[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Chubb Crater - Part 11 of 12

The National Geographic Magazine, Vol. C1, No.1, January, 1952
Solving the Riddle of Chubb Crater
By V. Ben Meen - Director, Royal Ontario Museum of Geology and
Mineralogy


Craterland Hostile to the End

As good as home, we thought. Or almost as good.
But we reckoned without this hostile land. It evidently was determined
to extort a last full measure of toil, sweat, and irritation before
letting us go.
A high north wind was blowing as the amphibian came in. Off our campsite
the lake was so rough that the pilot dared not venture too close inshore
for fear of holing his hull on the rocks. He anchored some distance out.
Our canoes would have been swamped if we had attempted to ferry all our
gear out that far, battling extremely choppy water and the wind.
Captain Allard sought a more sheltered spot. Irony of ironies, he found
one in a cove close to the original campsite we had quit 10 days before
because it was so windy.
All day the six of us, reinforced by Captain Allard and one of his crew,
portaged our equipment two miles over the boulders in trip after trip to
the protected beach from which it was ferried out to the flying boat.
The weather record for the past week, fog, rain, snow, sleet, was so bad
that the pilot and I agreed we must take off by evening and head south.
To speed departure, some equipment was abandoned in a cache on the
shore.
At 6 p.m. the last bag came aboard. Quickly the canoes were hauled in
and disassembled. The engines roared, the Canso climbed up off Museum
Lake, banked gracefully, and pointed its nose south.
Our thoughts were already on the comforts of civilization to which we
were returning, but our eyes were held by the stark beauty of Chubb
until it was lost in the retreating wastelands. Monarch of all the known
meteorite craters in the world, it had given us a bad time until almost
the end. All agreed, however, that its challenge was more than worthy of
the expedition's best efforts.

Best wishes,

Bernd

----------
Archives located at:
http://www.meteoritecentral.com/list_best.html

For help, FAQ's and sub. info. visit:
http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing_list.html
----------