Diary of an ACT thru-hiker. Day 10.
Kieran joined us in September 2023 on our inaugural Greenland Arctic Circle Trail trek from the ice-sheet to the sea. He kept a written and photographic journal of his adventure, which he has kindly allowed us to share with you. Check our main blog page for Days 0-9 and daily entries following this one!
17/9/23 Sunday. Day 10.
Our final night on the trail.
Really cold night, with loads of ice on the tents in the morning. Glad I was in the hut, although I didn’t sleep great. I was on one of the top bunks, it was narrow with the sloping roof of the hut just above me, and the bunk felt like it was sloping out into the middle of the hut so I was afraid I was going to fall out during the night. I didn’t, but my pillow and down jacket ended up on the floor.
This should be called the Day of the Three Rivers, or actually the same river three times – talk about being indecisive! Shortly after leaving the hut, we had to cross over to the left bank of the river. We continued down that side until we got to a narrow gorge, and of course we then had to cross back to the right-hand side. Ronan found a good spot about 100 metres upstream of the path. We continued down the right bank for another kilometre, until it was time to cross back to the left bank. This time Ronan found a spot about 300 metres downstream from the track, shallow and quite wide. We dried ourselves, rolled down our trousers, put back on our wet socks and boots, and started walking again.
Most of the day was in a big valley, not as wide as the one with the Bridge but still majestic and feeling remote. It eventually turned towards the right, and as we came around the bend we could see a hut perched on top of the ridge straight in front of us, about 2km away – this wasn’t actually our hut. We climbed the ridge a few hundred metres to the left of the hut, and then we saw the sea! It was a bit weird, the sea was at a higher level than the lake our thrice-crossed river flowed into. We continued to walk on with hills to our left and the fjord/sea inlet to our right.
After another kilometer or so, we came to the hut. It was small, with a promontory looking out to sea directly behind it. Eamonn was again automatically given one of the beds, or sleeping spaces – a sleeping platform for 3 people with space for another 2 underneath it. American Hannah was already there when we arrived (again), and as I still had a free pass, there was room for 2 more as well if no-one else arrived. Given that this was going to be our last night on the Trail, and the stunning scenery around, I would have liked to have camped but let myself be talked out of it – a pity, I probably won’t get a chance to camp there again.
After dinner, I headed up the hill immediately behind the hut and watched the sun go down, a fantastic view. I told the others of the view when I came down. Ronan and Cindy went up, and I got a nice photo of them in silouette against the red sky.
