If someone had told me years ago that someday I would travel to Greenland, I wouldn't have believed it.nbsp; If that person had also told me that someday I would return to Greenland I would have been shocked.nbsp; The fact that I traveled there twice is something of a miracle. I've traveled to a few places I liked so much I told myself someday I would return for a visit. But I never honestly believed I would return to those places: they were too far away or too expensive to travel to - besides, the world is a large place. There are so many places I would like to experience firsthand . . . Somehow Greenland was different, and last spring I started thinking about it again, unable to focus on other destinations for a summer trip.
I remembered a conversation I had last summer with another Greenland hiker about a place called Ilulissat, or Jakobshavn. I was captivated by the image of a natural wonder near Ilulissat, the enormous Jakobshavn Glacier, which fills an entire fjord with icebergs that eventually drift down into the North Atlantic. It is one of the world's most active glaciers and photographs of both the glacier and the icefjord are unforgettable.
Would I really be able to travel to such a place? It seemed like an impossibility. Unable to get the idea of going there out of my mind, I began to research my transportation options. I discovered that I could fly from Canada to Kangerlussuaq and then travel onward to Ilulissat. Nothing about the trip would be easy or cheap. The coastal ferries only operated once a week and the flights were expensive. More than once I decided that to attempt such a trip would be a mistake.
While pondering the idea of taking this trip and exploring the transportation options, I remembered something I'd read about Uummannaq Island. Uummannaq lies near the northern end of the coastal ferry line and is farther north than I had ever considered traveling. Yet it is often described as a magical place due to the unusual and colorful rock formation of Uummannaq Peak. The descriptions I'd read made it clear that this was a truly unique place and my instincts told me not to miss it. Eventually the idea of traveling there took hold and I decided to include it in my plans. I even managed to convince an acquaintance, Scott, to take a leap of faith and come along on my proposed Kangerlussuaq-Uummannaq-Ilulissat trip. We shopped for hiking and camping gear, made all the necessary arrangements, and eventually found ourselves on a flight to Kangerlussuaq!
After two hiking trips to Greenland I have learned one thing for certain: words cannot adequately describe Greenland. The island is so vast that it is hard to comprehend its size. Flying into any Greenland gateway you can see mile after mile of seemingly endless mountain ranges and mile after mile of ice. The human settlements are so tiny that a ten minute walk in any direction will place you in the middle of extremely rugged terrain. In the middle of such terrain you feel extremely small: the sky is huge, the horizons seem endless. There is beauty everywhere, much of it stark, some of it not: enormous rocks, immense blue chunks of ice, huge shimmering lakes and fjords. After a day of hiking in the Greenland wilderness, your mind feels overstimulated, more exhausted than your leg muscles.
We flew to Kangerlussuaq, Greenland's busiest airport and one of only a handful of places where fixed-wing aircraft can land. Kangerlussuaq intimidated me because of its northerly location. I was worried that it would be a dry, stark place. I was surprised to see the sparkling blue waters of the Kangerlussuaq fjord from the airplane window as we approached the airport. Kangerlussuaq isn't really much of a town: everyone who lives there works at or depends on the small airport. On a gray day the prefabricated housing blocks around the runway look pretty bleak. But nearby are lakes, rivers and waterfalls and miles of wilderness inhabited by musk oxen and reindeer. More importantly to me, Kangerlussuaq is one place where one can visit the Greenland ice cap.
