Trekking Greenland – Unplugged Wilderness Day 3

Day 3 of the Unplugged Wilderness Trek saw us set out in the opposite direction, away from the Karale Glacier and up towards the Knud Rasmussen Glacier. Unlike Day 2 where it was relatively flat, this hike climbed ~850m up some pretty steep slopes

Trekking companions climbing up the steep slopes as seen from above and below — Testing our fitness hiking up steep slopes. But totally worth it!

for some spectacular views over the Karale Fjord.

Panorama of the Karale Fjord from our high vantage point showing the Karale, Knud Rasmussen and unnamed glaciers. — (L-R): Karale, unnamed and Knud Rasmussen Glaciers along the Karale Fjord.

It was the climb that just kept on giving! There were stunning tarns.

A large tarn in the foreground with the Rasmussen Glacier in the background — For some reason I have a fascination with tarns. The Knud Rasmussen Glacier is in the background on the right

Fascinating rock formations (I sooooo should have been a geologist!)

Trekking group making their way up some amazing rock formations — I love the patterns in the rocks of this area

Amazing views of the Knud Rasmussen Glacier.

And snow.

Dirty bootprints in pristine white snow — Dirty bootprints (initally forged by Maxime) constituted the trail for much of today’s hike

Sooooooooo much snow, which I think Maxime was specifically seeking out for us to walk through.

Trekking group following muddy bootprints in the snow — Following muddy bootprints was the name of the game for Day 3’s hike

Now I admit that my Salomon XAPro 3D hiking trail shoes were not the best fit for this particular trek, but when you are traveling for a year and only hiking occasionally there has to be compromises. And although the Gore-TeX theoretically makes them waterproof, I can tell you right now that’s bullcrap. My feet had turned into blocks of ice by this point!

Our lunch spot was on a patch of bare rocky ground in the shadow of one of the tallest peaks in the area

The patch of bare rocky ground on which we had lunch, with the mountains towering above us — Amazing spot for lunch

and I thought it might have marked the highest point on our trek for the day. But no! There was a lot more snow in our immediate future, though I do acknowledge that Maxime had the worst of it – having to forge a route through it for us to follow in his footsteps.

Several images showing the group trekking through the snowfields on the way to the viewpoint — Top image shows Maxime checking snow depth and creating the bootprints for us to follow

It didn’t matter where you looked, there were incredible views.

Including from the very top.

Panorama of the Knud Rasmussen Glacier and the Sermiligaaq Fjord in the direction of Kulusuk

Trekking companions admiring the view at the lookout over the Sermiligaaq Fjord — The mild conditions meant that we had plenty of time to admire the views and have Maxime point out the different landmarks of the area

Fortunately it wasn’t too cold or windy so we spent quite a bit of time enjoying the different views from up here before beginning the hike back to our campsite. This more or less followed the same route (though there are no paths to follow on this trek so it always just goes where the guide leads), but it was a lot quicker getting down the snowy slopes than it was going up!

Trekking group running down the steep snowfield — Running down a snowfield is so much fun! If you ignore the frozen feet

Filip and I essentially gave up all pretense of trying to keep our feet dry and snow out of our shoes and foot-skied/ran down the snowfield. Soooooo much fun! Even though I’d lost all feeling in my feet by the time we’d gotten to the bottom, and both shoes were chockers with snow.

The weather had improved slightly for our journey back for even better views of the Knud Rasmussen Glacier and its surrounding mountains.