ARCTIC CIRCLE TRAIL_2014
DAY 8: INNAJUATTOQ TO NERUMAQ
We woke up around 6:30-7am as the fog was lifting over the lake. We both slept very well last night and felt rested. Jie took some photos outside while Fan made breakfast. The oatmeal with milk and tea was comforting because it was cold outside (around 40s F) and chilly inside the hut too. The two Danes slept in later but we said goodbye to them before heading out at 8:30am.
The morning hike started with an easy walk around the lake and up a wide saddle toward a tall ridge with great views of the direction from which we had come, including the lake and the hut. It was mostly cloudy with brief periods of sun. This was followed by a rocky plateau with several small lakes next to a hanging valley. We passed Debra and Dominic’s campsite around 10:30am; they appeared to be sleeping in very late. The weather grew colder as the morning wore on, with stronger winds and dark clouds. We even had to put on our hats and gloves for a while. We took a couple of snack breaks with the usual bars, jerky, nuts, and trail mix.
In the early afternoon we passed an older German (?) couple going in the opposite direction. They also reported seeing fish near the Nerumaq hut. We encountered two reindeer at fairly close range, one adult and one baby, and three more in the distance. A small river meandered along velvety green patches of bog in the valley floor. It began to rain lightly as we finally rounded the valley corner and after some interesting looking boulder problems eventually arrived at Nerumaq hut at 2:30pm. (Previous hikers wrote in the guest log of climbing the boulders for fun.)
The two Hamburg hikers we first met at the Canoe Center were just leaving the hut as we arrived. They planned to camp farther down the valley. The Nerumaq hut is designed identically to Ikkatooq but painted white inside, which made it appear spacious and well-lit. However, there were a lot of mosquitoes on the windows. We had the hut to ourselves for a while before Dominic and Debra stopped by for a break and to cook their late lunch away from the rain. We chatted a bit about our lives. Dominic is an environmental scientist who works with contaminated waste sites. Debra is a civil engineer with the Swiss Transportation Department. Both are in their late-20s. Our mouths watered as they described to us the luxurious meals they have been cooking on the trail: pancakes with freshly picked arctic blueberries, hot noodle soups, crackers, butter, honey, fresh garlic, onions, etc. But they also carried much heavier packs than us, including a big stove with a lot of fuel.
Although it was still raining lightly, Fan decided to fish in the wide pool of water just upstream from the hut, where the main trail crosses the river. Using a #3 Mepps Algia spinner, he caught one arctic char after ten minutes, about 16 inches long, only to have it get away at the shore. Five to ten minutes later he landed the next one, which was about 14 inches. Both of them were brown with a deep orange hue and spots. Fan took the fish back to the hut to show the others before killing it with a rock to the head. We convinced Dominic and Debra to stay around for a bit longer to eat the fish with us. Fan went back to the river with Dominic and soon caught another char, about 16 inches, that was full of roe. Fan gutted and filleted the two fish by the river and Jie buried the bones and guts. Debra used her pan to fry the fillets inside the hut with butter, fresh garlic, salt, and a blended seasoning mix. Everyone split the portions evenly. The fish tasted heavenly, and D&D appeared happy to stay longer than they had originally planned.
After sharing some of their chocolate with us, D&D left around 6pm to hike farther down the valley to camp. We made our originally planned dinner: BP Jamaican jerk style chicken with rice, BP veggie medley, and pork floss. The fish alone wasn’t enough food, but this second dinner was satisfying and filling. Fan filtered more water. We put out our sleeping pads on the hard bunk beds and with the hut all to ourselves, went to bed around 8:45-9pm. As of this evening, day 8 on the ACT, we have met 19 other hikers on the ACT.
Daily totals: 10 miles, 6 hours.