ARCTIC CIRCLE TRAIL_2014
DAY 9: NERUMAQ TO KANGERLUARSUK TULLEQ
We woke up around 6:30am. Neither of us slept very well because our sleeping pads made loud crunching sounds whenever we moved. Fan made breakfast inside the hut: MH scrambled eggs with ham and peppers, BP beef stroganoff (we had an extra dinner entree), tea, powdered milk (tempting fate with Fan’s stomach), and pork floss. Packed up and left around 8am. It was chilly with low-hanging clouds.
Within the first hour we passed two dark green tents, one likely belonging to Dominic and Debra and the other to the hikers from Hamburg. Fan spotted more arctic char in a calm pool of water next to the river, but we didn’t have time to fish because it was still early in the day. We walked through some very dense and tall shrubs/trees in the morning (at almost two meters in height, they were the tallest “trees” we saw in Greenland) and repeatedly encountered boggy terrain that swallowed up the trail. We twice forded a rapid and icy cold river. Mosquitoes were quite annoying for most of the day. Jie made good use of her bug net. Fan wished he hadn’t lost his, but luckily he was bitten above the neck only once. (Each of us was bitten a few times around the ankles after fording the river twice.)
Predictably, Fan’s stomach felt bad from all the powdered milk he had in the morning, similar to Day 3. But he felt better after a couple bathroom breaks in the morning. We passed a couple of hikers from the UK (father and son?) going in the opposite direction and chatted with them briefly. We chose the alternate route closer to the river (marked green in the guide book), which turned out to be boggy. Our waterproof boots and gaiters worked well to keep our feet dry. The low hanging clouds hung overhead as the afternoon worn on, showering us with a fine mist throughout the day. Fan repeatedly put on and took off his rain pants to stay comfortable and dry.
We eventually arrived at a medium-sized lake in the early afternoon. The wind picked up and drove the bugs away, but it also became colder. Our progress was slowed significantly by boggy terrain. We battled low energy levels throughout the day but felt a little better after each snack break, eating bars, nuts, jerky, trail mix, and chocolate. Jie was very sweet to give Fan a mini-Toblerone she had saved from our Air Greenland flight when he was especially tired.
Fan had looked forward to fishing again in a deep pool nearby where a stream empties into the lake, but we never saw any deep pools or water nor any fish. At least the scenery was beautiful by the lake. We walked along the sandy beach, littered with pebbles, past yellow and green grassy bogs. Mountains on each side of the valley poked through the clouds. We felt so small in the vast landscape and privileged to be able to experience it all.
We left the lake and began a steep climb, aiming for the upper hut at Kangerluarsuk Tulleq. Paradoxically, the fog grew denser as the winds became stronger, and we were feeling increasingly tired and cold. We found a spot behind some rocks to take a break that was relatively sheltered from the wind, ate some snacks, and then topped out onto a boggy plateau. After navigating more boggy terrain we arrived at the hut around 4pm. We were thrilled to have the hut to ourselves. This hut is just like the Katiffik Hut (end of Day 2), with space for three people to sleep on a platform with a thin foam sheet on top for comfort. The hut is perched near the top of a rocky outcropping. The fjord was barely visible at the bottom of the hill, and several huts supposedly used by local fishermen were visible on the opposite side of the fjord.
Fan filtered water from a tiny stream nearby while Jie unpacked our gear. Two other hikers wandered by going in the same direction as us around 4:45pm but did not stop by the hut. We didn’t let ourselves feel too guilty for arriving first at the hut. The weather was nasty and the facility was first-come, first-served. The light rain eventually gave way to a fog so dense we couldn’t see the fjord at all, and could barely see for more than 100 feet.
We warmed up with some miso soup and snacked on some dried mangos and candied pecans. It was very warming and relaxing. We made dinner around 6:15pm and decided to cook an extra large meal thinking it would give us the needed energy for the final big day tomorrow. We had AlpineAire brand bart chili with beef (spicy, good), MH beef stroganoff (delicious as always), BP Sicilian veggies (good), and BP mocha mousse pie (good). A single tea candle rounded out the cozy romantic atmosphere. We started feeling nostalgic about our soon to be completed trek and flipped through the guest book of this hut reading many other entries expressing similar sentiments. The authors of one entry mentioned hiking down to the beach by the fjord, digging up mussels, and cooking them. It sounded tempting, but we were just happy to be warm and dry this evening. We cleaned up and went to bed early around 7:45pm.
Daily totals: 10.5 miles, 8 hours.