Monday, August 24th - The fish was good

After an introductory first day here in the Torngats, today we started the serious business of hiking. Since our arrival we heard about the North Arm as being one of the most beautiful areas of the park so that most of us were optimistic about our day trip. For myself, one of the problems is that we get to pack our own lunch in the form of fantasy-combination sandwiches. I regret missing lunch. Another problem for me is the required 3h boat ride. First of all the sound of the engine constantly reverberates through your whole body so that any activity that doesn't go well with the rhythm is impossible to accomplish. This could include but is not limited to holding a complex conversation, writing or sleeping. Maybe it was just me, other people seemed quite productive. Second of all, it can get very cold on board the lnuttatik while crossing the fjords. We actually need more layers on us while on the boat than during the actual hike. For the duration of the boat trip l tried to follow the wise example of bears and went through a period of hibernation. Because I am just a beginner with this, I only managed to achieve a state of numbness in which l can still smile and nod to people talking to me. Besides the lnuttatik, the camp also operates a fast Zodiac boat. Just as we were closing in on our destination, the Zodiac zaps by past us and deposits a number of the staff on the beach. By the time all of us disembark, there is a nice driftwood fire going on, a kettle is boiling and everyone can grab a cup of hot cocoa.

Because the North Arm fjord is a good fishing spot, some of us jump at the opportunity to tease the fish while the rest make ready for the hike. There is actually little walking to be done and we stop frequently in order to snap photos of the scenery and little curiosities we encounter along the way. Probably sleeping inside an anti-bear electric fence, the dramatic instructional videos we saw and the armed guards accompanying us all the time have cultivated in us an obsession for these animals. This is how l chose to interpret the moment when we passed a small pile of bear dung and a veritable paparazzi moment ensued. According to our guide Gary, the bear seemed healthy.

The Torngat Mountains in general and North Arm in particular offer great opportunities for pulmonary fitness. The number of breathtaking views is simply overwhelming. As we reach a small waterfall, Gary recommends to just sit back and take it all in. That is what I did for the next two hours, after I discovered that the small waterfall is preceded by a bigger one higher up the slope and another one above that. A few waterfalls higher, I was sitting on the mosaic rocks trying to make sense of the scale of it all. We looked like ants walking through the playground of giants.

Regardless of the beauty of the vista, once the cold settles in we start thinking of warmer things, and we start back towards the beach where our fishermen are waiting with stone fried char. I could say they were stuffing their faces and we reached them just in time, but luckily there was enough fish and butter fried bread to go around.

Raul Scarlat

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