ARCTIC CIRCLE TRAIL HIKE - DAY 1

Day 1. KANGERLUSSUAQ - Lake QARLISSIUT  20km

Our hike begins shortly after we step off the plane that brought us from Copenhagen to Greenland, to Kangerlussuaq Airport. So to speak, from the ship to the party, or from the airplane trap straight to the Arctic Circle Trail!

Greenland welcomes us with beautiful weather - it is warm and sunny. Kangerlussuaq airport is very compact, with the shortest baggage belt we've ever seen - just a couple of meters long. In its background, the photo of musk oxen, the most powerful inhabitants of the tundra, and the words of welcome are a truly heartfelt touch, and our spirit of adventure is already rejoicing. We have arrived in Greenland, we feel welcome and our adventure can begin.

When planning the trip, we had researched the most convenient place to buy camping gas, and using the convenient location of the store - right across from the airport, it is quickly done and we are fully ready to go.

We had read that this first leg to Kelly Ville, where the ACT trailhead is located, can be shortened by taxi service, but we are in Greenland to hike and consider the leg to the trailhead a good opportunity to acclimatize and warm up. Weather is spoiling us and the trail can begin!

The asphalt road to Kellyville is winding up, every now and then a car or a bus passes by, and every time the driver waves and smiles and greets us, and so do we.

Kellyville welcomes us with a giant 32m antenna dish, here was once a research center. As we learn from the info board here, in 1982, the Sondestrom Upper Atmospheric Research Facility was established here with the installation of incoherent scatter radar and 32m antenna dish. The facility is locally known as Kellyville, named after John Kelly, who was instrumental in moving the research radar project to Kangerlussuaq.

We continue our journey and soon reach two important landmarks. The first one is an official looking road sign plate, while the second one is very special. It is a giant rock with the official ACT trail markings in the shape of a red crescent and a reindeer antler decoration. We are here. Arctic Circle Trail - here we come!

For some time already the asphalt pavement has been replaced by a truly wild trail. Mid-July is beautiful - it's the time of the tundra's flowering, and you can feel it in the air.

We reach Qarlissiut lake in the evening and as it appears we are the only ones here. The relative proximity of civilization is evidenced by a dry toilet house on a hill and a couple of fishing boats on the shore of the lake.

Our first evening in the tundra can begin. Tomorrow we will venture deeper into the wild expanses of the tundra.