Entering the Forbidden Zone

Yesterday I ticked off another McMurdo tourist spot, Discovery Hut. This was the first hut used by Scott on his expeditions to Antarctica, and it still holds supplies from those original missions!

When you enter the hut, you're greeted by the slightly stale straw scent that I associate with my grandparents' barn. This was fodder for the ill-fated ponies that accompanied Scott. The guide mentioned that some of the building's outer corners have teeth marks from where the ponies tried nibbling on the wooden posts.

Further in you'll find seal and penguin carcasses along with lots of boxes and tins in surprisingly good condition for having been left here over a century ago.

I've posted pictures before of the seal carcass outside the hut, but I learned a bit more of its story during the tour. This poor seal crawled up and took shelter next to the hut before it died. It's been here so long that it's now considered a protected Antarctic Heritage artifact!