Last excursion!

 There were two opportunities to get off the ship on the last day.  We opted out of the first one, but got all geared up and went for the second excursion. We were promised fairly easy walking on beach and tundra, or there was an option to climb higher for a more expansive view.  And there would be a surprise at the end of the walk.

Walking on sand in rubber boots isn't totally easy.  Walking on shingle (rocks) isn't much better, and, well, tundra is its own challenge. It looks fairly flat from a distance, but it's made up of clumps of vegetation and is rather like walking on a lumpy mattress. You're never quite sure how far your foot is going to sink into whatever you're stepping on.

Tundra

Tundra close-up, with Polar Willow

Polar Willow

Yes, it's like an inch high, but the stems are woody and even show rings.

Cottongrass?

I "think" this is mostly Scurvy-grass.  Sailors found that eating it prevented scurvy.

Also a bit of Polar Willow at lower right.

We actually already knew what the "surprise" was, because we had stopped at the same location on the first part of the cruise.  There was a waterfall. A muddy waterfall, but still. If we had climbed the hill, we could have seen the top of the waterfall, plus the nearby glacier.  As it was, we needed to cross the VERY muddy stream in order to get far enough up the canyon to actually see most of the waterfall.  

The challenge here was that the stream was so muddy, you had no idea at all as to how deep it might be in various places.  We were happy to have brought our hiking poles, so we could check the depth before stepping forward. It was never more than a foot deep, but sometimes there was a 6" drop into a 12" hole, which we managed to avoid.

Polar Cress?

Arctic Mouse-ear

The muddy stream

More challenging terrain

A wee sprig of Mountain Sorrel

One of our "perimeter guards", watching for Polar Bears

There had been reindeer on the beach!

On the way back, we walked farther down the stream to where it was flatter and more braided, for an easier crossing.  Once back to the beach, everyone waded into the surf with brushes to scrub as much mud as possible off our boots and pant legs before returning to the ship.

Once back aboard, we found that Lars no longer had his cochlear device!  We hoped that maybe he hadn't worn it, and it would be in our cabin, but no luck searching. We weren't looking forward to the long trip home with his hearing more compromised than normal, but luckily someone found it on the beach, and we got it back JUST as we were leaving the ship the next day!