound during the Discovery Expedition of 1901–1904. This first hut was located at Hut Point, 20 km south of Cape Evans. Two factors influenced this decision. One was that the hut was extremely cold for living quarters and the other was that Scott's ship, the Discovery, had been trapped by sea ice at Hut Point, a problem he hoped to avoid by establishing his new base further north.
Some confusion arises because Discovery Hut can correctly be referred to as 'Scott's' Hut, in that his expedition built it, and it was his base ashore during the 1901–1904 expedition. But the title 'Scott's Hut' correctly belongs to the building erected in 1911 at Cape Evans.

So, that's where I'm heading. The original hut. It is in perfect condition along with everything he left. You can only enter it with a guide so that will be another trip.

Anyway because of the extreme cold things are preserved, some forever. This is when all animal lovers and people with generally weak stomachs need to look away. MOM! Look away, just scroll down a little. This is what a 100 year old seal looks like just in case you were always curious....



They are not even sure what is under the seal because they don't want to disturb it. Probably where he hid all his cash. Or....just some tarps or sails. Very cool either way.

Also if you step in the snow it compacts it, right? Then when you walk away and really strong winds blow all the loose snow away, what remains? Raised footprints.....for real....

So next I headed to the top of the hill by the hut to look at a bit of an aerial view. A lot of memorials and crosses here. Probably put here by the safety people.

Got really windy fast! They say that the storms can roll in out of nowhere. Winds where probably 15 to 20 MPH but felt like 50+. Gets cold fast. Kinda freaked me out. Enough for me to call it a day....

...and one more......