Backpacking Baffin Island Part 2: The Day We Crossed the Arctic Circle

"Crossing the Arctic Circle: Into the True Arctic"

Trevor, trying to take it all in.

Standing on the shores of the Pangnirtung Fjord, watching Peter and the boat disappear into the mist, Matthew’s words kept bouncing around in my head — “scale works differently up here.” I thought I understood it, but the moment everything went quiet, I realized I didn’t. Not even close.

Backpacking in Auyuittuq National Park messes with your instincts. There’s nothing familiar to measure distance against. No logging roads, no cut blocks, no ski runs in the distance. Just the wide-open Arctic landscape of Baffin Island stretching out in every direction.

“Scale works differently up here.”

So when Trevor and I pointed to a bend in the valley and said, “Yeah, the emergency shelter is probably just around that corner,” we believed it. Three hours later, we finally reached it. That became our running joke for the rest of the Akshayuk Pass trek — “It’s just over there!” Sure it is..

That rainbo is "just over there"...

A faint little trail led us along the tidal flats toward the Weasel River. We started seeing what looked like dog tracks in the sand, thinking maybe an Inuit family had been out earlier. Then a few kilometres later, the mystery solved itself: an Arctic fox moving along the slope beneath Overlord, hunting lemmings. Seeing Arctic wildlife that early in the trip felt like the North giving us a quiet nod.

We reached the Ulu emergency shelter shortly after — one of several small huts that make a huge difference when storms roll into Auyuittuq without warning. With Peter’s early drop-off giving us extra daylight, we pushed toward Crater Lake and camped on the south side of its terminal moraine.

With no trees anywhere, choosing a campsite in the Canadian Arctic is basically a science experiment in reading wind. The moraine did its job, and we actually slept pretty well.

Ulu Emergency Shelter: Just in case...

Day two showed up ready to impress. The breeze stayed, but the skies cleared completely, revealing Mount Odin, Tirokwa Peak, and Thor Peak in full view — a lineup of giants. But honestly, the biggest moment wasn’t the scenery. It was crossing the Arctic Circle on foot.

It’s tough to describe that feeling. It doesn’t hit all at once. It sneaks up on you. One minute you’re walking, the next you realize you’ve stepped across a line that most people only ever see on a map. Thor in front of us, Schwarzenbach Falls roaring behind us, and a good friend beside me — that moment is burned in.

A great moment, spent with a great friend.

Again, I could hear Trevor, in disbelief..."I can't believe we are really here!"

We’d heard from a small group we crossed paths with (rare for Auyuittuq) that the Thor emergency shelter can be brutally windy, so we kept an eye out for a better spot.

 Then the day handed us one more surprise: an Arctic hare. For half an hour it wandered and fed around us, totally unfazed. Having spent seasons working in Churchill, I know how rare Arctic hare sightings can be. This one felt like the tundra letting us in a little. We found a sheltered patch, set up camp, and settled into the rhythm of the Arctic.

The next couple of days had us retracing our steps back through Akshayuk Pass toward Pangnirtung Fjord. We camped high above Crater Lake on a grassy bench — one of the few places that actually blocks the wind — and the following night we spent our final night at Ulu. Over veggie butter chicken, naan, and hot tea, we replayed everything we’d just experienced.

Did we really just backpack across Baffin Island?

In one of the most remote places in Canada?

As the sun was rising we Trevor made hot coffee, packed up, and headed down-valley toward Overlord to meet Peter again.

The mountains were behind us, but the trip wasn’t over. Pangnirtung — or Pang, as everyone calls it — welcomed us with a kind of quiet that makes you slow down. The trail had shown us the land.

Now it was time to meet the people, learn the stories, and step into the heart of this place.

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In Part 3: Pangnirtung – Voices of the Arctic, we leave the mountains behind and spend time with the people who call this place home, exploring the culture, history, and traditions woven into the fjord and the land around it.

Ready to write your own Arctic story? Learn more about our guided Baffin expedition here and join the waitlist to secure your spot on the next journey north.