A Year of Hiking, Week 5: Ob Hill Loop

McMURDO STATION, ANTARCTICA

Black and white and gray is all that the world has on offer today. The usual variations in the color of the rock, illuminated in the sun, are muted today by the overcast skies, and so instead, the hills appear coal black, tumbling down to the frozen white sea below. Open pools of water are grey and glassy. On the back side of Ob Hill, the wind drops off suddenly and the whole world is still. I stop for a moment and spot a single Emperor Penguin, nestled just below a small ridge in the snow so that only his head peaks out about the hill. The only sound is the watery breath of a seal in the pool below. I can’t spot the owner of the gasps, but assume it is a Weddell clinging close to the ice edge. A tiny iceberg bobs in the otherwise open pool. I walk on a bit, and as hut point comes into view, I look back over my shoulder to catch a glimpse of a single Minke whale grazing the surface. I had heard there had been some whale spottings, but hadn’t expected to see any in today’s flat white light. The lowhanging clouds obliterate both the mountains across the sound, and the airfield out on the sea ice. I am thankful for the silence, for the complete lack of any sign of a human being except the trail blazed in front of me.  

Grey skies

A lone Emperor peeks up over a ridge.