Students On Ice – August 4th – Auyittuq

August 23, 2009 in Uncategorized

August 4th

Auyittuq National Park

Wow. Just wow. I’ve seen footage of this park before on TV and in magazines, but like anything, it doesn’t do it justice. Simply this might be the most dramatic and spectacular landscape that I’ve ever seen. I can’t think of any place else that I’ve visited that compares. It’s a huge U-shaped glacial valley that has a sequence of hanging glaciers on both sides as you proceed up the valley, hiking alongside the glacial fed and silty filled river. The brown, chocolate milk colour stirred and churned in the rapids and calm and bubbling in the flat lower section before it empties into the fiord.

The photos I took are a pale representation of the reality. There were a few times when I’d just break into a goofy grin as I stood and took it all in and had those moments where I couldn’t figure out why I was there, or what twist of the universe had happened to place me there at that moment.

The main purpose of todays hike in Auyittuq was to get to the innukshuk that delineates the Arctic Circle. Our path was a 15 km trail that led up the valley alongside the river. We were split into group with 4 adults and 9 students to make the trek. It was an amazing walk. Very different that what I expected, although upon considering it, I’m not sure what I expected. Walking along the valley floor, we were constantly gazing up at the side valleys, each one with a glacier at it’s tip and a creek tumbling down over 1000 feet to the valley floor. Every ½ hour or so, we had to cross on of these creeks. This usually was done with a team effort and humour. Some of the creeks had water that was knee deep and rushing quite fast. Needless to say, the day was spent in wet boots, as there was no way to keep the water out of them. And as you can expect, glacier fed water is cold! Tasty too!

After about a 5 hour trek we arrived at our destination, an innukshuk marker that shows where the Arctic Circle intersected the valley. It was amazing. There we stood, 50 of us, having just walked to the Arctic Circle. Silliness of course ensued. Most of the group took and impromptu dip in the freezing Pang river. I did not! We then spent about an hour at the spot, taking it in, discussing climate change and our hopes for the future of the place, and in silent contemplation.

The trek down was done in a little over 4 hours. Needless to say everyone was totally wiped by the time we arrived at the beach to get into the zodiacs for the 5 minute ride back out to the ship. But the energy of the students was amazing. They were whipped, but they were smiling and happy. The day had been a joy to be a part of, the students were like that all day, tired and cold and in pain sometimes, but never a word of complaint was heard, they all worked as a team when needed and supported each other ever step of the way. And there were a lot of steps.

30 km round trip in an 11 hour day. I’m pretty sure I’ll be in pain tomorrow and in need of some therapy, but it was an unreal sort of day. The kind of day that you hope you can be a part of.