Mosquito

Day 3 of the Arctic Circle Trail
Km hiked today: 27
I miss: Some more mosquito spray. I'm afraid we'll run out before we get to the coast.

I am going to keep these texts short. Hiking this trail will only take about 7 days, so no time to write too much. Gotta take in everything around me and not stare at my phone all day. We walked out of town, and my pack was the heaviest it's been in many years. 12 kilos. TWELVE KILOS. (On a normal hike, it's 4.5 kg.) Food and heavy rain gear were pulling on my shoulders. I was expecting it to be a cold and rainy trail, so I decided not to use the ultra-light rain gear but the heavy-duty one. In hindsight, the lightweight stuff would have been enough, but you know how it is. Better safe than sorry.

We followed a road, hiked past the tiny little harbor, and made it to a muddy ATV track until we spotted the first hut of the trail in the distance. I was excited to eat lunch there, and I wasn't quite sure if we had found the place when we stood in front of a rusty run-down camper van. I had imagined a beautiful, clean hut with an oven like the ones I had seen in Sweden on the Kungsleden. It was the total opposite and gross, so we decided to stay outside and have lunch by the lake despite the never-ending mosquito attacks.

While munching away on cheese and crackers, we met Ben, a guy from Germany who ended up hiking with us all day. The three of us encountered reindeer with beautiful antlers and countless hares which are easy to spot with their white fur. We camped on the top of a hill and went for a swim in the ice-cold lake. It felt glorious hopping into the ice-cold water after a sweaty day of hiking. The only downside to lakes is—you guessed it—the mosquitoes. Holy shit, there are many. We cooked dinner, and when it became too much to handle, we huddled inside the tent. There and then, a new tradition was born: Evening-Rum-Tea. Best thing ever. Beanies pulled over our faces, I slept better than I had in a very long time. There are no trees in Greenland, so everything is silent. I usually wake up like 10 times when I camp, but here I sleep like a baby and way too long every day. Maybe the rum-tea does the trick. Either way, sleeping is easy here.