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Greenland is not a continent. Geography celebrates it as the largest island on Earth, an island too exotic for most people to think about spending their vacation there. In spite of its size only fifty thousand inhabitants live along the coast in Greenland, most of them in the south and the west coast. The interior of the island is a great white spot both on the maps and in practice, thus forbidding settlements altogether.
Up till now I had had no ambition to set my feet onto the ice cap, since this would require other equipment than the normal hiking gear. The area near the ice is interesting enough and the ice far more beautiful from afar. A problem are the barriers which define the "habitat" of a hiker in Greenland: fjords, glaciers, and rivers that cannot be crossed without special equipment. Nevertheless it is possible to find a nice spot big enough for a good hike.
In 2006 we made a tour within the Johan Dahl Land near Narsarsuaq. South and Greenland is a strange combination of words, but it is not a mistake from the geographic perspective. With the big white spot in mind that Greenland creates on the map one might wonder about the local hiking possibilities, apart from crossing the ice shield. The territory near the coast is an untouched wilderness with an arctic charm. And, it was a first time form me coming out of an "international" airport and staggering directly into the wilderness without further driving or flying.
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