Ilulissat
Ilulissat is located on the west coast of Greenland, 250 km north of the Arctic Circle, at the end of the 40 km long Ilulissat Icefjord. At the start of the fjord, huge chunks of ice calve off the Greenland icesheet into the fjord. At the end of the fjord, there is an underwater terminal morraine that stops the icebergs temporarily and causes ice to backup. Eventually, the weight on new ice building up pushes the icebergs over the morraine and into Disko Bay.
This action happens near Ilulissat. So it is here where these huge icebergs are so beautifully displayed floating around each other, slowly moving into the bay, and eventually melting during the summer months. It was the end of July, just over one year ago, when my wife and I traveled to Ilulissat to view and photograph this marvelous place.
The Town of Ilulissat
For the first three nights, we stayed at the Hotel Hvide Falk in one of their apartment rooms overlooking the bay. The apartment rooms are in the nearest red building just above the water in the photo below. It actually consists of two buildings with a deck between. We were in the building on the left. There is also a main building (out of view on the right) up the hill above the apartment rooms with standard rooms and a wonderful restaurant.
The town is small and very walkable. Interspersed among the smaller quaint buildings are larger hotels. When we were there last year, it looked like the place was getting ready for a large expansion. Hopefully it will be able to maintain the nice feeling.
Not far from our hotel room is a church, Zion’s Church, that has a really nice look to it. A little farther away is an interesting traditional style building that is actually a restaurant. From both these locations, there are wonderful views of Disko Bay and the many icebergs in the bay.
Animals of Ilulissat
One of the first things you will notice about Ilulissat is that there are many dogs around. In fact, there are more dogs than people. But they are not running loose. Instead they are kept in certain areas. They are Greenland sled dogs and are adapted for the very cold winters. Note that these dogs are not pets. They are working dogs. When they are not pulling sleds during the summer, they are kept on a long chain.
This is because of some unfortunate incidents when sled dogs injured some people. It seems cruel at first glance to keep them chained, but in fact it really isn’t. During the heat of the summer (if you call a Greenland summer hot) the dogs get quite hot and lethargic and spend much of the time sleeping. But the cute puppies roam free and will often come up to people.
There are not a wide variety of birds around. The website visitgreenland.com has a good description of some of the birds you can find there. But there is one songbird species. It is the Snow Bunting. The allaboutbirds.org website has a sentence that says “Unless you fancy a trip to the high arctic in summer, winter is the time to go looking for Snow Buntings.”
Good thing it was summer in the high arctic when we were there. The high arctic is where these birds breed. We did not see any nests, but there were lots of them around. This was a brand new species to me. A “lifer” as birders say, so very exciting for me.
There are several species of gull-like birds also. In fact, you will see gulls in quite a few places, including sitting on icebergs. Below are photos of two species I managed to identify and photograph. The Northern Fulmar which looks like a gull, but is actually related to Petrels and Albatrosses.
The second species is a true gull called the Iceland Gull which you might find mixed in with other gulls. It is a medium sized gull. It is also possible that I saw Glaucus Gulls but I am not confident in that identification because they are fairly similar to, but larger than, the Iceland Gull.
The biggest animals in Greenland, however, are the whales. In another blog post, I will write about several Humpback Whales we encountered during our time on the water.
Flowers of Ilulissat
There are flowers in Ilulissat and some are quite unusual. You can find a comprehensive list at iNaturalist. The most interesting to me was the Cottongrass. The heads are about an inch across and really do look like cotton balls.
A few others I saw are the Red Alpine Catchfly, Dwarf Fireweed, Prickly Saxifrage, and Arctic Willow, which also has a cottony look to it. (The link for Arctic Willow is another good link for Greenland flowers but you will need to scroll down to find the description for it.)
Ilulissat Icefjord
By far, however, the biggest draw to the area is the Ilulissat Icefjord a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Walking from town, the first place to visit is the Ilulissat Icefjord Center just south of the town. The building has a fascinating architecture that protects it from wind, no matter which way it blows, and it includes a walkable roof. Look closely at the photo below and you will see people on the roof.
Hiking the Icefjord
There are three hiking trails through the Icefjord area, all of which begin at the Icefjord center. This website has a very nice description of the hiking trails as well as a good description of the area. It is worth reading if you are planning a trip.
The map below shows the three hiking routes.
- The green route is along a boardwalk and is quite easy. It is short and gently heads down towards the Icefjord.
- The yellow route is of intermediate length and gives you spectacular views of icebergs and disko bay. It heads west and then turns north following the western coastline. Eventually, it ends at a different place than the start so you may have to circle back. Or if you hiked from town, then hike back to town. The red route is best done as a loop combining the green, part of the blue, and back to the start on the red route.
- The blue route gives you the most views of the icefjord. The start is at the end of the boardwalk and ends kind of in the middle of nowhere east of town. From the start, it heads east along the icefjord.
I have hiked all three trails, except for the last part of the blue route east of the red route. All were nice, but I enjoyed the yellow route the most.
Icebergs of the Fjord
Along the hiking trails you will get wonderful views of the many icebergs in the fjord. They really are quite spectacular. It is hard to really convey the enormous size of them. And the interesting thing is that they move around. You might see a smaller one zipping past a larger one. Well, perhaps more of a slow crawl, but it seems fast for icebergs.
If you are really lucky, you might catch a glimpse of a water skier hopping and skipping through the fjord.
The best way to see the fjord is on a boat. One evening, we took a night boat cruise from 9 pm to midnight. It was really enjoyable and the closer it got to midnight, the better it looked. If you are there in the summer, don’t worry about it getting dark. Ilulissat is 250 km north of the Arctic Circle and when we were there it never got past light twilight.
Late Night Views
By far, the best views are deep into the night, from midnight to 3 am. Everyone else is asleep at this time, but the world comes alive as we enter the land of the midnight sun and the few hours of twilight when the sun never goes far below the horizon. The photos below were all shot from our hotel balcony.
Preview of Things to Come
On the boat cruise I mentioned above, we saw the boat pictured below that forshadowed the rest of our time in Greenland. For the next 6 days, we would be going out at night on this very sailboat to get up close and personal with the icebergs in the beautiful light of sunset and twilight. My next few blog posts will cover those nights.
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