Distractions

Day 5 of the Arctic Circle Trail
Km hiked today: 27

As I was walking today, I noticed something. There weren't any shadows. We're at the height of summer, and it's so insanely bright for so many hours a day. Since there are no trees, not even bushes, and it's often cloudy, you only see shadows when looking at big rock faces in the distance. Telling what time it is feels impossible because 7 a.m. looks pretty much the same as 2 p.m. We were moving slowly all day because we got distracted by all kinds of things. A beautiful lake where we went for a swim and screamed because the water was so cold, a white rabbit came super close, and there was a moment when a baby reindeer walked right up to Mario. Reindeer can't see very well, so this little guy probably didn't see us coming until he stood two meters in front of us. He seemed lost and confused and ran away toward a steep hill. There he made a U-turn only to head in the completely opposite direction. Clearly, he was lost, scared, and frantically looking for his mother, wasting so much energy.

Because of all these little things, we were running behind schedule, so we skipped stopping for a big break and ended up having lunch at 4 p.m. I gulped down my ramen noodles hungrily and anything else I could find like chocolate and cheese in no particular order. After the late lunch, we passed the nicest hut on the trail, Innajuattoq Hut. The only hut I kind of wanted to spend the night at, but we had to get some miles done, the sun was still high up in the sky, so we kept going. Up a hill and away from the mosquitoes. We spotted another reindeer and set up camp above a lake with a view of a mountain range, I will never know the name of. But it was pretty.