This morning I woke up at 3:50am and looked out the window to see a beautiful sky over Mount Hodges. It also had a light dusting of snow from overnight.

Today Tommy, Katie and I did a 10km + circuit from base up to Gull Lake and then to Pinnacle Pass. It is quite a steep slope and there are still a few small snow banks. From Pinnacle Pass you can see down Cumberland Bay west to the glacier which has retreated dramatically over the last 15 years. The valley that you then descend into from Pinnacle Pass is Spaghnum Valley. We didn’t descent the whole way instead we traveresed around the base of an unnamed mountain to the bottom of Echo Pass as Tommy had seen a waterfall when we last hiked to Echo that he wanted to stop at. Unfortunately with no more snow melting the waterfall has dried up. So instead we finished the circuit back to base by coming back into Junction Valley from Echo Pass. For only a short period it got a little chilly otherwise it was a stunning sunny South Georgia day.

There has been a blond male juvenile fur seal along the track the last few days. These two have climbed quite high in the tussock above the track which is a little disconcerting as we are used to looking for them along the sides of the track especially the water side not up high on the other side of the track.

After getting back to base it was time for a drink on the veranda watching the King penguins and then I moved ‘house’ as there was a room available on the water side of base so I have taken ownership of that for the rest of my time here. A little more sorting to do and I will be fully moved in with a beautiful view from my window across Cumberland Bay East to the Greene and Barff Peninsulas.