Into Auyuittuq National Park!
Mount Overlord (above) and its minions can be intimidating - it looks like a giant granite hand reaching for the sky. Luckily, my landing was an easy one.
I was extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to go into the park with Comedian/Veteran Parks Interpreter Billy, the friendly Tommy, the cheery Jenna, and the fast Ciera. We met at the Parks Office in town (check out this impressive scafolding built for repainting) at 08:30, and soon left by boat for the park. It was really cool seeing Pang from the middle of the Fjord. In case you didn't know, a fjord is a deep basin carved out by the "tongue" of a glacier. In fact, they're usually deeper than the sea they are connected to. The same hot-butter cutting applies to the sides of the mountains too, creating dramatic cliff faces. The famous mountains here are named after names and places from Nordic folklore: Thor (largest cliff face in the world); Odin, the tallest of Baffin's Peaks; and Asgard (feautured in the Bond film "The Spy Who Loved Me" - video.
As glaciers melt, they leaves behind moraines, which can be either from loose cliff faces, or from water flow. This pictures below are some example of "lateral" moraines, which are formed as a result of loose rock falling. The large boulders you'll see in the pictures below, and in pictures from my hike in a previous post are the result of this instability. Billy actually told a story of having seen one tumble and crash down the mountainside many years ago (and one about a teenage polar bear who was hiding behind a rock).
Because this was a one day hike, we didn't go very far. Overlord was the only "landmark mountain" we say, and although we glimpsed some glaciers, I didn't get to see the Penny Ice Cap - a shrinking remnant from the last ice age. We had landed just outside of the park at the most inland shore the high tide would let us reach, and walked to the first emergency shelter. On our way there, we saw ducks, and Canadian Geese. I think the ducks in the picture below were feeding, but I know nothing about them. Please tell me if you know what they were up to!
At the emergency shelter, Tommy couldn't decide between the MRE's he brought. Apparently they've improved so much that you can now taste the difference between stir-fry chicken (his left hand) and roast beef (right). He told me that each of the emergency shelters have a radio repeater on their roofs so that visitors can contact the Parks Office in Pang if needed. He also showed me the emergency radio there, which had enough spare D-size batteries to probably last a month! There was also a log with hilarious entries inside, and entries by citizens from all over the globe! A Chinese group complained about the rain, and some Kiwis drew a very detailed comic about their journey in the park.
Armed with a new camera remote I purchased, I quickly found out that the maximum range is a little disappointing. Still, I find this test shot to be humorous.
Interesting water erosion on sand, low angle footprint shot, and some ice poking out.
Our journey back allowed for much more photo-taking. We had arrived at the shelter much quicker than anticipated, and Billy had already arranged for the boat to pick us up specifically at 14:30. This let us stop and watch some birds, enjoy the sounds of a waterfall, and examine interesting objects on the beach. The low tide revealed some sunken treasures! Below you will find a variety of pictures. Many have captions that will only display if you hover your mouse over them.
Interesting water erosion on sand, low angle footprint shot, and some ice poking out.
Silly Billy
