Diary of an ACT thru-hiker. Day 8.

Kieran joined us in September 2023 on our inaugural Greenland Arctic Circle Trail trek from the ice-sheet to the sea. He kept a written and photographic journal of his adventure, which he has kindly allowed us to share with you. Check our main blog page for Days 0-7 and daily entries following this one!

The Lake House

15/9/23 Friday. Day 8.

In the hut.

Seriously cold this morning, particularly when we were packing up. We were in the shade of a big rockface, the lake was just below us, and the wind was biting. My socks were warm from the bottom of my sleeping bag (in individual plastic bags and both in a dry bag), but my boots were frozen – the laces stood up vertically by themselves. The socks felt okay when I put them on first, but once I put my feet into my boots they were cold in moments. I’ve stuck with using vaseline rather than taping my feet, and so far so good…

We started off with a small climb, to get the heart going again. We then worked our way around a lake, right at the very edge, and then up a gradual rise to more lakes, with a spectacular mountain to the right. There was occasional bog, but I don’t really mind it after yesterday – yesterday really was the day when we ‘owned’ the ACT.

Glorious weather for most of the day, a little cloud, mainly blues skies and not much breeze. Great light for photos, we’ll see how they come out. It got cold in the late afternoon as we came up to the hut. 

Got a few nice shots of the hut with the lake in front of it, including one of Eamonn standing thigh-deep in it. Unfortunately for Eamonn, he slipped when he went down to the lake to get water for dinner, and landed on his back on a stone. It’s a bed for him tonight and hopefully he’ll be okay tomorrow.

There are actually 12 beds in this hut and only American Hannah here before us, so we’re all sleeping here tonight. I would have been happy to stay outside if anyone else was, but it makes sense to stick together. It’s going to be strange being inside, and hopefully I’ll sleep with everyone else around.  We will see.