The ship anchored off the low gravel island and we went ashore by zodiac and formed groups for either the long, medium or short hikes. Each is led by an armed Lindblad/National Geographic naturalist who is an expert in natural history. Stefan, the Swede has been doing this for 11 years. He has the most polar bear experience & seems to know how they think. Richard, the Brit is a birder thru & thru & seems to be able to identify everything. Kenneth, the Norwegian was a trapper here & knows every plant and Ian, the Welchman could be an actor or a poet as he can create a fascinating story from a single rock or bone.
The island is also a walrus haul out so we carefully walked around a large "pile" of grunting, scratching bulls. A quarter of a mile along a spit of land there was the remains of a walrus that had been thoroughly scavenged by various predators. Nonetheless, the skin, bones & skull each told their own detailed story as skillfully described by Ian.
As we returned to the main island we were "shadowed" by 5 walruses in the water. The 4 adolescents dove & snorted while the more senior representative rose up several feet out of the water to check us out. As they were only 20 feet away, we got to see them "up close & personal". Impressive.
The rest of the hike was focused on birds & flowers in the boggy inland area. Since the soil if frozen just under the surface, the melting snow does not sink in & creates ponds, puddles and, in some areas, "boot-sucking" mud. A 3-hour walk might not cover much ground but it is a lot of work. After being in the 40-degree wind, the sauna felt really good.
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