Upernavik Greenland Travel Notes

July31^st-August 1^st

Gail Ferris

gaileferris@hotmail.com

In the photo below, July 31^st 2009, I am paddling along Nutarmiut island and very concerned about finding drinking water.

#065

In the map below you can see along my route in red that there are pictured some brooks on this map.

Well what was on the map and what was flowing brooks was a different story, I can tell you. When you look at the photo above it looks just stony and dry.

For the brooks that I saw were just a line of stones of what had been a brook when there was more water in the spring time. Now in august they had no source to feed them. All the snow had melted off or sublimed. And I found out that it did not matter how deep the cleft in the shoreline was for the brook what mattered was the source up on top whether it be snowfall, a lake or a spring.

So I really started to become anxious about water, any water. I could have thought about gathering and melting some chunks of ice but as you see in this photo above there is no ice.

#066

All I knew was to just keep paddling and hope that somewhere there was some water. The following seas had dwindled as I was now out of the wind’s reach once I was past Nerritut on the map.

At last I came upon the keyhole shaped bay and paddled down its east or right side.

It was a very pretty place with a few golden brown sand beaches. The left side was not quite so interesting and rather shallow.

Then I heard for my first time this year a loon calling. Sure enough there was a pair of Arctic Loons a mile away in the bay. I could not get close enough to photograph them but at least I looked at them with my binoculars and that was exciting. There are just a few pairs of loons in this area that I have ever seen.

Some times I have seen a dozen or so King Eiders but they migrate near the end of July and after that there are none to see. The Common Eiders stay much longer and most often one female cares for six or even a dozen young. These eiders are fun to come across because the ducklings often of various ages and sizes are being guided around and overseen by one or two female adults. They are like watching a parade with mother constantly telling them what to do. I have encountered them and accidentally split up the group with mom and the larger ones paddling off to safety. Meanwhile the very small ones have been cut off and are fending for themselves trying to hide from me among the rocks where I am paddling. I worry about the tiny young being able to reunite with the rest of the group after I pass by. I don’t know and it is amazing how such a tiny duckling can swim and dive in such cold water.

After I took a video of the loons I continued to the inside of the bay. Looking on the left side it did not look very promising for water all looked absolutely dry.

Then very anxiously I just paddled hoping that those braided brooks shown on the map might be viable.

From my cockpit all that I could see was a stony landscape. There was no brook shining through in the sunlight anywhere. Usually when approaching from afar I can catch a glint of water as the sun reflects the water. There was nothing just a line of big boulders running down the slope where the map showed those brooks.

Not good! I thought to myself and I am a long way from anywhere because this bay is a few miles inside. It is not one of those just dip inside for a quick look type of bay.

Whew! well guess what there it was, I saw a flock of about 50 gulls clustered at the base of where the brooks were emptying into the bay.

I thought to myself “gulls don’t just hang around for nothing, there has to be some food there. I bet there is some sort of food for those gulls that is associated with freshwater coming into the bay over there. Those gulls are tightly grouped within the rocks so there has to be some thing over there they are feasting on”.

I can’t tell you how glad I was that I found fresh water. Fresh water was just tumbling down the hillside but was buried from sight among the rocks.

For some completely strange reason I never took a photo of this brook, so all I can do is explain to you what it looked like to me.

Approaching the brook the busy gulls, Glaucous gulls, fled.

Now after I found the water I paddled in among the rocks bounding the brook outlet. I hopped out and saw the mixing line between fresh and salt waters. Now I was absolutely sure of it – Oh thank goodness! What a relief to find briskly running water without duck manure and extraneous organic debris festooned with bluegreen filamentous algae indicating of heavy nitrogen and organic enrichment.

Next I got back in my kayak and paddled along the beach seeking some spot where I could easily get my kayak up the beach. Alas, the whole beach was just covered with sharp pieces of broken siliceous rock, rather nasty stuff for my fabric hull and not sand. Oh well I will just have to make a compromise!

Next I hopped out of the cockpit, tied off my kayak and strode around looking for a place to set my tent. Oh no, not good. The only place relatively possible to set the tent was on sand at what either was just at or on the high tide line.

Ah another evening of wondering will I have to move my tent in the middle of the night or am I going to get lucky again.

My feet are still feeling fine when I get out and walk and during the night, that is a great relief. My padded shoes and padded rudder foot pedals are working just fine.

Shortwave reception is good here too.

It is sunny with some mixed clouds and a constant wind from the west at 10 to 12 knots.

The tide peaked at 22:30 very close to my tent again.

August 1^st. 2009 it was a gray quiet morning. I heard the eiders calling. They make a very convenient alarm clock. There was a tiny bit of rain.

I have set off paddling couple miles I looked at the edge on the east side of this bay. What a pretty area and I wonder if people come here from time to time the soil is a bright yellow very conveniently flat but stony with some pretty boulders along this shoreline. It is much prettier because of the yellow stone than if it were dull dark basalt and there are plenty of nice places to just pitch at tent. I did not see too many plants along this side of the bay.

Back where I camped was green with plenty of willows.

It always interests me why one area may be filled with endless siliceous rocks and just beside it some other type of rock. What I find interesting about siliceous rock chips is that in this area when you walk on them they seem to click together and ring. I know that quartz when it has been heated to quartz ion inversion temperature as is the temperature that pottery and glass becomes annealed at looses that dull thud when tapped and changes to emitting a ring when tapped.

I looked very closely as I was passing by the east side of this bay and even though it was nice to view there is absolutely no water anywhere along here.

I continued out and rounded the point back out to Ammaqqua passage heading once again east.

Below is the actual view after I rounded the point.

Here I found some very colorful rocks along my way. I was opposite Nako Ø.

#067

In the photo below I am showing you this beautiful sculptural rock. What is now solidified into rock layers were once sand, mud and minerals metamorphosed by pressure and heat into these interesting slab shapes in this vertical area. Curiously enough, next to it is a form of basalt known as traprock and nearer is a layer of bright orange brown iron. In some areas of this region the deposits of iron are so pure and extensive they affect compass readings. Fredrica DeLaguna talks about her experience when her compass did not tell her where magnetic north was but instead where the nearest iron ore deposit was.

#068

In this area you really don’t have to go very far to find traprock. Below is a photo of extensive traprock that looks like a jumble of cubes and white feldspar layered between gray hornblende with a well supplied brook splashing down the cliff face.

I thought it was very interesting the contrast in rock types sandwiched together side by side.

Now when you think about it there I am in my kayak, how am I going to collect any water from this stream?

Really after all these years, by now, I should have devised a container system that I could attach to the end of my paddle so that I can just extend the paddle to the waterfall and gather some water. You would think by now that I would have thought up some nifty solution so that I could enjoy some sparklingly fresh water.

As you can see there is no flat stable rock anywhere that I can to get out of my kayak to stand on.

Indeed what happens to the stream is that it falls into the water behind those large boulders at the base of this escarpment.

For me to collect water I would have had to make a very risky move of getting somehow out of the cockpit and clamoring over this unstable deposit from above of assorted rocks, especially traprock, to access the water. How well I do know that attempting this trick is dicey to say the least because when dealing with rocks at the bases of a cliff who knows when the next one might decide to fall.

I took the photo and moved on rather grumpy because the water was as usual with these waterfalls, beyond my reach. I have attempted to gather and balance some water on my paddle only to just have nothing but a thin layer to lick by the time I got the paddle to my mouth. The paddle would seem to be holding some water on its face but that was mere imagination. The paddle blade is flat and not hollowed in the middle. In moments like this it would be nice if there was a slight hollow in the face of the paddle so that I could dip myself some water with it from a waterfall. Time to invent a water collector!

#069

In passing by this area I was rather surprised to find that even though the map below shows all these brooks and surely there must be some water, none of them except for the last one were anything other than lines of rocks wending down to the waters edge with no evidence of water.

So I wondered here we go again it is the same story lots of brooks on the map but no water in them.

This map shows the stream with its source from above that you see in the photo above. This stream is fed by the lake shown on this map which must have had robust springs filling it.

#070

After I passed that water fall, I mentioned before, I continued along the coast which broke back from the endless cliffs and steep rocks wending down to low-level terrain.

Behold there it was, who would believe just over there was undeniably a beach, in fact it was a large, long beach.

Then,

Then I saw numerous plastic ropes, boards, sticks, logs and objects washed up along its length at the high tide line.

Well sure enough I thought to myself many people have been here and I bet that this is the well known ammassat fishing site.

Now there is no such thing as an Ammassat site without water, lots of water and sand, because Ammassat have to spawn in flowing water in sandy areas.

But from where I was looking from my cockpit I saw no water. Look at this photo below do you see any water?

This photo is not of this area but I selected it to show you how illusive brooks with flowing water can appear from the cockpit.

#071

Well what do you know! There was lots of water gushing down the hill in not just one but two brooks.

The water was not visible until I was directly opposite its outfall because it had eroded a channel through the beach. Later when walking over the beach after I landed I found the double channels because from a distance I saw boxes, poles and things for catching fish along the edges. ****

Again I thought to myself “what a relief!” Nothing like fresh water!

There is no place that looks like this anywhere I have been and every one goes here to catch ammassat when they are running in mid June. I could see why as I looked at all that verdant water gushing down the hillside and the really grand beach.

The beach was huge perfect for landing boats on. Indeed this beach was the largest beach I have seen anywhere in this area.

Ammassat, a type of smelt, need beach areas to lay their eggs.

I remember in Newfoundland that the smelt just covered the sand beaches with their eggs making camping on the beaches in July a smelly project as the unhatched eggs are decomposing in the sunlight.

Below is a map showing this area labeled on the map as Narssaq. This 1:250,000 Saga map does not show any of the extensive beach where the brooks flow through making a ten foot wide rivulet that I had to wade to cross.

Using this map while on the water is somewhat challenging and later I became really lost.

There is an important large archeological site where people lived called Qardiit.

From my kayak on the water it is not visible but the Upernavik Museum found that this dwelling site was extensive indicating that many people had lived here.

#072

The water rushing down the hillside was noticeably noisy being the only noise in the area.

The beach had plenty of red and pink feldspathic rhombohedral shaped crystalline stones.

Below is a picture from behind Aappilattoq which is in the same coloration of the same mineral.

#073

I arrived at the beach at 16:00 that afternoon of August 1^st. 2009. Coming here I had a quiet paddle the first half then as I neared this area I had wind in my face because the wind was funneling down from the glacier. and in this passage I was in a narrow area causing the venturi effect

I took the next day off to enjoy this area.

While sitting in my tent on the beach one of the delights is that I can watch the ducks and birds while not disturbing or alarming them because they are not aware of me in my tent.

I have seen numerous common and King Eiders, some sort of black and white duck and a Merganser but no auks. I think Auks prefer to live in the outer areas of these fjords.

The brilliant sun made it very hot in my tent as I spent my time reading. There are many mosquitoes in my floorless tent so I am glad that I have refuge my mosquito dome so that I can read in peace. Then I went out for a walk

At 16:00 all was quiet – no wind. There were mixed clouds overhead

Instead of dragging my kayak up the beach I let the tide carry it up. Every so often when as my kayak started to float sideways on the incoming the tide I would tow it via its bow line to the top of the shallows so that I could keep it perpendicular to the incoming tide.

I found that once I finished floating the kayak up the beach to the peak of the incoming tide I could just fall asleep for the night. Next morning I would wake up and find it at the top of the tide line all safe and dry but now it would be a big project to relaunch.

Now I hemmed and hawed over the whole thing.

How do I launch this kayak down this soft sandy beach without killing myself.

My kayak is sitting on last night’s high tide line. My strategy is that I am waiting for the highest of the high tides to refloat my kayak.

Now I have changed my launching strategy I will launch in the morning rather than deal with getting on the water at high tide which at midnight night. That is kind of a drag I think because I cannot be sure I will wake up at midnight and it makes for a short overnight sleep.

I have readjusted my rudder lines and tied them off to the sides.

Last year I became stuck in my cockpit under the rudder lines. Believe me that was not a good situation. I realized that the lines must be tied off to the side boards out of my way so that they do not bind on my thighs and knees.

At 18:00 there is light wind from the west with mixed clouds.

I found numerous birch trees growing on this hillside indicating that this is a sheltered warm area. The bright sun warms this south facing gentle slope. The photo below is taken elsewhere and it does not show the size and density of the birches here. The birches were a foot high in dense hummocks all across the lower portion of the hillside.

#074

Here and there alone and among the birches I also found both blue and crow berries ripe for eating. This was my first time actually finding large sized blueberries edible. I enjoyed hunting them out and feasting on them. Usually crowberries are the only berries edible this time of year on into mid August are they found ripe enough to eat.

I so enjoyed this warm pleasant spot and took a day off to wander around looking at plants, because I know there are not many spots like this.

#075

I can tell you strolling among this intense variety of plants was very exciting because finding so many birches of such great size and density was not something I had expected however the ground was soft and boggy not suitable for habitation. It made me realize that people choose where they live based upon how dry and solid and dry the earth is beneath them. In cases where sod houses are to be built the availability of sod for house walls was a very important factor. Where tents would be used they could be built on smooth rock outcroppings with a good area view of the water for hunting and near access to get off the water via kayak, umiaq or dogsled.

Of great interest to me was a large pale green lichen, which could either be Omphalina hudsoniana Bigelow or Peltigra malacea Fruch, among crowberry and reindeer lichen I came across.

I found this lichen and among Cetraria and Cladonia commonly called Red Soldiers.

This soil is acidic judging by the berries and lichens which prefer acidic soil that grow here

Looking at the surface area of this lichen it is one of the largest lichens anywhere the only lichen on this same scale I found down in Orpit of Laksefjord called Peltigra leucophlebia a bright green lichen that likes to grow at the bases of willows in very wet conditions.

This lichen is something not too common in this region except where the soil is rich and conditions are warm.

# 076

When I have tried to use my foam rollers on sand beaches they just become buried. They only work rock slabs but when I have to rest the hull on some sharp rocks they work nicely as hull protectors. I bind them around the hull as slings so that if the kayak happens to float it will be more likely to rest on these foam roller protective pads.

The photo below was taken south of where I was to show my roller usage in this general area in 2003.

What is amusing to me about this photo now is that it is a view from my campsite then which I never found because I happened to round an island not realizing what I was doing at the time.

#077

Next morning August 2^nd. 2009 weather at 9:45 some wind was blowing. I really regret with these observations that I never bothered to record the atmospheric pressure because those observations are interesting to relate to cloud and wind observations.

Then that morning I got a bright idea, actually it was the same as a couple days ago.

All I had to do was to find some logs and since there was so much debris washed up on this beach there ought to be some logs somewhere, so I looked up and down the beach and found some large 4 to 5 inch diameter logs. And there they were just perfect for me to use as rollers to get the kayak gently and nicely back down that beach – whew!

Even though I had figured this trick out to use large logs at the previous sandy beach launch site I just did not think I would be using it again so soon, but one never knows!

Ah how convenient I went for a search on the beach and have found another 3 to 4 inch diameter three foot long log, just perfect to use as a roller on this beach.

The ultimate portable solution would be to buy some light weight, inflatable rollers but I know that inflatable bags for whitewater exist I just need a cylinder shape.

Any roller works better than trying to carry the kayak up end over end.

I cannot lift my kayak directly off the ground onto my shoulder, it weighs too much.

Below is a photo illustrating using foam rollers on the stone slab.

You can see that there are grab handles on the bow and stern but nothing convenient farther toward the cockpit. I attempted to devise a sling made of line but the sling really did not offer direct lifting all that would happen is that the sling would compress the hull and nothing helpful for lifting directly up on to a height that I could just slip a log under the hull.

Below is a photo taken in 1993 when I was in Laksefjorden. You can see my tent and my deep footprints on the very soft sand.

That particular sand was especially soft because it had a large percentage of rock flour combined with the sand that had come from just a short distance away where the glacial streams emptied rock flower into the water.

#078