NPL Day 10: Monday 26 June 2023

Geinnodatgielas-Holmvannet

We slept until 8 as usual today. In the morning, there was some sun shining through the clouds, and the landscape was flat and criss-crossing through wetlands.

After a few km we had breakfast. We both had to do our business in a hole, but there were so many blackflies there that Kim almost felt traumatized afterwards and had a hard time eating breakfast. Everything was itching down there like crazy, as if they were still there crawling around 😫

Then we hiked through a cozy birch forest and up on the mountain. Up there we followed an ATV track for quite some time. Until we reached an intersection. The cairns was going along the right track, but Kim's map there wasn't even an intersection, there was just a trail straight ahead. On Lukas map there was a trail crossing a reindeer fence. In reality there was no reindeer fence, anymore, at least. So we went straight ahead.

Everything was all good for a little while and it was easy to walk. It looked like the path to the right was going straight into the wetlands and bushes.

But then we reached the top of the hill and the ATV track completely disappears. Om the map the trail goes straight through the bushes, so we try to follow the trail on the map, but in reality there is no trail there at all. Just bushes and wetlands.

After a lot of effort we cross the cairns again.

Weird.

Then we walk on, and we are making fast and easy progress. We have a lot of interesting things to talk about which helps to pass the time.

We have dinner by a stream, and take quite a long break because we're tired. When we leave we see two hikers at the top of the hill, which we guessed must have been the two French hikers Hervé and Sophie. They had started two days later than us from the North Cape and we knew they were faster than us. It was just a question about time until they would catch up with us.

We are planning to hike 5 more km and put up our tent by a lake, so we keep going.

To pass the time we play "guess which famous person I'm thinking of" and we also get attacked by jaegers.

Following the trail goes well at first, but then again we have the issue that the cairns are going one way and the ATV tracks another way. Unfortunately, we chose the ATV tracks again and ended up in bushes again.

We found the trail again just before we reached our planned tent spot, so we cross a stream, put up the tent and quickly washed ourselves. Then the French hikers reached us. We decide to camp together, and then we sit out in the midnight sun and talk for a few hours. They haven't met a single soul for the past 90 km (so in Olderfjord)!? But we hadn't either.

The evening was really nice except all the mosquitoes! Luckily it isn't so warm so we can sit in fully protective clothing.

Today's:

Distance: 30.81 km

Start time: 08:54

End time: 19:35

Ascent: 525 m

Descent: 449 m

Tent nights: 10/11

Lukas' swims: 1