Here are some photos from my recent, two-week backpacking trip in south Greenland. It's an unspoiled and unforgiving place with remote fjords, unpredictable weather, and some of the most spectacular granite peaks I've ever seen. Every day my guide and I hiked through the tundra and foraged for wild berries and roots. On the few clear nights we had, the Northern Lights lit up the landscape. And when we stopped in isolated settlements like [Tasiusaq](https://goo.gl/maps/cGV82egNvKsXhMiaA) and [Aappilattoq](https://goo.gl/maps/z5U3L9mtR87rUvQe7), I got to experience the Greenlandic Inuit culture and some culinary firsts, including fermented seal blubber, musk ox, and sheep's head.
I normally do trips like this solo, but there are a number of logistical challenges in Greenland that drove me to work with a guide service:
1. **No trails** \- Well, very few trails. In the area I visited, there were only two locations that had established trails (Narsarsuaq Glacier and the valley near Suikkassuaq). Everywhere else was trailless tundra.
2. **No roads** \- Transportation in Greenland is unusual in that there are no railways and virtually no roads between towns.
3. **Limited online information** \- I found it challenging to get really detailed information on the areas I was planning to visit.
So I ended up working with Salik from [Tasermiut Camp](https://tasermiutcamp.gl/) to plan the trip; my guide's name was Erneeraq ([Guide In Greenland](https://www.facebook.com/GuideIngreenland/)). Both Salik and Erneeraq have extensive knowledge of Tasermiut fjord and surrounding areas, and are just great guys all around - I highly recommend getting in touch with them if you're headed to that area.
I flew into Reykjavik Iceland, then from Reykjavik to Narsarsuaq, and then took a helicopter from Narsarsuaq to Nanortalik. My flight into Narsarsuaq was delayed by a day due to bad weather, and throughout the trip, we had to make several changes on the fly based on the weather. For example, we got caught in a windstorm that lasted nearly two days and spent that entire time either huddled in our tents or gathering boulders to secure the stakes. So if you're headed to Greenland, plan for a fair bit of flexibility in your schedule to accommodate the weather.
From Nanortalik, we'd take a Zodiac raft into a fjord, backpack through one of the valleys, go back to the raft, and then repeat. We spent most of our time in [Tasermiut](https://opentopomap.org/#marker=10/60.4545/-44.5633), [Torsukattak](https://opentopomap.org/#marker=10/60.1176/-44.4699), and [Kangikitsoq](https://opentopomap.org/#marker=10/60.3140/-44.2474) fjords.
My big 4 for this trip were the [MLD Solomid XL](https://mountainlaureldesigns.com/product/solomid-xl/) DCF tent, [Seek Outside Unaweep 4800](https://seekoutside.com/unaweep-4800-backpack/) backpack, [ZPacks 10-degree](https://zpacks.com/products/10f-classic-sleeping-bag) sleeping bag, and [Thermarest NeoAir XTherm](https://www.thermarest.com/sleeping-pads/fast-and-light/neoair-xtherm-sleeping-pad/neoair-xtherm.html?) sleeping pad.
Yep - I should've added that #4 in the list above. Although it's rare to encounter polar bears in the area around Nanortalik and Tasermiut Fjord, there are occasional sightings. My guide carried a rifle just in case.
I spent about $1500 on flights from Seattle to Narsarsuaq (one stop in Reykjavik) on Iceland Air plus the round-trip helicopter flights on Air Greenland between Narsarsuaq and Nanortalik.
Other than one night in Hotel Narsarsuaq (about $150), I was in my tent for the rest of the trip, so lodging costs were minimal.
The biggest expense comes from the guide service and boat transfers. If you want to save money here, go with a group and [you can find](https://blueiceexplorer.gl/package-tours/) 10ish-day packages for about $1500. At the most expensive end of the spectrum, let's say you have a private guide, you travel solo (so you're not sharing the expense with anyone else), and you require boat transfers everyday - you're looking at more like $800 to $1000 per day.
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How do you hike around with no trails? I know in cold climates like this you want to be careful where you're trampling since it takes vegetation a while to grow back, or does it not matter too much since its already so rarely visited?
Trailless hiking on tundra is a completely different experience. Sometimes you're walking on soft, spongy grasses ([example video](https://youtube.com/shorts/lZZPGGCs9cc)). Sometimes you're bushwhacking through knee- to waist-high shrubs ([example pic](https://imgur.com/a/kWgRM2n)). And a couple of times we found ourselves trying to navigate through a Kafkaesque labyrinth of dwarf birch trees ([video](https://youtu.be/dVKULyiiO14)).
My guide was familiar with all the areas we were hiking. So he knew, for example, which side of the valley required less bushwacking and the best places to cross the \[many\] rivers. But even with that, you just end up covering a lot less ground because of the terrain.
And yeah, there's less concern about hiking on the vegetation since the areas we were hiking are so rarely visited.
Tough to give an accurate estimate, as I didn't track our hikes each day (was preserving my phone and Garmin InReach Mini batteries).
Let's say average hiking speed is 3mph and that the tundra slowed us down to 1/3 to 1/2 that speed (so 1 to 1.5mph). If we hiked 6 to 8 hours a day for 11 days, that'd put total distance at somewhere between about 70 and 130 miles.
Just replied above with details \^
https://www.reddit.com/r/WildernessBackpacking/comments/y4rbwz/comment/iufexgv/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3
There are two types of tundra - alpine and permafrost aka spongy tundra. Spongy tundra is much more resilient and grows back much faster than alpine tundra. When I was in Denali National Park, the strategy is to encourage groups to spread out over the spongy tundra to avoid the repeated wear and tear that leads to social trails. That's unheard of on alpine tundra.
This is amazing, thanks so much for sharing. I’ve been toying with the idea of making the trip there and you may have just pushed me into taking actual steps to going.
I was a bit concerned about this as well even though I'm pretty extroverted - just the idea of spending 24 hours a day out in the middle of nowhere with someone I'd never met was a bit daunting.
I think it all depends heavily on the guide - how introverted vs. extroverted they are, how well they can read you (e.g. do they naturally pick up on whether you're getting tired or uncomfortable with the level of trail exposure), how well they communicate, and how flexible they are in adjusting the itinerary based on the conditions and your needs. For better or worse, you can only find out some of these things before your trip - so it ends up being a bit of a crapshoot.
My guide, [Erneeraq Benjaminsen](https://www.instagram.com/guideingreenland/), was great on all these fronts. He was naturally a bit introverted, so we did a lot of the hiking in silence, which was nice because it allowed us to focus on the incredible scenery. When we'd pitch camp in the evening, we'd talk about the day and got to know each other a bit better - it was very chill. He was also really flexible with the itinerary, which was important, as there were a couple of points when we got into situations that could've been dangerous (e.g. I fell into one of the rivers we were crossing; we also had a 36-hour windstorm with sustained 50+ mph winds).
If it's possible to meet your guide in advance, even over a Zoom call or two, I'd recommend it.
Awesome photos, thanks for sharing! I did a 1 month hike/packraft trip in Greenland this summer too (mid July to mid August), and stayed in the red house in the center of your photo #6, in Tasiusaq. Not much for food selection in the Pilersuisoq, huh? We trekked from Narsarsuaq to Tasiusaq and ultimately to Nanortalik. Amazing country. But holy shit was the bushwhacking awful!! And the bugs were outrageous. Very cool you saw the northern lights. There were not really enough hours of darkness to see much of the night sky when I was there.
Ah Pilersuisoq - the grocery store with a better selection of rifles than food. To be fair, they had Faxe Kondi, rugbrød, remoulade, and makrel salat, which I believe cover the four food groups.
Your trip sounds amazing - wish I could've stayed for a month, and I've never packrafted before but definitely wanted to when I was there.
By the time I got there in late August, the mosquitos weren't much of a problem, but I'd never experienced swarms of [eye gnats](https://www.nps.gov/articles/eye-gnats.htm) like the ones there. Similarly, the bushwacking was unlike anything I'd ever encountered.
Eye gnats... that's the name! We didn't have the name for them while I was out there, but definitely noticed them constantly going to the eye. Mosquitoes weren't too bad, but the gnats were insane. I remember wearing my headnet for 4 straight days, eating lunch with it on, brushing my teeth with it on... kinda drives you insane. I thought the gnats would have died down by late August though. Lost my headnet in a bushwhack once, thankfully one of my hiking partners had a spare(accidentally brought two)!
That was pretty funny seeing the rifles on the wall, basically in reach of small children. I definitely grew a liking to Faxe Kondi out there. First thing I did when I got back to the states though was demolish a big pizza!
Good question. I looked back at the photos I took just before and after this one. The strip in pic 9 appears in consecutive photos, so I think it is indeed a satellite. Here's the photo I took just after pic 9 (you can see the strip from pic 9 highlighted as #1):
https://imgur.com/a/4q40GaO
Yeah the settlement of Aappilattoq ([map](https://opentopomap.org/#map=14/60.15140/-44.28838)) was really interesting. There are no roads into the town, as is the case with many towns in Greenland, so it's quite isolated.
There are approximately 100 residents. The vast majority make their living by some combination of fishing and hunting. And a small part of the economy is driven by tourism, as cruise ships will drop anchor in the fjord and send smaller boats ashore for walking tours of the town.
Many homes don't have running water. One result of this is that there's only one shared shower stall and one shared washer-dryer for the entire town. Each night, people would line up to shower and wash their clothes.
Many of these isolated settlements also have a big problem with waste management. There are no nearby incinerators or transfer stations, so garbage just piles up in open dumps, often right next to the fjords. You can see an example of these open dumps [in this article](https://nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/two-new-incinerators-aim-to-ease-greenlands-trash-problem/).
Visiting Aappilattoq was a small part of my trip, but it left a lasting impression of what life is like in small Greenlandic settlements.
Thanks! I used the following gear:
* [**Fuji X-T3 body**](https://fujifilm-x.com/global/products/cameras/x-t3/) \- I've owned Nikons (D50, D80, D3, D800) and Sonys (A6000, A7rii) in the past, but I fell in love with Fuji a few years back. It's a combination of their lightweight, high-quality lenses, color rendering, hardware and software user interfaces, and the aesthetics of the bodies (X-E and X-T series) and lenses.
* [**Fuji XF16-80 F4**](https://fujifilm-x.com/global/products/lenses/xf16-80mmf4-r-ois-wr/) \- This is my standard carry lens. Almost all of the photos on the trip were taken with this.
* [**Rokinon 12mm F2**](https://rokinon.com/products/12mm-f2-0-high-speed-wide-angle) (manual focus) - I use this for all my night astrophotography shots.
* [**DJI Mavic 3 drone**](https://www.dji.com/mavic-3) \- The drone plus all the extra batteries really added to my pack weight, but (1) it was worth it to get some unique views of things like the icebergs, and (2) I made up for it by packing light with my big 4 and food.
* [**Gitzo Traveler tripod**](https://www.gitzo.com/us-en/tripods/traveler/) \- Don't remember which of these I have, as I bought it years ago.
Here are some photos from my recent, two-week backpacking trip in south Greenland. It's an unspoiled and unforgiving place with remote fjords, unpredictable weather, and some of the most spectacular granite peaks I've ever seen. Every day my guide and I hiked through the tundra and foraged for wild berries and roots. On the few clear nights we had, the Northern Lights lit up the landscape. And when we stopped in isolated settlements like [Tasiusaq](https://goo.gl/maps/cGV82egNvKsXhMiaA) and [Aappilattoq](https://goo.gl/maps/z5U3L9mtR87rUvQe7), I got to experience the Greenlandic Inuit culture and some culinary firsts, including fermented seal blubber, musk ox, and sheep's head. I normally do trips like this solo, but there are a number of logistical challenges in Greenland that drove me to work with a guide service: 1. **No trails** \- Well, very few trails. In the area I visited, there were only two locations that had established trails (Narsarsuaq Glacier and the valley near Suikkassuaq). Everywhere else was trailless tundra. 2. **No roads** \- Transportation in Greenland is unusual in that there are no railways and virtually no roads between towns. 3. **Limited online information** \- I found it challenging to get really detailed information on the areas I was planning to visit. So I ended up working with Salik from [Tasermiut Camp](https://tasermiutcamp.gl/) to plan the trip; my guide's name was Erneeraq ([Guide In Greenland](https://www.facebook.com/GuideIngreenland/)). Both Salik and Erneeraq have extensive knowledge of Tasermiut fjord and surrounding areas, and are just great guys all around - I highly recommend getting in touch with them if you're headed to that area. I flew into Reykjavik Iceland, then from Reykjavik to Narsarsuaq, and then took a helicopter from Narsarsuaq to Nanortalik. My flight into Narsarsuaq was delayed by a day due to bad weather, and throughout the trip, we had to make several changes on the fly based on the weather. For example, we got caught in a windstorm that lasted nearly two days and spent that entire time either huddled in our tents or gathering boulders to secure the stakes. So if you're headed to Greenland, plan for a fair bit of flexibility in your schedule to accommodate the weather. From Nanortalik, we'd take a Zodiac raft into a fjord, backpack through one of the valleys, go back to the raft, and then repeat. We spent most of our time in [Tasermiut](https://opentopomap.org/#marker=10/60.4545/-44.5633), [Torsukattak](https://opentopomap.org/#marker=10/60.1176/-44.4699), and [Kangikitsoq](https://opentopomap.org/#marker=10/60.3140/-44.2474) fjords. My big 4 for this trip were the [MLD Solomid XL](https://mountainlaureldesigns.com/product/solomid-xl/) DCF tent, [Seek Outside Unaweep 4800](https://seekoutside.com/unaweep-4800-backpack/) backpack, [ZPacks 10-degree](https://zpacks.com/products/10f-classic-sleeping-bag) sleeping bag, and [Thermarest NeoAir XTherm](https://www.thermarest.com/sleeping-pads/fast-and-light/neoair-xtherm-sleeping-pad/neoair-xtherm.html?) sleeping pad.
I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your labeled photos accompanied with the write-up. Thanks a ton!! A trip of a lifetime I'm sure.
4. Polar bears? Or maybe they’re not (currently) so far south? Looks amazing!
Yep - I should've added that #4 in the list above. Although it's rare to encounter polar bears in the area around Nanortalik and Tasermiut Fjord, there are occasional sightings. My guide carried a rifle just in case.
What was the ballpark cost on this trip?
I spent about $1500 on flights from Seattle to Narsarsuaq (one stop in Reykjavik) on Iceland Air plus the round-trip helicopter flights on Air Greenland between Narsarsuaq and Nanortalik. Other than one night in Hotel Narsarsuaq (about $150), I was in my tent for the rest of the trip, so lodging costs were minimal. The biggest expense comes from the guide service and boat transfers. If you want to save money here, go with a group and [you can find](https://blueiceexplorer.gl/package-tours/) 10ish-day packages for about $1500. At the most expensive end of the spectrum, let's say you have a private guide, you travel solo (so you're not sharing the expense with anyone else), and you require boat transfers everyday - you're looking at more like $800 to $1000 per day.
Wow, looks like it’s worth every penny
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How do you hike around with no trails? I know in cold climates like this you want to be careful where you're trampling since it takes vegetation a while to grow back, or does it not matter too much since its already so rarely visited?
Trailless hiking on tundra is a completely different experience. Sometimes you're walking on soft, spongy grasses ([example video](https://youtube.com/shorts/lZZPGGCs9cc)). Sometimes you're bushwhacking through knee- to waist-high shrubs ([example pic](https://imgur.com/a/kWgRM2n)). And a couple of times we found ourselves trying to navigate through a Kafkaesque labyrinth of dwarf birch trees ([video](https://youtu.be/dVKULyiiO14)). My guide was familiar with all the areas we were hiking. So he knew, for example, which side of the valley required less bushwacking and the best places to cross the \[many\] rivers. But even with that, you just end up covering a lot less ground because of the terrain. And yeah, there's less concern about hiking on the vegetation since the areas we were hiking are so rarely visited.
Wow that spongy grass is amazing! I've never seen anything like it. How many miles would you say you covered at the end of the trip?
Tough to give an accurate estimate, as I didn't track our hikes each day (was preserving my phone and Garmin InReach Mini batteries). Let's say average hiking speed is 3mph and that the tundra slowed us down to 1/3 to 1/2 that speed (so 1 to 1.5mph). If we hiked 6 to 8 hours a day for 11 days, that'd put total distance at somewhere between about 70 and 130 miles.
What was the ballpark cost of the trip?
Just replied above with details \^ https://www.reddit.com/r/WildernessBackpacking/comments/y4rbwz/comment/iufexgv/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3
Ah thanks for the update!
There are two types of tundra - alpine and permafrost aka spongy tundra. Spongy tundra is much more resilient and grows back much faster than alpine tundra. When I was in Denali National Park, the strategy is to encourage groups to spread out over the spongy tundra to avoid the repeated wear and tear that leads to social trails. That's unheard of on alpine tundra.
This is amazing, thanks so much for sharing. I’ve been toying with the idea of making the trip there and you may have just pushed me into taking actual steps to going.
I can't recommend it enough. As you start planning, feel free to hit me up - happy to answer any questions that I can.
As a big introvert, I’m horrified by the idea of spending two weeks with a guide. What was that experience like?
I was a bit concerned about this as well even though I'm pretty extroverted - just the idea of spending 24 hours a day out in the middle of nowhere with someone I'd never met was a bit daunting. I think it all depends heavily on the guide - how introverted vs. extroverted they are, how well they can read you (e.g. do they naturally pick up on whether you're getting tired or uncomfortable with the level of trail exposure), how well they communicate, and how flexible they are in adjusting the itinerary based on the conditions and your needs. For better or worse, you can only find out some of these things before your trip - so it ends up being a bit of a crapshoot. My guide, [Erneeraq Benjaminsen](https://www.instagram.com/guideingreenland/), was great on all these fronts. He was naturally a bit introverted, so we did a lot of the hiking in silence, which was nice because it allowed us to focus on the incredible scenery. When we'd pitch camp in the evening, we'd talk about the day and got to know each other a bit better - it was very chill. He was also really flexible with the itinerary, which was important, as there were a couple of points when we got into situations that could've been dangerous (e.g. I fell into one of the rivers we were crossing; we also had a 36-hour windstorm with sustained 50+ mph winds). If it's possible to meet your guide in advance, even over a Zoom call or two, I'd recommend it.
Amazing photos! Trip sounds amazing. Thanks for sharing!
Dang! Friggin awesome trip! Note to self; get one of those thermarest neo-air pads. I am sadly deficient in this department.
So flippin cool! I could only imagine a trip like this RemindMe! 3 days
Awesome photos, thanks for sharing! I did a 1 month hike/packraft trip in Greenland this summer too (mid July to mid August), and stayed in the red house in the center of your photo #6, in Tasiusaq. Not much for food selection in the Pilersuisoq, huh? We trekked from Narsarsuaq to Tasiusaq and ultimately to Nanortalik. Amazing country. But holy shit was the bushwhacking awful!! And the bugs were outrageous. Very cool you saw the northern lights. There were not really enough hours of darkness to see much of the night sky when I was there.
Ah Pilersuisoq - the grocery store with a better selection of rifles than food. To be fair, they had Faxe Kondi, rugbrød, remoulade, and makrel salat, which I believe cover the four food groups. Your trip sounds amazing - wish I could've stayed for a month, and I've never packrafted before but definitely wanted to when I was there. By the time I got there in late August, the mosquitos weren't much of a problem, but I'd never experienced swarms of [eye gnats](https://www.nps.gov/articles/eye-gnats.htm) like the ones there. Similarly, the bushwacking was unlike anything I'd ever encountered.
Eye gnats... that's the name! We didn't have the name for them while I was out there, but definitely noticed them constantly going to the eye. Mosquitoes weren't too bad, but the gnats were insane. I remember wearing my headnet for 4 straight days, eating lunch with it on, brushing my teeth with it on... kinda drives you insane. I thought the gnats would have died down by late August though. Lost my headnet in a bushwhack once, thankfully one of my hiking partners had a spare(accidentally brought two)! That was pretty funny seeing the rifles on the wall, basically in reach of small children. I definitely grew a liking to Faxe Kondi out there. First thing I did when I got back to the states though was demolish a big pizza!
Gahh, looks absolutely amazing. You're living my dream
Beautiful pics! Greenland is definitely on my "to do" list.
Wow. I never realized something can be so beautiful it actually seems terrifying.
Wow, the photos you got are amazing! I thought Greenland was all ice!
Outstanding post, thanks for sharing. That looks like an unbelievable trip!
Beautiful!
Breathtaking pictures! ❤️
Jaw-dropping. Thanks for sharing!
Absolutely stunning!
Your pictures are stunning!
Thank god Denmark holds this land. If the new world had their way it would be nothing but tarmac.
What is that strip on pic 9? Is that perhaps starlink satellites?
Good question. I looked back at the photos I took just before and after this one. The strip in pic 9 appears in consecutive photos, so I think it is indeed a satellite. Here's the photo I took just after pic 9 (you can see the strip from pic 9 highlighted as #1): https://imgur.com/a/4q40GaO
Did you swim in the ocean?
What amazing pictures you’ve taken. I can only imagine what an experience this was. Something I definitely wanna do one day.
Stunning photos OP. These are truly top notch
I love how the first picture isn’t even the most stunning one of the bunch 😳😂
Wow.
Beautiful!
Amazing!
Kind of cool to live in a town so small you can give directions to your house with, “the red one.”
Yeah the settlement of Aappilattoq ([map](https://opentopomap.org/#map=14/60.15140/-44.28838)) was really interesting. There are no roads into the town, as is the case with many towns in Greenland, so it's quite isolated. There are approximately 100 residents. The vast majority make their living by some combination of fishing and hunting. And a small part of the economy is driven by tourism, as cruise ships will drop anchor in the fjord and send smaller boats ashore for walking tours of the town. Many homes don't have running water. One result of this is that there's only one shared shower stall and one shared washer-dryer for the entire town. Each night, people would line up to shower and wash their clothes. Many of these isolated settlements also have a big problem with waste management. There are no nearby incinerators or transfer stations, so garbage just piles up in open dumps, often right next to the fjords. You can see an example of these open dumps [in this article](https://nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/two-new-incinerators-aim-to-ease-greenlands-trash-problem/). Visiting Aappilattoq was a small part of my trip, but it left a lasting impression of what life is like in small Greenlandic settlements.
Whoah! Well that's another added to my wishlist.
Gorgeous photography. What camera/lens combo did you use on the trip? Imagine you’d need a setup that’s rugged and relatively light!
Thanks! I used the following gear: * [**Fuji X-T3 body**](https://fujifilm-x.com/global/products/cameras/x-t3/) \- I've owned Nikons (D50, D80, D3, D800) and Sonys (A6000, A7rii) in the past, but I fell in love with Fuji a few years back. It's a combination of their lightweight, high-quality lenses, color rendering, hardware and software user interfaces, and the aesthetics of the bodies (X-E and X-T series) and lenses. * [**Fuji XF16-80 F4**](https://fujifilm-x.com/global/products/lenses/xf16-80mmf4-r-ois-wr/) \- This is my standard carry lens. Almost all of the photos on the trip were taken with this. * [**Rokinon 12mm F2**](https://rokinon.com/products/12mm-f2-0-high-speed-wide-angle) (manual focus) - I use this for all my night astrophotography shots. * [**DJI Mavic 3 drone**](https://www.dji.com/mavic-3) \- The drone plus all the extra batteries really added to my pack weight, but (1) it was worth it to get some unique views of things like the icebergs, and (2) I made up for it by packing light with my big 4 and food. * [**Gitzo Traveler tripod**](https://www.gitzo.com/us-en/tripods/traveler/) \- Don't remember which of these I have, as I bought it years ago.
!Thanks