Holy crap! That is awesome. Please do elaborate. How did you get up that far north logistically? What was the hiking like? Did you arrange this independently? I would love to get up to Labrador, but it is unclear to me how to travel north of Gros Morne. That is some serious wilderness!
I am glad you like the photos. If you are interested, here is a link to a larger set:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wjm49/sets/72157623081753634/
I have wanted to visit the coast of Labrador ever since 1995 when I did some hiking in Gros Morne National Park (and wanted to go further north). There is a supply ship (the Northern Ranger) that makes scheduled stops along the coast (and takes passengers), but it only goes as far north as Nain. Searching on the internet, I found an Inuit-owned company called Cruise North (
www.cruisenorthexpeditions.com) that runs a trip on an “ice-enhanced” Russian ship (the Lyubov Orlova) from St. John’s, Newfoundland, travels along the entire coast of Labrador, sails into Ungava Bay, and then ends in Kuujjuaq, Quebec. It is a 12-day/11-night trip that makes zodiac landings (1 or 2 per day) all along the way. We stopped at L’Anse aux Meadows (on the upper arm of Newfoundland), Red Bay, Battle Harbour, Grady Island, the Wonderstrands (from the Viking sagas), Makkovic, Nain, Hebron (abandoned in 1959), Saglek Fiord, and Nachvak Fiord. We were also supposed to stop at Killiniq Island (at the northern tip of Labrador), but we had to pass and keep moving given that the ship’s captain thought ice conditions in Ungava Bay (even on July 12) might slow us down and cause us to miss our flight out of Kuujjuaq. Nevertheless, the boat did get to 60’ 23” latitude, which is my “furthest north”.
This trip was a great way to see the entire coast of Labrador, particularly the area north of Nain, which is very inaccessible. Given the time constraints, however, the hikes we could do were pretty short (but the scenery was beautiful). Some day, before I get too old, I would love to return for an extended stay in Saglek and Nachvak Fiords and see more of the Torngat Mountain National Park.
