Hut Point Hike

So I took another hike on my day off this past week. The 24 on and 24 off schedule down here is pretty awesome like that. It really gives a decent amount of freedom. Like I said before, I am looking at completing the entire trail system here, so I took another small hike. The Hut point loop basically starts in town and wraps across the coast of McMurdo, on the opposite side from Scott Base. When the sea ice melts, the ice breaker will approach this side of the island and dock at the Ice Pier. I went on the hike with a couple of other people from the Fire Department down here. The Hike was roughly 5 miles long, it went around Discovery Hut Point, then up across one of the ridges, and then back down into town via the access road from the White/Gray Domes.

Discovery Hut, is another landmark down here at Ross Island. It was a hut that our very good friend Robert Scott. He built it for his Antarctic/South Pole expedition. The Hut is locked, but tours are often given of the hut. Unfortunately I am going to be on duty when the next tour will be given...I'll get to see it eventually. It is not like I have anywhere else to go down here. The story behind the hut, was that Scott built it for a crew that he was going to have Winter down here on Ross Island. He picked this spot because it was the easiest to navigate a ship through, and the ice wasn't that thick. The construction of the hut makes it seem more tropical than arctic. It was said that this major design flaw is why the hut was never really used to house men. Instead, Scott's men spent the winter on the boat in the harbor. The hut was used by Scott though as a supply depot of sorts. Hopefully I will get some photo's from the inside of the structure at a later date.

The weather for the hike wasn't too bad, but it was very cold and windy. My recent hair cut doesn't really help in keeping in the heat. While I was hiking, I took off my hat and had the most bizarre experience. I'm sure everyone is has had the sensation of brain freeze at one point in their life. But, if you haven't, stop reading this blog; buy yourself your favorite ice cream, and eat it as fast as you can. That is the feeling of brain freeze. So back to the hike; I took off my hat and the cold wind essential gave me brain freeze. It was crazy to feel it work from the outside in, rather than in the other direction that one gets when they eat ice cream. I quickly put the hat back on before the pain of the brain freeze took its toll. But it was quite a strange feeling. There are a couple stops on the ridges that offer some great photos. The photo at the beginning of this entry is from the highest point at the ridge.
On the hike, I came across another memorial. The statue of Mary is dedicated to a US Navy officer who died when the US gov't first started building the Navy base down here. For those of you who are just joining us, McMurdo was mostly a navy facility until they gave it to the National Science Foundation in the mid 90's. The NSF now calls all of the shots down here. It is really bizarre to see all these man made monuments down here, because one does not usually associate Antarctica with monuments. I mean, beyond typical base buildings, the horizon is essentially void of all human structures. This effectively makes the ones that you see seem more significant, I think

One of the most interesting features of this island is the terrain. I find that this shot really illustrates this point. The black rocks make the surface seem almost extraterrestrial rather than volcanic. For some reason, I imagine that the surface of the moon is very similar to the terrain that I found on this hike.
The Ross Trail System here is wicked cool. Thus far, I have loved every one of my hikes that I have been on. I'm going to try to hit them all up before January, if my schedule can permit. We'll I don't have anything else really to cover. So I will talk to you guys later.