Arrival

Wednesday 8-8-07

DAY 1

We're off on our honeymoon! This was doubtful until the last minute. No it's not what you think. What happened is Michael's son Jonathan had surgery, and we weren't sure about leaving him so soon, but Michael's dad Peter volunteered to let Jonathan stay with him. So anyway, at dark o'clock Wednesday morning Peter is kind enough to drive Michael and me (Magda) to the airport. The plane leaves early; like 6:30 am. I sleep until we transfer in Salt Lake. The flight to Baltimore is longer. We get to watch the movie “Shrek 3” (OK, it's a movie on an airplane, but at least it's cute). We arrive in Baltimore around 5 p.m. and find a phone, which dials straight to hotels. The wait for the hotel to pick us up is really long, but we end up getting the room at a discount. The room has a kitchenette, and a queen size bed. Michael cooks dinner, then we watch “The Dirty Dozen” and go to sleep.

Thursday 8-9-07

DAY 2

We get up, stretch, take a shower, and go down for breakfast. It is good! They have waffles (real batter, not the toaster kind), cereal, bagels, and juice. We check on emails, go back to the room and get our stuff, and go back to the airport to catch our flight to Greenland!

The plane leaves on time. It is a long flight (5 hours), enough for not one, but oh boy two movies: “Family House” and “Employee of the Month”. They are both silly and cute.

We arrive in Greenland! We get our luggage and find a grocery store right outside the airport. It has fuel for the stove and matches. Michael is a little disappointed finding out that they actually do have fuel for his white gas stove (we specially brought an alcohol stove since we were only sure they had fuel for that).

Kangerlussuaq is an old air force base and it has become a very small town by the airport. We walk around and find the campground near the airport. It is a bit noisy with the town's power generator. There are other people camping as well. There are two women, one from Sweden and the other from France; there are also three geology students. Everyone is very helpful in giving us information about the trek from Kangerlussuaq to Sisimiut. We go to bed about 9 pm Greenland time (4 pm Seattle time) and it is still light out. I sleep soundly until midnight, then I force myself to sleep.

Friday 8-10-07

DAY 3

We get up around 6 am. Michael is awake even earlier than that. By forcing myself to sleep at night I end up still groggy. I get up with him and go into the campground kitchen, a small building where the bathrooms are as well. I am cold so Michael gives me his extra fleece. I hope to get used to the cold weather - Michael is loving it, but after all he used to study glaciers in Antarctica...

We go back to sleep and get up around 10 am. We rent bikes and ride to the science support building, VECO. We meet up with Michael’s old friend Steve Warren and he loans us four maps: Kangerlussuaq, Pingu, Sisimiut, and Ilulissat. We meet Steve’s co-workers, Sparky and Ed, who inform us that we have one of their bikes, the famous “stolen bike”. We tell them that we rented the bikes from the hostel. They let us use it anyway and loan us maps and give us advice. Then we ride about 25 km out to the edge of the ice cap.

The bike ride starts out easy and progressively gets harder. The road is very bumpy and has sandy sections that we have to walk through, although Michael does try to ride as far as he can. Sparky told us of a shortcut where we would have to get off the bikes and then walk the rest of the way to the glacier.

What a sight! We arrive at the glacier just in time to see a big chunk break off. It is cold standing next to this glacier! After a late lunch and enjoying the view for awhile, we head back to Kangerlussuaq. It took us almost three hours to get out to the glacier and only one and a half to get back. My butt is sore. Starved, we go to get pizza and we are five minutes too late, darn! I ride back to VECO to meet up with Michael who is returning the "stolen" bike. So we end up with only one bike. We decide that I should walk a ways, he will drop the bike, and after I get to the bike I will to ride until I meet up with him. This works well, because we end up arriving at the campground together.

1st Half of Kangerlussuaq to Sisimiut Trek

Saturday 8-11-07

DAY 4

KANGERLUSSUAQ TO SISIMIUT TREK DAY 1

We get up and pack up for the Kangerlussuaq to Sisimiut trek. We are in a hurry because the boat from Sisimiut to Ilulissat only goes once a week, so we are aiming to be in Sisimiut by next Saturday. I return the legitimate rental bike and we get our money back for renting the stolen bike! Michael is off to check on paying for the campground and seeing how much a taxi is. We meet on the main road - Michael got a taxi so off we go… via taxi for the first 13 km, 60 bucks, beats walking, right?

Anyway the hike starts boggy (and ended boggy too, more on that later). We pass a couple of guys camped. We wind past some lakes. We climb up about 100 meters to higher lakes... Then we go down to a stream crossing (which we do in sandals, expressly brought for this purpose – my aren’t we clever!) But there are bugs (mostly black flies). We agree to stop at the first water crossing, but when we get there we both are willing to go on. Also the two guys have caught up with us. On we go. Our packs feel almost unbearable. They are so heavy. Michael’s is about 25 kilos and mine is approximately 17 kilos. Neither Michael nor I are having much fun, the packs are heavy (have I said that enough?!) Because of the weight we tire ourselves out fast. After looking at the map we decide to hike to the next hut.

Up we go some more. The trails are marked with cairns. We can see the hut after a lot of ridges. I am very tired!

Finally we get down to the hut at the east end of Amitsorsuaq (a lake). I am tired and Michael is too (we have hiked 23 km today). Alas there are no canoes at the lake, rats (the plan being to canoe this lake). We talk about waiting for a canoe until late the next day. We eat and go to sleep…and five people show up about 10 pm with four canoes! They are RUNNING the trek from Sisimiut to Kangerlussuaq in four days. We move outside the hut since they are cooking late. (23 km)

Sunday 8-12-07

DAY 5

KANGERLUSSUAQ TO SISIMIUT TREK DAY 2

Sunday dawns sunny. It is amazing how hot it is when the sun comes out. It is a beautiful day!

We start to paddle the length of the lake with the canoe – it is nice and sunny with almost no wind. We canoe down the lake 22 km, stopping at the "canoe center” (another hut). It is huge compared to the hut we stayed in. It must sleep at least 30 people. We meet a couple inside. The woman is from Ilulissat and the man is from Denmark; they live in Sisimiut. They both speak English and tell us we can leave our canoe at the far west end of the lake, where there are a bunch of other stashed canoes, so off we go again in our canoe.

It is 3 pm when we throw on our packs on and start to hike. The bog seems to get worse. My boots and socks get wet. At first I try to avoid the bog but get tired, give up and just walk through without avoiding the wet areas. The bog is everywhere!

We end up hiking 7 km further to Kangerluatsiarsuaq (another lake) where we camp. The wind keeps the bugs down but makes it hard to cook! We camp by the lake by an old collapsed tent (from hunters?) Various caribou parts abound… (22 km canoeing, 7 km hiking)

Monday 8-13-07

DAY 6

KANGERLUSSUAQ TO SISIMIUT TREK DAY 3

There is no wind this morning but it is cool. We eat and the mosquitoes stared to come out and that is our cue to leave. We use insect repellant… The sun comes out and it becomes quite warm (20 degrees C?). We are hiking by 8:45 am and it is already hot! What is up with this?! It is hot in Greenland! I am loving the warm days and Michael is not as happy. Did we bring too many warm clothes? Michael notices that the top of my pack is too far back and he adjusts the straps to it is closer to my head. What a difference this makes! Much better! My pack is still heavy but it feels balanced and it is a lot more comfortable. Now I need to figure out the shoulder straps - they are a little uncomfortable. It feels like they are boring into my clavicles.

We climb up to a plateau, about 400 meters elevation gain.

We get to the top and we are hot and sticky. Michael stops ahead and goes for a swim. What an idea! The lake is small and the water brisk, but hey it's swimming north of the Arctic Circle! It does feel good to bathe. The last bath we had was back in Baltimore, four days ago. We dry off in the sun as we eat lunch and the bugs are not bad.

Feeling like a new woman I pack up and go ahead of Michael. He is such a fast hiker. We meet up at a really spiffy hut and decide to continue to the edge of the plateau. We camp at a scenic spot just before the descent from the plateau. (16 km)

Tuesday 8-14-07

DAY 7

KANGERLUSSUAQ TO SISIMIUT TREK DAY 4

It’s cold this morning and it looks like rain. Michael is not stiff this morning. That makes one of us! Michael predicts that the rain is going to hit us in about five minutes. I get up and rush to get the tent down as he makes us breakfast. He sends me down the hill since I am slower and he finishes packing up.

Once I am close to the valley floor the cairns are few and far between and I lose the trail. I climb over some rocks - I know the general direction that I am heading. I see Michael on top of the hill and call out to him - we meet on the valley floor.

We find the place where we are to cross the river. We take our boots off. Michael crosses carrying just the boots to see how deep it is. I can make it but I have to take my pants off because it is very deep at the other end. We cross carefully and find the shallowest areas.

After we cross we find the trail again. And since we are again on the valley floor the bog is back! Again we are trying not to fall in. Michael is in the lead when I see him traverse a boggy area where the entire bog moved. I follow him closely and step where he did. The ground gives way with a sound of thunder. Eeek! And my feet are wet again… Then we notice that there is ice under the bog!




Down the boggy valley we go, over more cool ice-cored pingos (sometimes they shift which is still scary).

We stop for lunch at another spiffy new hut. There would be good rock climbing on the cliffs nearby (Michael says he is moving here and opening a rock climbing center). After the hut we climb up 300 meters to another plateau.

There is a clear trail and a small cairn but we soon discover that it is the WRONG trail (the winter route). We see a cairn for the summer trail on top of the ridge - it is a steep climb, but we make it, and we are back on track! Up and down ridges we go, then around one lake, then around another. The bugs are bad again. The weather is clouding up again. We meet two people - at least they look as tired as us. We give them a bunch of cookies and exchange info on the route (they are going the opposite direction from us).

We know there is another hut ahead, but it is at least four hours away from where we stand. It is about 5 pm and we have been hiking since 8 that morning. Our goal is to get to the hut. It has raining on and off all that day and I want to be dry, and Michael wants to cook in the hut. So off we go to make it to the hut. It seems that I am getting used to the weight of my pack, and our packs are getting lighter as we eat food. But I am tired and the boggy areas are many. Both of my boots have been submerged in the bog. Before my boots were just wet, now they are completely soaked.

Honey is ahead of me and there is no hut in sight... We come to a river between two lakes and Michael stops, and asks me if I want to camp. I should have said yes, but I am so determined to get to the hut.

Then we see our first caribou, who tries to charge us. I just wanted a picture! Back to achy bodies again. Again I quit trying to avoid the bog and just walk straight through. Michael tries to find a *path*… We FINALLY make it to the hut. We eat dinner and fall asleep in our pain and suffering. Michael wakes up and tells me he has been dreaming about the bog, we joke about it and have a good laugh. (28 km)

2nd half of Kangerlussuaq to Sisimiut Trek

Wednesday 8-15-07

DAY 8

KANGERLUSSUAQ TO SISIMIUT TREK DAY 5

It is drizzling this morning. We sleep until noon. We leave the cabin around 2 in the afternoon. The weather improves but it is still cool. We find another spiffy new hut about 200 meters from ours! We could not see it the previous evening because the hut we stayed in was on the other side of the hill. This is new hut is nicer than the one we stayed in…oh well. It has a kitchen area, and a toilet inside which I take advantage of. This hut looks right over the lake and we observe that the lake looks like a meteor crater. We leave the hut and ford yet another stream... We're getting good at fording streams.

But I do not feel well - I am nauseated and my body aches. Michael takes a few items out of my pack and puts them in his. The hours pass and I start to feel better again. The hiking is easier today on a nice solid path, in cool weather, with no bugs. We begin to climb a slight hill. Up we climb 200 meters over a small pass. I see a caribou - she is prancing back and forth - we take a break to watch her. She walks away and we continue our walk. Then we get lost again, there is a cairn to our left, but a trail goes to our right. We take the trail to the right, that goes up a ridge, only to find out that we need to be in the valley down to the left, since our trail fades away. We see cairns and the trail down in the valley through the mist.

Coming down from the ridge to the valley is a little scary for me but we follow a very pretty stream with pretty flowers back down to the trail. We’re back on track. We are looking for an unmapped hut… looking…. looking… We almost give up and camp, but finally found the hut around the bend west of Nerumaq. And to sleep! (19 km)

Thursday 8-16-07

DAY 9

KANGERLUSSUAQ TO SISIMIUT TREK DAY 6

It rains all night and the wind blows hard. It is so cold outside. We are glad to be in the hut! We are not looking forward to hiking today in the rain with wet boots. But there are beautiful fireweed flowers outside the hut by the lake.

With all the rain that fell last night it seems that there is even more water on the trail. The boggy areas are deep. This is the wettest day of the trip. There are three river crossings today and the water is cold. The first one is right at the hut. The second is a few kilometers down the trail. The third is very close to the second crossing. This third crossing is the hardest because my feet are cold and the current is fast. I have to go slowly. The clouds are dispersing and there are small patches of blue - the weather is clearing and the bugs are coming out, so out comes my head net. We arrive at a lake after crossing one of the worst boggy areas yet.

We see three or four people camped at the end of the lake. We have to go around it. Michael decides it is time to put on sandals and wade around the lake. The water in the lake is much warmer than the river or the bog. It is faster than hiking through the surrounding swamp (excuse me, "wetland").

We go a little too far, past where the trail leaves the lake. We look at the map and see we need to head straight up the hill. Once on top of the ridge we see a fjord from the ocean and a cairn - then we spot the next hut in the distance. We find a trail, which soon ends at the edge of a boggy area.

The bog is back with a vengeance. Its big tussocks are hard on our feet and hips going up and down. When Michael and I meet up at the hut door he tells me that he did a face plant in the bog (fortunately he saved his camera from getting wet). Now both his feet are soaked for the first time - now he knows how my feet feel! It is sunny. We are tired and ready for bed. (20 km)

Friday 8-17-07

DAY 10

KANGERLUSSUAQ TO SISIMIUT TREK DAY 7

Unfortunately we do not get a good night’s sleep. Michael has a bad dream, we get up to pee, and I have a hard time going back to sleep. My legs cramp up as well as my hips when I do fall back to sleep. I have strange dreams. Michael does not sleep well because I toss and turn all night. In the morning he says he wants to keep hiking and take a longer route to Sisimiut! I think this is nuts. All I want to do is to get there as quickly as possible so I can take a shower and sleep in a soft bed.

But now it’s the last day of the trek! It is sunny this morning as we begin to hike around 10 am. The fog is over the fjord. I am very achy. Michael starts at a good pace as I lag behind. We meet a couple of eager young things (locals) who plan on doing the hike in 5 or 6 days. They left Sisimiut about 6 am. I figure we are going slower than them... It is now11 am. If we do not stop we will be in Sisimiut around 4 pm, but at my pace more probably we will get there after 5 pm. The ground is firmer today. The clouds move in and we lose the sun. We start our final climb of about 400 meters.

We have another stream crossing. Once at the top we cross the plateau with a lot of up and downs - we stop for a lunch of cheese and crackers. Michael gives me back my sandals that he took earlier to lighten my load - I guess I am looking fast or something. He starts again at a good pace.

The descent from the mountain begins, Honey is in the valley by the time I start my descent to the valley floor. We go around a lake that is surrounded by boulders. My feet are hurting. At the end of the lake Michael waits to help me across another river. I wade across and Michael finds a hopping route involving "minor geological modifications."

We see a saddle and blue sky in the middle - we assume that we are almost there!

We pass a ski lift - Sisimiut is around the corner.

We pass a final beautiful flower.

We’re done! Our feet are sore! We arrive in town and immediately find the hostel. It is a high school. We get a room with a shower for 500 kroner a night plus 10 kroner for an hour of internet. We shower for a very long time… Then we check out the building. Michael emails to check on Jonathan and tells people about the trek. I cook dinner and we are ready for bed. Tomorrow we will tour Sisimiut. (19 km)

In total for the trek we estimate we hiked 132 km and canoed 22 km.

Sisimuit to Ilulissat to Ilimanaq

Saturday 8-18-07

DAY 11

Michael does not sleep well because the high school kids party half the night (after all it is Friday night), but I sleep right through it! We get up and have a good breakfast, and meet another couple staying at the hostel, who also did the K to S trek, Ida and Robert. They have been in Sisimiut for several days. They inform us we need to reserve a place on the ferry. We go to the tourist office to make a reservation, only to find out that they are closed on the weekends. We head for the bank and it too is closed. The ferry only comes to Sisimiut one day a week and if we miss it we will have had to stay in Sisimiut for the week. We decide to tour the town because there is nothing else to do but pray that we get on the ferry. Sisimiut is a very small town. We go into a local artist building where I purchase some earrings. The local jewelry is made out of the bones and tusks of the animals that they hunt: Seals, walrus, whales, musk ox, and reindeer. The jewelry is a good price compared to the tourist shops.

After that we go down the pier and find a cool kayak shop. We speak to a local kid who is a member of the kayak club. He tells us that they have competitions with other towns.

The kayaks are not what we are used to (plastic with a large cockpit). These Greenland kayaks are original kayaks, made of wood covered with canvas (originally covered with animal skin) and can be used for hunting. We chicken out on trying these extremely narrow kayaks, because we do not have gear that would fit these boats and they are very narrow! I am not sure I want to roll in these waters, it is COLD!!! It sounds like we would have to join a club in order to paddle any way. But it is fun talking to the local people about kayaking.

We leave there in search of the ferry docking area. Out a ways from the dock I see a paddler doing some rolls in a kayak. He is wearing a leather top which is similar to a dry top. It is made of seal skin. The skin protects him from the iceberg filled ocean. Brrr!

We get back to the hostel where we pack up and give some friends, Christine and Jasper, a call. It is about 4:30 pm and they offer to pick us and give us a tour of the town.

Our tour starts with their dogs. They have a team for dog sledding in the winter, and it is feeding time.

After the dogs Christine and Jasper drive us around the town, and then we see the ferry coming into the dock!

We end up getting a good price on ferry tickets, by purchasing the tickets on the ferry, versus the price they would be at the (closed) tourist office. This is the way to do it! We purchase economy class, which still burns through a lot of kroner.

We do get a room to ourselves, complete with a curtain instead of a door, and next to the stairs and restroom. It will be a little noisy, but we are hopeful that after a certain hour things will quiet down. The trip to Ilulissat is going to take approximately 20 hours.

We invite Christine and Jasper to have dinner with us, but they already have plans for dinner, so we part. We go in search to find dinner for ourselves. Now mind you Michael is a vegetarian and I am on and off eating meat, but we both eat fish. We find a fast food place and we order the fish and chip platter only to find that they are out (what, out of fish in Greenland?) I order a hamburger and Michael orders a plate that looks like (by the picture on the wall) a vegetable plate with fries.

Very interesting vegetables – I guess they are out, so they substitute chopped hotdogs, that’s it! Michael exceedingly generously offers me some but I am happy with my burger. Michael eats what he can (that would be mainly the fries), and we go back to the ferry. We tour the ship and it soon departs. I have a mineral water from the cafeteria to calm my stomach from getting seasick (yes I get seasick on ferries). We go to bed in our palatial stateroom, which is actually just fine.

Sunday 8-19-07

DAY 12

We arrive in Aasiaat at eight in the morning. Prior to arriving the captain announces that there are whales on the right side of the ship. I hop out of bed, throw on my clothes and rush to the deck.

I go to the stern of the boat (everyone else is at the bow) and I see the tail of a humpback. Then Michael points out that to the right of the boat there are more whales. What a sight! We dock at Aasiaat briefly. After we leave the captain chases the whales and I feel sorry for them. I am still tired so I go back to bed.

Michael comes in and asks me if I want to see icebergs, but I am so tired that I go back to sleep. When I awake I find Michael reading upstairs, and he shows me pictures he took of the icebergs. Then he goes to sleep - I guess we're both still pretty tired from our trek!

We arrive in Ilulissat about 1 pm. It is very foggy. We find a bank and the ATM is open, so we get some cash. Then we find the youth hostel and check in. We go grocery shopping and buy an instant dinner. We have no idea how it is going to turn out because the instructions are in Danish. Next we go to the art museum where I find an artist I like (Aka Hoegh), and good art ideas.

We walk over to the town museum, but decide to view that another day, and instead we hike out to see the Kangia fjord. Talking about icebergs, this is amazing! It is still cold and foggy, but we spend a long time looking at the ice. Eventually we hike back to town and eat dinner out; we have pizza and a beer at a local café and make plans for the next day. Michael wants to take a boat, the Disko Line, south to a town call Ilimanaq where we would hike to Qasigiannguit. Ilimanaq is a small village where there are no vehicles and a population of approximately 90 people. There will not be as many tourists there and we hope to get a better sense of the locals who live here. I’m ready for bed.

Monday 8-20-07

DAY 13

The boat leaves at 10:30 am for Ilimanaq. It is 8:44 am when we find out! We pack up and are out of the hostel by 9:15. We go to the boat office of the Disko Line and they say for us to purchase our tickets on the boat. They give us a boat schedule. We then proceed to the tourist office to see about renting kayaks. At the office they tell us that we would have to travel further north to Ata to get kayaks, and we would have to stay there 5-7 days. But they also give us a name of a local in Ilimanaq who might rent us kayaks. This finalizes our decision to go Ilimanaq.

We go to the ATM and get 1000 kroner and go to the boat. They only take cash so I run back to the ATM to get another 1000 kroner. Getting money out of a bank can be tough in Greenland. The only ATM in town can be closed or the debit card doesn't work. It is best to always have cash on hand. Even the Lonely Planet guide warns us of this.

It is a beautiful day, clear and sunny. The town is spectacular, surrounded by icebergs which we could not see the day before because of the fog.

The boat ride is spectacular. We go between a lot of large icebergs; then Michael points out one that is starting to calve - it proceeds to collapse and then roll over. This iceberg is huge (the size of a 10 story building). It is a good thing we are a long way away from it because it could have swamped the ferry! Even the ferry crew came out to watch.

We arrive at Ilimanaq and go to the store and get some bread. The town is very quaint. I love the bright colors of the houses and buildings in Greenland. It makes the place very cheerful. We find Arni and his wife Marta - they are very sweet, and promise to help us get a map for our trek to Qasigiannguit. Unfortunately they have no kayaks!

Tonight, we will hike 8km to the Kangia fjord (from the south side, Ilulissat is on the north side).

So we hike up north, 8 km, mostly through bog.. But when we get to the fjord the view is worth it. If it was not for all these icebergs we could see Ilulissat! By the time my feet begin to hurt we stop. We camp in a sheltered spot. It looks like rain at one point, maybe not, who knows with the weather in this country, it changes so fast. We eat dinner and again I am ready for bed. (8 km)

What a sunset!