Yesterday I managed to walk around 26km, so my expectations were high. I’m gonna finish the trail in 6 days! No, in 5!
A recipe for disaster.
After about 30min of walking I sat and put the backpack down, completely and utterly exhausted (this expression will be heavily used in my writing). My feet ached as if I were about to stop for the day – and I just started!
I sat down on the beach and stared absentmindedly toward the water.
See how I propped the backpack? – I arrived with a glib idea to save energy. Didn’t help.
Water from this lake tasted fishy. In a fit of cautiousness I boiled it before drinking. There was no good water for next one or two hours uphill
I don’t remember the path further on, other than it went upwards and that it was awfully hot – it was the first big ascent out of three on the trail.
Mostly I just tried not to think.
On a high plateau, after the ascent
At first my goal for the day was to make to the next hut (IKKATTOOQ) and then walk for additional 7km. Then I reduced it to 3km past the hut. After lunch I said to myself I’m just gonna reach the hut.
WHERE THE HELL IS THIS GODDAMN HUT?! Last 5 km were hard. I was walking the slowest pace and was resting every half hour.
The path went on a plateau from there on, there was enough water, the surroundings became more varied and interesting vs walking along the lake.
More to the evening I met a couple travelling eastwards, who confirmed the reports of the fire, but also confirmed that it had so far been safe to pass despite of the smoke.
Finally around 17:00 I caught a glimpse of the hut.
In the hut I met the polish guy – he told me he’s been resting at the hut since about 11:00. He overtook my camp while I was still snoring.
This has been the hardest day so far, and, in retrospect, the hardest day of the whole trip. Other people found the second leg – along the long lake – the most taxing.
I got up at 7:00, boiled water and poured in a bag with oatmeal, my legs and, strangely, toes were hurting. Only then I felt the blisters: ankles, thumbs, toes, and one on the downward surface of the heel that was quite painful. WTF IS THIS, – I never had many issues with blisters, so I didn’t expect any this time. Same shoes, same socks. Moreover, on putting the shoes, they felt curiously narrow. Feet ached at the broadest part as if shoes suddenly became one size smaller.
Its probably your feet that became one size larger, I joked to myself – but this later has proven to be true. When I got back, I put on dress shoes that started to feel small too. Unexplained phenomenon, or was it the foot-flattening backpack?
Anyways, I progressed slowly.
Last night I ate 300g tin of fat beef mixed in 200g potato flour with added water, as well as 200gr oatmeal breakfast and 150gr dried figs, so I consoled myself that however hard it may be, its easier to carry now than its been the day before.
In general I was making my backpack lighter at a rate of approx. 1kg/day.
You can see the first hut (“KATIFFIK”) center-left at the lake, a reddish patch
Around 09:00 I reached the first hut. It was empty and clean. One traveler wrote in 2014 that the surroundings were thoroughly spoiled with garbage and defecation. I can’t confirm – it wasn’t THAT bad. A couple of turds now and then around the hut, but mostly just white napkins (.. ladies?..) that indicated toilet grounds, but in general I expected worse.
Somebody must have cleaned up and even the huts were all since then freshly painted.
“This is the hut which name in Greenlandic means “The house of lovers”, so some couples go here to marry” – I remembered Majaq’s words. I just hope they go up from Kangerlussuaq and not the other direction. Imagine a bride arriving to ceremony after 7 days of hiking. Real pretty! On the other hand, if that doesn’t dissuade.. that marriage will hold!
I got carried away imagining the trekking bride, rucksack on, white dress and stuff. Careful with walking sticks or you’d trip over, the gown all over the place. But comes in handy during mosquito season – just use the veil!
Then I remembered myself after an 8-day trek in Iceland: I looked – and felt – quite like a bum (I’ll try to find a good photo one day, but my lip has swollen gigantically and I burned parts of my shoes while trying to dry them up on a stove, so I wore Crocs with 2 pairs of socks on, ragged, blackened shoes dangling behind on a backpack; this all must have looked REALLY shabby).
A first “real” hut on the way. You can see lots of leftovers. The visitors journal proved to be a useful read. The last entry, dated today and signed by the “polish guy“, went on to say that there were reports of the fire ahead
These mattresses start to impress after first night in a tent
The KATIFFIK hut was empty, and the canoes were not there. Neither there were any traces of them on the small brown-sanded beach nearby, so they must have been not there for a while..
Canoes One of the ACT’s highlights, as advertised, are canoes, supposedly freely available, a repose for a tired walker and a pleasant change of transport overall.
Alas, the dream of dumping the backpack and floating on tranquil and transparent waters of the long lake for about 7 hours, making more than one day’s distance while meditating and relaxing one’s feet didn’t quite materialize.
The problem, as always, were all those people (like myself) that go in the wrong direction!
Most of travelers (like myself) walk westwards, so most canoes wait on western end of the lake…
The hike of about 25km along the lake’s southern border was not technically challenging, but monotonous. It was very hot.
OH, I thought not once, looking longingly at quiet, inviting waters, WHERE ARE THOSE BLOODY CANOES?!
I found out the reason when I reached the west end of the lake next day in the morning – they were all there, waiting for east-bound travelers to take them over the long lake.
Shortly after KATIFFIK I caught on with a couple of young women that spoke English with french accent. They’ve felt a bit vexed.
“We are turning back because of the fire”, one of them said. It took me a while to understand. “So there’s a tundra fire in 5 or 6 days of travel, and if it gets worse, you’ll be asked to return or to detour“. I reasoned that in 5 days’ time the fire must be surely gone, to which they replied it’s been ongoing since July.
OKAY… I imagined walking for 6 days, eating supplies out, to be told to turn back for another week’s walk – and with a tastier tins and oatmeal gone! MAY BE THAT’S THE RIGHT DECISION..
Nobody came from the other side with news, nor there were canoes, so either they all have burned down (a bad joke) or there just were none so far.
Anyways, I decided to march on, having at least 3 days more to clarify the situation and turn back if needed.
This cairn is about 3.5m in height. I tried to put another rock on the top, and climbed it some, but stopped on a feeling that the whole structure might collapse on me from above. At least I’d win this Darwin award, I thought, but gave up anyways
As a reached Canoe Center, which turned out to be a large hut with at least 20 beds, I met a couple from Switzerland who were walking in the opposite direction (they have brought the only canoe available at the Canoe Center with them from the west). They confirmed the fire, but said it was only smoke for the time being. The fire would be on the other side of the lake and shouldn’t be very dangerous. No smoke without a fire
A friendly man near the hut spoke up and invited to the hut. This proved to be THE POLISH GUY himself (more on that later).
Past about 1 km from Canoe Center the earth was burned, apparently there’s been a fire here as well, and then I saw one big, horned reindeer.
Its right at the center. This animal walked slowly toward me, clearly aware of my presence. At about 10m between us I became afraid – it had REALLY BIG HORNS – and moved quickly aside
At about 20:00, past 3 km from Canoe Center I made camp for the night.
It dawned on me that evening what those white bones are – and why there are so many of them
Around noon I was at the Arctic Circle Trail start, preparing to enjoy Greenland and myself.
The surroundings were very serene – total windstill. Perfectly blue sky, sun shining from above.
Total silence beyond the sounds of oneself.
Crazy carousel of thoughts in my head, chasing each other, never stopping. One idiotic, out-of-place, uncompleted thought replaced by another even more so. Stale emotions, fears, social missteps, hopes, women, men, wins and past pleasures – all this was running through like a mad video clip.
A part of me was looking at this from aside and sighing: Its happening again. CHAOS PRESERVATION LAW. The quieter it is outside, the crazier inside.
Multiverse The environment looked like the wood between the worlds from The Magician’s Nephew: you walk through this landscape of tranquil, unperturbed lakes, each very similar but yet somehow different, and there’s no end to it. You pass may be 20 or 30 lakes on the first day – I lost count.
I jumped into one lake to cool off, but there was no another world.
View from above
In one lake I found these creepy guys:
It should be a shield or tadpole shrimp, Notostraca but it looks like Alien baby when it moves
After walking in a military (MILITARY, CARL!) style for about 5 hours – 50min walking, 10 min pause – totally exhausted and dragging my feet, I was startled by a loud “Hello!” from behind.
I almost jumped, because its been complete silence so far.
It was the guy from the magazine.
Paul & Majaq, around 18:00
A story from the crazy guy, condensed Majaq landed in Kangerlussuaq returning from his vacation in Austria. Since his transfer plane to Sisimiut was cancelled, around 16:00 he decided to jog home. About half way a friend would pick him up with a boat, so its just 80km over hilly tundra, right? Pragmatic decision. I think he also had a bag of potato chips, so clearly well equipped too.
Its all in the head, said Majaq, disappearing ahead of me.
I repeated this mantra, gathered my dwindling powers and moved on.
The last kilometer I was shouting 100m intervals left (“Good boy Paul, only 500m left! Good boy!“) and entrusting it all to my head.
At 20.00 km mark I dropped the rucksack in complete exhaustion and put up the tent.
My legs and toes were hurting as never before. I was rolling left and right and stretching them out for better part of the night, with running Majaq appearing sporadically in what otherwise had been a circular dreamy nightmare of running, and running, and running… and running..
My prior hopes of seeing a clear, pristine starry sky were not to materialize: it never went dark enough. And in general it was the last thing on my mind. Mostly I just wanted to just lie down and rest.
Usually when movies start bad, it just becomes worse, but not this one!
Seriously afraid of just another staple of Ryan’s (this tight-lipped, no-visible-emotions kind of a guy kicking everyone’s butts and protecting single moms and orphans) I was skeptical at first, but Ryan turned out to be ridiculously, amazingly, perfectly dorky. I was laughing so hard.
What’s kind of distracting are tons of boobs and beautiful women with dubious reputation and little to no clothes on them (oh yes!!), but no complaints otherwise, and they are also very nicely shot (I mean, on film).
The best scenes with Ryan’s character’s teenage daughter were excitedly and totally unexpectedly risque 😀 (This is a prime US movie ?!!!) Wow, there are whores and stuff!!
Yes! Below I will write about my recent travel to Greenland, having yet again realized how flaky my memory is. Or its more like a big, overflowing wardrobe, where stuff lies in heaps, dusty and intertwined. You look for a fresh pair of socks and WOAH! there they are, these wonderful snakeskin green-purple leggings that you bought in 2000’s and never seen since – there they are, crumpled and lackluster, but nevertheless oh so dear.
Let me try to get hold of some of these leggings.
Destination
In an unexplainable quest to visit ever more remote places of the earth this summer I went to Greenland to trek the Arctic Circle Trail (aka “ACT”).
Its probably the only multi-day route in Greenland that is a) accessible and b) marked, so it was an easy choice.
But it turned out to be less remote than I thought.
Day -2 / Prep
As I tried to stuff the venerable Penguin 60ltr I discovered that it disintegrated along the seams and the inner surfaces have become kind of oily. So welcome, a brand-new deuter AirContact Pro 75+10!
And Penguin goes to the backpack Valhalla..
Interestingly, this time I had much more stuff for a 8 days trek than a few years ago. What fit in 60ltr back then, now fit in 75ltr just barely.
Its inflation, stupid..
But something came extra:
Iridium phone + extra battery
22000mAh powerbank + 11000mAh (reserve)
Mosquito net + cap
A toothbrush
But mostly the stuff that took a lot of space were prepackaged meals that I went so heavy on this time
(its a joke about a toothbrush)
All the stuff I took. +1ltr spiritus, +1.5ltr water
Day -1
I took a plane from Frankfurt to Copenhagen on SAS that cost 270€ both ways. I rose early and arrived to Copenhagen around 11:00 on August 1st. The hotel in Kastrup was about 1.2km away from the airport so I walked, having put the 23kg deuter for the first time. Ominously, it felt really HEAVY and it didn’t sit very well. At the end of these 1.2km I felt like I’m ready to camp and light a stove check in. YOU ARE NOT EVEN ON THE TRAIL YET!, I was catching breath at reception. A receptionist spoke to me in danish and ended this internal struggle.
Kastrup in the morning
After lying absentmindedly on the hotel bed at around noon and having watched the The Ballad of Buster Scruggs to the end on Netflix I found a Lyme scooter at the station and took to the city.
Day 0
It was a good idea to arrive to Air Greenland check-in counter an hour in advance: the line to bag drop-off was long and there were a few fellow backpack-travelers among clearly Inuit-looking people who took longer as they were sometimes asked to rearrange baggage to fit into 20kg weight limit. Luckily my 22.5kg backpack was allowed in (I smiled at the male staff, must have helped).
I was seated near a young woman that was going to Nuuk for her first job assignment after studies. She would have worked on a policy to combat substance abuse in Greenland’s towns and settlements, I thought that’s kind of cool.
Reading the plane’s magazine this article caught my attention. Its about Greenlandic guy who run the ACT in 37 hours and skied in 14.
Arrival in sunny Kangerlussuaq around 10:00.
Walking off the plane in Kangerlussuaq
1st surprise: IT IS HOT. It felt like +25C with a windstill and sunny skies. 2nd surprise: There are no mosquitos. (The kind man who picked me up half-way to Kellyville said “Oh, there are no mosquitos in August. Its just the Greenland Fly, lots of them. They come in August – any day now. They stay for 10 days, and then they’re gone. They only attack your face, and it swells like that!” – he showed with his palms) OKAY.. good news mosquitos are gone:D
3rd surprise: A polite note in the backpack about lighter and mosquito spray being confiscated as fire danger. For meager admin fee of 835DKK I can have them both back. OKAY I thought, may be not. Keep it. Strangely Frankfurt airport didn’t feel so prickly and let it pass, but danish guys were on the spot. I think they even opened the Tranglia burner and inspected it for fuel (it was empty and clean). They packed everything back nicely so no complaints otherwise. Next time I’ll leave them a note too.
4th surprise: A sizeable supermarket right across the street from airport selling almost everything you might need for a hike. I bought 1ltr of spiritus for fuel and a lighter for 20DKK to compensate for confiscated one. Last time in Iceland getting spiritus proved to be a problem, I had to scavenge at the huts.
Despite noticeable portion of backpackers on the flight, I seemed to be the only one heading to the trail with the rest waiting for transfer to other places.
Yeah, I am on the right way to Sisimiut!
Greenland Fly The Fearsome Greenland Fly turned out to be a small and somehow elegant pitch-black fly (I thought it’s was curiously very black, like vantablack) that looked quite innocent, until one of it landed on my arm (OH HOW CUTE, I thought) and sucked a drop of blood in what seemed to be like half a second. The bite swelled and itched in a strong and rather pleasant way for several days. I was then just scratching it for pleasure now and then (oh yeah!)
Having read reports I hoped to take THE taxi (there is only one in Kangerlussuaq), however it happened to be broken on the day, so I headed to Kellyville and so to the start of the ACT on foot.
Around half-way a driver stopped by and offered a ride – he brought me right to the trail head and saved me about 8km of walking. In general people were quite friendly.
There was no good water for the stretch from Kangerlussuaq airstrip to the start of ACT, good that I hitched.
Start of the trail, about 14km west to Kangerlussuaq
The enthusiastic traveller shoud curb his ardour at the outset of his excursions, and begin with moderate performances, as the overtaxing of his strength on a single occasion will sometimes incapacitate him altogether for several days. It often requires discrimination and experience to determine what degree of fatigue can be borne with impunity, and when walking should be abandoned.
– EASTERN ALPS, HANDBOOK for TRAVELLERS by Karl Baedeker, 12th edition, 1911
Now I know whose advice I have been ignoring all this time. Screw Baedeker! May be I want to be incapacitated!
