What an amazing day. We hiked in the Northeast Greenland National Park. It is 77 times the size of Yellowstone and only 500 people set foot here every year. Since the passengers, crew and expedition are over 300 people, it is a real honor to receive a permit. One of the expedition team, who lives in Greenland, was so excited to be able to finally have access into the park, she emailed everyone she knew.

The air is clear, crisp and clean. The water is crystal clear, albeit cold. The snow-capped peaks tower over the clouds. The trees are in full, fall foliage. The colorful landscape Mark is standing on are the arctic trees. They never grow higher than the ground. The scenery is absolutely magnificent.

Our guide is carrying a loaded rifle in case of an encounter with a polar bear. He did not need to use it.

The skull is from a musk ox; note the horns that cover the forehead and sweep down, out and up.

There are people in the foreground in the photo above to give you a sense of the enormity of the park.

We were lucky to see arctic hare and cute white rabbits that were too far away for my camera. We also saw a raven flying, a real one, not dressed in purple. Regretfully, at this point we learned one of our guides is a Steeler fan. It’s a shame too because we had really liked him. Can you imagine overlooking the Greenland National Park discussing if Troy Polamalu is a good guy? I can ;)