Hiking/Dog Packing Adventure Jameson Land – Northeast Greenland

When : July/August

Duration : 7 days / 70 kilometres

Price pr person : 6800 DKK

Guide/tour leader : Yes

Min. no of participants : 4

Included:  hiking guide with dog and rifle while hiking, boat transport from Jameson Land to Ittoqqortoormiit, 1 night stay at Ittoqqortoormiit guesthouse, helicopter ticket from Itt-CNP.

Not included : food in guesthouse, flights to/from Greenland.  Sleeping bags, sleeping mattresses, tents, etc can be rented for a separate charge if you do not wish to bring your own.  Link to hiking packlist

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The Route
Jameson Land is a peninsula in eastern Greenland, bounded to the southwest by Scoresby Sund, the world's biggest fjord system. The nearest town is Ittoqqortoormiit (Scoresbysund), located in the south of the peninsula. Ittoqqortoormiit is the remotest inhabited community in the western hemisphere. The 70 km (44 miles) Jameson Land hike follows the traditional winter musk-ox hunting route taken by hunters and their dog teams.

Itinerary
Day 1 – Saturday
All international flight connections to east Greenland are taken from Reykjavik (Iceland) Municipal Airport to the landing strip at Constable Point (Jameson Land). This is the only flight entry point to the east coast of Greenland. Here you will meet your guide and group.

Satellite phone will to be our main means of communication confirming every other day our well-being, location and heading. Safety gear will include an emergency location beacon. Your guide will bring a Greenland Dog. A trained and condition Greenland Dog can carry a third of its body weight. The dog will carry its own food and act as a vital deterrent against predatory bears while you sleep. Polar bears are always a threat. Your guide will carry a firearm.


Day 2 – Sunday
River crossings at this time of year are nothing more than negotiating strong streams. No ropes required. Fitness level? Expect hiking conditions to vary from easy to moderately difficult terrain each day over 12 km (7 miles). It can snow any month of the year but be prepared for mosquitoes in August. Average daytime temperatures rarely top 10ºC. We will experience 24-hour daylight. Each night we will sleep in tents and cook our own meals.

Day 3 – Monday
In this area birds are abundant at this time of year and you will likely wake up to snow buntings and ringed plovers around camp. Other common migratory birds you’re likely to see during the hike are Arctic terns, Arctic skuas, ravens and gyrfalcons. Vast numbers of geese move into the fertile valleys you’ll be hiking through.

Greenland is a harsh environment resulting in miniature but beautiful Arctic vegetation that create a striking landscape of colours. Versions of their southern counterparts include moss campion, harebells, wintergreens, dandelions and Arctic poppies. Hiking through these flowers the fragrance is gorgeous. Perhaps the most striking of all is the national flower of Greenland known as niviarsiaq, which means “young maidens”. Expect no trees. Dwarf willows and birch, none more than a couple of centimetres tall grow interspersed with Arctic cotton.


Day 4 – Tuesday
Expect to see musk-oxen grazing on moist summer meadows and snow bed vegetation together with lemmings, Arctic Hare and Arctic Fox. A likely treat is to see a ptarmigan with her chicks.


Day 5 – Wednesday
Jameson Land contains some of the richest fossil plant deposits of the Triassic-Jurassic age in the world potentially holding the key to solving the mysteries of tumultuous events that took place around 200 million years ago when lava flooded large areas of the Earth’s surface marking mass extinction of animals and plants. NASA and the National Geographic Society have funded fossil plant research and discovery expeditions to Jameson Land.

Day 6 – Thursday
By today we will have made it to the Scoresby Sund coastline and camp. Ocean currents dictate that all driftwood on Greenland’s east coast comes from Siberia and you can enjoy an open fire and great camp atmosphere to reflect on your adventure and watch eider ducks bobbing or flying between icebergs.

Day 7 – Friday
We will have a boat pick-up from our coastal camp to take us to Ittoqqortoormiit where you can enjoy the rest of the day to explore this unique part of Greenland.  Your overnight accommodation will be the self-catering guesthouse with its hot showers and comfortable beds.

Day 8 – Saturday
There are no roads out of Ittoqqortoormiit so that means a 15-minute helicopter ride to Constable Point for your Reykjavik flight connection.