Square 2

Just from looking at the map we suspected that it might not be a whole lot easier walking Square 2, than it had been doing square 1 (see earlier post). Square 2 was located about 1.5km south-west of the Godu glacier and straddled two steep mountains, as well as a frozen mountain lake (click for map). No trees and swamps this time, but we still figured it might be a challenge to walk a straight line up there.


Getting there, our suspicions were more or less confirmed. Rocky, steep, hillsides, a frozen lake and cloud level walking all contributed to an interesting and challenging route. The open terrain however meant that keeping the pace wasn't a big problem.

After having covered about half of the square the weather got worse and we were suddenly engulfed by thick gray clouds. Balancing our way in a rock field at about 1000m and seeing nothing we decided to abort due to bad weather and started to head back to the tent.


As we made our way down the hillside we came across the badly savaged carcass of what used to be a reindeer calf. It wasn't freshly slain, but the bad visibility combined with the knowledge that another team had had close bear encounters on a mountainside last year made us feel a little bit uneasy with the whole situation.


In the end we made it back safe to the tent by the frozen lake. We also managed to get a couple hours of rest, before breaking camp and heading out again. As the rain started to fall, we began our walk down the Vistas valley. That's however a separate story and you know all about that adventure already and if you don't, have a look at our first longer post from this trip.



This post concludes our trip report from the northern adventure. Vacation is over, we're back at work and birding is slow during July. Migration season is however already under way and we'll start seeing waders in the coming weeks or so, and after that it's August and migration will begin in full force. :-)

Bird of the day: Long-tailed Jaeger -- Fjällabb -- Falkenraubmöwe -- Labbe à longue queue -- Stercorarius longicaudus