Arctic Circle Trail Challenge: Wednesday 21st August: Rest Day

Hike day 7. (Rest day)

The Czechs enjoy their breakfast including communal bowl of tea.

I had hinted that it would be nice to have a rest day to do some personal admin and to just take in the enormity of the place.

We liked the Czech and German group. They were really nice folks.

The problem with expeditions is that people can become fixated on completing the task. They just want to do it!! They put their head down and crack on. This is fine if you are on a military operation or if you are tight for time, but if you have the time, it is just fantastic to be able to take your time as you walk through such an amazing wilderness so that you can take it all in. This way, fleeting glimpses of beautifully sunlit snowcapped mountains become clear and treasured memories. So my advice to anyone thinking of doing the ACT is to plan to take at least one rest day just so you can absorb it all.

Our friends the Czechs and German ready to leave whilst we enjoy a rest day.

We had woke up as planned at 1.30 am in an attempt to see the Northern Lights. As we expected, the sun was still not setting enough for the sky to become dark enough for the Northern Lights to show up. Instead the sky maintained a twilight which looked as though the sky was illuminated by a some distant urban sprawl just beyond the mountains. The almost full moon shining its face off didn't help either. Of course there was no urban sprawl just beyond the mountains; this is, after all, the land of the midnight sun so by 2am we were all back in bed.

Off they go.

We awoke again at about 7am and I tabled the idea of a rest day. I thought this was a good idea for the following reasons:

Quickly the Czeck and German group become
spots against the enormous backdrop.

It would give our aching limbs and opportunity to recover.
We could catch up on personal admin such as laundry and boot drying.
We had bumped into the same people along the trail because we were all travelling roughly at the same speed. By having a rest day they could get a day ahead of us and we would be returned to a sense of isolation again, providing there wasn't a bunch of ice cream munching screaming scouts hot on our tails.
At our current rate of walking we'd be in Sisimiut with four days to kill before our return flights and neither of us were convinced that there was enough to occupy us in Sisimiut for two days let alone four.

Richard agree that a rest day was a good idea even if he did seem a bit miffed at the thought of unpacking his pack again which he had already prepared for a days hike.

The stunning sky above the lake in front of the hut.

We bid the Austrians goodbye at about 9am and the Czechs and German group at about 10.40am. With the Czech group we exchanged emails and said how nice it would be to meet up in Sisimiut. I took a few group photographs of them and we watched as they walked around the edge of the lake. Long before they had reached the low saddle of land in the distance at the head of the lake they had become tiny spots of colour against the enormous Greenlandic background. Our world felt strangely silent once again.

One of my fish pics

Fish pic

I spent the rest of the morning washing myself, washing some clothes and trying to decide what feast to prepare for lunch. I also took some more underwater photographs. I wasn't silly enough to risk the icy water for a swim so the pictures were taken simply by laying on my stomach on a rock at the lake edge and submersing my arms into the chilly water which could have been only a few degrees above freezing. I got some interesting pictures though. However, I don't think Jacques Cousteau has anything to worry about.

Not an aquarium but the crystal clear water of the lake.

One of the little fish. Not sure of the species.

Clear water.

Somewhat less than camera shy fish of the lake.

Another fish pic

In the afternoon, I went for a short walk around the area of the hut. Leaving my boots to continue drying out this was done in my crocks so I didn't venture too far. I walked to the river which flowed out of the lake which had created a narrow gorge which was steep sided and deep in a couple of places. The water flowed fast and amazingly clear. Had the weather been a bit warmer this would have been an ideal place for a dip. My little walk took me up the small hill behind the large hut and towards the smaller hut.
The ground around the hut is littered with several half decomposed dog turds and there was even the mostly decomposed remains of a sled dog who had most probably become injured. You simply can't call a vet out here so clearly they use their own initiative to put an injured dog out of its misery.

The rest of the day was spent reading, eating, doing a few odd jobs regarding kit, and playing a few card games. I went to bed at about 11pm feeling refreshed and very grateful for having the idea of a rest day.