We had interesting days working on our vehicles with the windbreak of the abandoned Isachsen weather station. We took breaks by exploring the buildings, but of course leaving everything intact as we found it. We also took a terrific trip a few km away to see a C-47 that crashed in 1949 with all eight on board suffering only minor injuries. A haunting but beautiful icon in the white desert.
Then we got our first real taste of pack ice and open leads. There was a good amount of ice chipping to make a route over the pressure ridges, then we got to an open water lead that we were planning to cross - getting the boat ready - but it opened so much wider and so quickly that we elected to look for another route.