Our exploration at Murchisonfjord on Nordaustland was inspired by a varde, that peered down over our anchorage at Kinnvika. Frances has a theory that vardes, Norwegian for cairn, are lonely and need company. Or at least that is what she tells Krystina to convince her that going up a steep mountain is a good idea. Somehow the story about lonely piles of rocks needing a surprise visit never fails.
With our plan in place we had to wait long enough to make sure Snow Dragon was happy in her new ice filled anchorage. By the next morning we were confident that the ice was harmless and we set off for shore. Aware that the bay could potentially fill with more ice, we left our dinghy near Snow Dragon instead of going across the bay.
We didn’t get very far before another varde caught our attention. This varde looked particularly lonely sitting on its hill and we decided to pay a visit even though it was in the opposite direction of our intended route. It gave us a good view of the northwest corner of Nordoustland which was still surrounded by drift ice, making it easy to imagine the less than 600 miles of sea and ice that separated us from the North Pole.
It was too windy to eat lunch with the varde so we headed back down and found a nice spot near a salt water lake that was out of the wind but still gave us decent polar bear visibility. Up to this point the terrain had been fairly easy and only slightly deteriorated to more uneven rock as we continued. With shades of red and yellow remaining evident in the landscape throughout our hike.
As we made our way to the spine of the mountain, Krystina sensed something coming towards us and spun around. It was an arctic fox running up to us at full speed. The fox stopped just a few feet away and danced around. It was highly unusual behavior for an animal that is normally very shy. Frances stood there staring in disbelief while Krystina calmly rationalized the situation. At this point it was not clear what the fox’s intentions were or whether or not it was rabid. Krystina got a flare out of her pocket in case the fox needed encouragement to leave and reminded Frances that she might want to take some photos.
The fox looked healthy and was either curious or had been fed by people. It was difficult not give it food but we knew that feeding it was the wrong thing to do. Instead we enjoyed its company until the fox grew tired of us and ran back towards the old scientific research station at the head of the bay.
After the fox left, we continued up to our inspirational varde where we ate our remaining sandwich and got a good look at the north end of Hinlopen Strait. We could see that the past two days of southerly wind had cleared most of the ice on the west side and decided that we would make an attempt the following day.
On our way to leave, we caught sight of another varde, further out on the point. This time we tried to be reasonable, after all we had already walked a long way and our remaining food supply consisted of two caramels and a couple dried apricots. However, our sensible reasoning soon gave way to, “what the hell” and we altered course once again to accommodate another varde into our afternoon stroll.
This one overlooked the ice scattered Murchisonfjord and a spectacular large ice cap that peaked through the snow patched mountains. As an added bonus our path down took us past another varde, giving us one more look at the tempting lead down Hinlopen. Mosquitoes prevented us from lingering and we briskly walked back down to avoid being bitten.
Four vardes and fifteen miles later, we made it back to Snow Dragon who was surrounded by sea ice. Before we could contemplate how we were going to get on board, the ice sheet at her stern politely moved out of the way just long enough for us to the pull the dinghy up and Snow Dragon spent another peaceful night with the ice gently moving around her.
For more photos of Murchison please click on Murchisonfjord Album.
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