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What Happened on the Geoadventure 2006 from My Perspective
by John H. Smith
Day 1 – Thursday, August 10th, Depart the U.S.A for Iceland
On day 1, August 10, 2006, Jared and I awakened to the news that the UK had just arrested 21 people for planning an attack on airliners, which were headed to the United States from Heathrow Airport. An immediate result from this threat was that no liquids, gels, or pastes would be allowed on board any planes. We repacked accordingly. We did not know what other international travel consequences would result from this event.
We began our journey when we left home for BWI airport at about 3:00 p.m., arriving at about 4:00 p.m. We apparently missed Mark, Kerry, and Jim, who were waiting outside the international check-in, which would not open until a couple of hours before the next plane was scheduled to leave. When we were about 45 minutes from take-off, I spotted Mark, who was with Kerry (whom I had not met yet). Jim showed up shortly thereafter. We took off about an hour and a half late, which was better than I expected. A good tailwind made up for a little of the lost time, and we reached Keflavik International Airport, about 40 km from Reykjavik, Iceland, only a little late.
Day 2 – Friday, August 11th, Depart Iceland for Greenland/Settle in at the Rock Hotel
We arrived at Keflavik International Airport in Iceland at about 6:30 a.m. local time. We had a long wait (over 8 hours) until our connecting flight, so we didn’t mind waiting at Keflavik for Howie, whose flight, which was scheduled to arrive at about the same time as ours, was delayed by the weather in New York. At about noon, Howie arrived, cleared customs/immigration, and picked up his luggage. All of the American members of the Geoadventure Team took the Flybus to the Reykjavik domestic airport, from which our Iceland to Greenland flight was scheduled to depart in about three hours.
Our plan was to meet the seventh member of the Geoadventure, Jörn Cann from Exeter in the UK in the domestic airport in Reykjavik. Jörn had spent a few days touring Iceland before our arrival. Once we reached the airport “departure lounge”, Mark called out Jörn’s name, since neither he nor anyone else in our party knew what Jörn looked like. Jörn answered the call and quickly blended in. The Geoadventure 2006 Team was now complete: Mark Cole (Dowelltown, TN), leader; Jörn Cann (Exeter, Devon, UK); Kerry Cooper (Scottsdale, AZ); Howie Green (Jerico, NY); Jim Horste (Woodland Hills, CA); Jared Smith (Vienna, VA) and John Smith (Vienna, VA). We checked our luggage and waited for our flight to Narsarsuaq, which departed about 45 minutes late. The clouds were too thick to see much of the famous glaciers, fjords, and mountains of Greenland from the air. The flight was uneventful.
At Narsarsuaq (population about 200), it was raining when we landed. Nonetheless, everything proceeded quickly. There is a bus which takes travelers (and glowhounds) on a 5 minute drive down to the pier, where docked boats and waiting pilots deliver the travelers, like us, to their destination. There were a lot of folks on our plane from Reykjavik and a lot of luggage. Because we thought our luggage (and lamps) might have been squashed against their luggage, we took the third bus. When we reached the pier, Peter was at the dock with his brother Johnny and their two boats. It was still raining when we juggled our gear down a steep incline catwalk at the pier to the floating dock and onto the boats. This heavy rain was a big surprise to all of us since we had been told (by someone who will remain unnamed) that it never rains in Greenland; it only drizzles. The tentative plans to camp out at Igaliku were cancelled, due to foul weather. The boat ride of two hours was bumpy and visibility was limited. In Johnny’s boat, our windows kept fogging up from our body heat, as the high humidity inside the boat contrasted with the cold rain on the outside of the boat. Johnny’s windshield wipers only wiped the outside of the windows; the inside had to be continually squeegeed manually (Kerry and I took turns) so that the pilot could see to steer clear of the icebergs. Later in our adventure, we learned by direct experience of the damage a collision with an iceberg and a speeding, loaded, small boat could cause and the impact of this damage on a long, boat trip.
About two hours after leaving Narsarsuaq dock, we reached the dock at the small, boat harbor in Narsaq (population about 2000). In Narsaq, we downloaded our gear from the boats up a not-so-steep ramp and into Peter’s four-wheel drive jeep. We walked together through town (uphill, naturally) to the “Rock Hotel.” The Rock Hotel was the backside of a bicycle shop. It consisted of three bedrooms (each sleeping two people), a bathroom shared by all of the six guests, and a small kitchen. We discovered that, in addition to the Rock Hotel/Bicycle Shop, many of the other commercial buildings in Narsaq also served two functions. For instance, the A-21 Restaurant was also a youth center; the Eskimo Pels was both a shop and a factory; and the Post Office was also the local community center.
Back at the Rock Hotel, we cleaned a lot of what seemed like old food out of the refrigerator with the hopes of stocking it with the food that we would prepare ourselves before and after our rock collecting trips. All of us were wet, cold, and hungry. By now it was after 8:00 p.m., and we left the Rock Hotel to look for a store and some food. Somehow, two small stores were located and a few groceries purchased. Small meals were cooked and the group broke tradition by deciding not to collect the first night because of the rain. It was probably just as well because the Narsaq Elv was high from the weeks of rain. Mark decided to stay at “the Old Lady’s Bed and Breakfast,” where he could have the shower pretty much to himself.
Mornings usually were spent making breakfast (more or less individually), repacking our gear, and waiting to go collecting. Reasonably priced, fresh Danish pastries from the bakery were a daily morning treat. Some folks made sandwiches to take to eat in the field. In the evenings, it was a regular activity to have “show and tell” with the day’s finds. Jim would also document what he had collected (including weights), take photographs of his findings, and load the information onto his laptop. Jim also kept a running account of our activities and routinely managed emails. When we were in the Narsarsuaq Airport on the way home, Jim provided us with a CD of his photos. Kerry was also very prepared for all contingencies and had all manner of tools and electronic gear, not to mention the camp stool, which all of us secretly wanted to use (but not haul). Jörn and Kerry were the only regular coffee drinkers and shared preparations.
Transportation to Kvanefjeld, Kvanefjeld Slope, the Sørensenite Locality, Taseq Elv delta/moraine, Taseq East, and Taseq West began with a ride in Peter’s jeep. The jeep sat six (including the driver). This meant that there would always be at least two trips when the entire team was collecting. The four seats in the back of the jeep were small, wooden benches with small, chair (sliding) seat cushions. Often there were also at least four backpacks full of gear and rocks in the back with the four passengers. Transportation to Tunulliarfik, Sodalite Beach, and Kangerluarsuk was by boat. When the entire team was collecting, that also meant either two trips or two boats.
Day 3 – Saturday, August 12th, Day 1 of Collecting
 Our first collecting trip was to Kvanefjeld, the historic location for gem tugtupite and the source of most of Peter’s lapidary material. We packed our gear and left it in the Rock Hotel. Two jeep loads would be the usual land-collecting routine for the seven of us, plus Peter and often Ulrik, Peter’s son. Today, five of us, plus the driver, would go in the first jeep load. The second jeep load would bring our gear and the other two team members. It turned out that there would be a third jeep load bringing Peter’s wife Judith, Ulrik, and Irma, a Swedish pre-med student whom we had met at the airport. The five in the first jeep walked without our gear to the trailhead from the Taseq Valley road cutoff to the Uranium Mine Road. Once we were at the trailhead, some of us hiked a little further up to the old uranium mine adit, which had been sealed and now had a metal door. I certainly enjoyed not having to carry my collecting gear up the steep mine road. Later, in the Rock Hotel Reading Room, I read in Jim’s Lonely Planet Greenland Guide that Niels Bohr’s uranium for his experiments (leading to a Nobel Prize in chemistry) came from this mine, an interesting anecdote for this chemist.
It turns out that the trail from the road to the top of the Kvanefjeld ridge is steep, but relatively short compared to several of the other hikes we would make in the next few days. Footing was sometimes slippery, either from moisture or the friable nature of the complex; and there were a few testy spots on the trail. We all made it to the top with some (me) gasping more than others. Kerry’s stool made it to the top for this trip, but for no other. We were not as jealous as he had hoped. Collecting areas were a short distance from the end of the trail at the ridge top.
Since this is the first collecting day, I will explain a little of how we collect, which is generally about the same at each location. One approach to collecting was to gather the potentially collectable rocks into a pile and then lamp the pile. Once under a black, plastic tarp or barbeque grill cover, the collector would sit with the candidate pile between his legs and lamp each piece. Keepers went to one side and leavers went to the other side. A disadvantage to this approach is that weathered surfaces often do not fluoresce as brilliantly as freshly exposed surfaces. Another approach is to lay down a tarp and lamp the ground under the tarp for external evidence of fluorescence. Sometimes one can trail a rock to its source, where there is a larger amount of the rock. Once external evidence is found on a rock, the candidate rock can be hammered until new surfaces are exposed, downsized, and further lamped. Another variation is to crack likely rocks first and then examine the pieces, returning to the larger rock, if the pieces are encouraging. Once a collectable deposit is found, the finder collects a reasonable amount and then allows others to collect there. Large intractable deposits of the most collectable materials are cracked by mini-blasting.
Mini-blasting employs a gasoline powered drill, fitted with a three-eighths inch diameter carbide-tipped bit. First a hole about eight to ten inches deep is made. The rock residue is air blown out of the bore hole with a bulb and tube. When the bore hole is clean, one to three explosive caps are inserted in the hole and tapped down. The firing device is then inserted with the tip touching the end of the top explosive cap. There is an air hose attached to the firing device and connected on the other end to a tank which has been pressurized using a bicycle pump. The blast is triggered by the release of a brief, high pressure blast of air which pushes the firing pin at the bottom of the firing device into the primer end of the explosive cap. This action is similar to a gun, where a trigger hits a firing pin, which strikes the primer end of a cartridge. Peter and Mark did not do any mini-blasting at Kvanefjeld this year, because Peter had done a lot of blasting after the 2005 Geoadventure. There would be blasting later today at the sørensenite location.
For more years than there have been Geoadventures, Kvanefjeld had been hunted by Greenlanders and others for “gem” red tugtupite (sometimes referred to as “tug”). Mark took us to the “sushi tug” (named for its translucent pink color) deposit, where we poked around but found nothing interesting. Howie and I stayed there longer than the rest. Only a few in my piles had any noticeable tugtupite, but most had weaker glowing, but, in my opinion, still pretty, pink albite. Others were now collecting at a location where Peter had been doing a lot of blasting. Peter is interested in the red “gem” tug, but there is also at Kvanefjeld white and light pink tugtupite, which is just as fluorescent as the red/pink tugtupite and much of this white/light pink tug could be collected there. It was hot lamping under the black plastic tarps (as an alternative to tarps, some of us were using barbecue grill covers, which were just as hot) and so humid that I had to take off my glasses to lamp rocks. I also noticed that my hands smelled from the ozone generated by the lamp. I had been lamping bare-handed and stopped after this day for two reasons, I was giving myself an unwanted sunburn and the rocks were sharp. Wearing gloves while lamping solved both problems. The humidity problem would not often repeat itself for the rest of the trip, as the sun very rarely shone through the clouds and the heat under the tarp was much lower than on this warm first collecting day in Kvanefjeld.
Jim carried the largest load down (I think this was the case every collecting day) and left a large piece (close to a cubic foot in size), which I think he thought about going back for, but later chose not to. The trip down was rough with loaded packs. This afternoon the clouds had lifted and almost the entire Taseq Valley was in view. We would not enjoy such clear weather again for several days and then only once, while we were collecting on the last of three days on Taseq West. The second clear weather lasted for only a couple of hours and disappeared before we were done collecting for the day.
General finds at the Kvanefjeld: Tugtupite, tugtupite surrounding chkalovite eyes, chkalovite, uranyl salts, albite, streaks of polylithionite, and a new blue/violet FL mineral often appearing as “squares.”
Once we reached the mine road, we placed our packs in the jeep and all agreed to walk down to the sørensenite location not far away. Judith found a large patch on top of a large boulder and Howie immediately went to work on it. That rock experienced a lot of Howie and Mark’s hammering and Peter and Mark’s blasting, but it grudgingly yielded only some of its sørensenite. Other hunters found two more large rocks, which contained small areas of sørensenite and were able to collect some nicely FL material in reasonably small cabinet-sized pieces. On searching farther afield, I found some rocks with very obvious saw marks where others earlier had collected this rare tin and beryllium-containing mineral from its type and only known locality. The only other place we would collect sørensenite, and then only a very little, was across the Taseq Valley at Taseq East.
General finds at the sørensenite locality: “sprays” of sørensenite FL moderately bright white/cream/yellow.
We were hoping to eat out after our first collecting trip. After all, it was Saturday night and only 8:00 pm (and still very light). We could not find a restaurant open. We arrived at the Clara Restaurant at the Narsaq Hotel just after 8, but were denied the opportunity to order. It is probably the right time now to say that it is not easy to find shops and restaurants in Narsaq. There are few signs; and when there are signs, they are small and usually in Greenlandic or Danish. We all went back to the Rock Hotel and made dinner from what we had bought the previous night and this morning. Once we learned locations of local food sources from Peter, we would be able to buy baked goods at the bakery or the “big” grocery store from this day onward. I think that at this point we had also heard of Restaurant A-21, where we would eat tomorrow. The letter-number designation appeared on two buildings of interest: a restaurant (A-21) and the Narsaq Museum (A-34). These were assigned during World War II, when Narsaq was a military base.
Day 4 – Sunday, August 13th, Day 2 of Collecting, Tunulliarfik
 “Tunulliarfik” was our second collecting location. Perhaps a better descriptor would be the ussingite and sodalite location on the north side of the Tunulliarfik Fjord, east of Narsaq. The location was about a 30 minute boat trip east on the Tunulliarfik Fjord to a rocky outcrop on the beach near the Tuttup Attakoorfia, where Dr. Sørensen, a Danish geologist, first discovered tugtupite in Greenland. The collecting area was another stiff uphill hike over often sharp boulders to a small ledge. Here the minerals of interest are ussingite and sodalite with some tugtupite. Much of the materials in the scree, which we climbed up, contained bits and chunks of the minerals we were seeking. On this trip I first saw in the field what I call Freshly Exposed Surface Ephemeral Chromomorphism in Daylight (FESECD). FESECD can occur when a sodalite rock is cracked open and a purple color appears and then fades quickly never to return, unless the sodalite is also tenebrescent. This FESECD property is not to be confused with tenebrescence, which is initiated/stimulated by visible or UV light and fades slowly. Some strong tenebrescence persists until the rock is left in the dark for some period. Tenebrescence is renewable, and may be repeated many times. The area, where we collected at Tunulliarfik, was smaller than Kvanefjeld, but everyone was able to find material. Peter and Ulrik did some blasting near Mark’s “Ussingite Cave,” where earlier Mark had found a cache that he had left last year. Mark’s caches are usually retrieved by Peter and Ulrik and sent with the annual shipping container in accordance with Peter’s export permit. Geoadventurers would find a few more of these caches and Mark would also generate new ones, which hopefully would make this year’s shipment. Mark also found some interesting material as soon as we arrived, but not much more after that. Ulrik carried down three loads of rock in the time it took me to carry down one load. Howie found some “tugulite” (variety of tugtupite, which fluoresces (FL) pink with a long phosphorescence (PH)) on the beach on the way back. We left a little earlier than we might have ordinarily, because it looked like a storm was coming and the boat pilots were antsy about loading in the rocky shore area. Jared and I were the last down and Jared was late only because he waited for me. Two boats (Peter and Harry Andersen) took us back.
General finds at Tunulliarfik: Ussingite, sodalite, some tugtupite, one tugtulite, some streaks of polylithionite, and albite.
For some reason, some of us were sleepy, and we took a short nap. Upon awakening naturally, or when awakened by hungry men, several folks went to the “big” grocery store and then to the A-21 Restaurant. As opposed to the Clara Restaurant at the Narsaq Hotel, the proprietor was amiable and warm. We ordered the specials for the day – smoked musk ox and smoked caribou sandwiches. They also had nice chocolate cake, an unexpected treat.
When we returned to the Rock Hotel, Mark asked who wanted to go night collecting. I was tired and didn’t go. If I had only known that this would be our only night collecting trip, I would have gone, but how was I to know. It turns out that I needed my strength for the next day anyway. Jared and Jim joined Mark and collected for quite a while in the rain in the Taseq Elv delta/moraine area. The primary target was fluorescent quartz in the river boulders. All carried back several boulders of quartz (ranging in size from a bowling ball to a golf ball), a few boulders of sodalite, and Jared even found a small stone which contained tugtupite and another with polylithionite. I believe that this was the first river rock tugtupite found on a Geoadventure.
While the night hunters were gone, those who remained talked about fluorescent mineral collecting, Herb Yeates (Geoadventure Team member in absentia), and Howie’s stories of his five other Geoadventures in Greenland.
Day 5 – Monday, August 14th, Day 3 of Collecting, Taseq West
The day began with weather clearer than it had been on the previous two days, but it did not stay very clear for long. The forecasted clear weather was only present fleetingly during our descent. Taseq West was reported to be a longer, gentler climb than Kvanefjeld and Tunulliarfik. It was longer, but the climb at the end was steep. Perhaps not as steep as the others, but since it came at the end on a long, fairly steep, continuous climb, it was tough on these old legs. But I have skipped over some of the details, where I return now. The first complication of this hike was crossing the Taseq Elv. At the usual crossing point, the elv (stream) is braided into several smaller streams. There is a permanent bridge over the deepest part of the Taseq Elv; however, then there are several “step” crossings, followed by three longer “jump” crossings. We started piling up rocks to try to build a stone crossing at the first of the jump crossings, but we had only limited success in the rushing water. We finally took the jumps by removing our backpacks and passing them on to those in the group who were a little more agile and able to leap first to the other side of each jump crossing. This worked better than I thought it would in both directions, mainly because of the leadership, physical strength, and teamwork of Mark, Peter, and Ulrik. The second additional complication for this hike was that after crossing the Taseq Elv, you had to cross several smaller creeks and wet places, wet smooth rocks, boulder fields and ankle to knee-deep “quick gravel.” As you climbed, you discovered which terrain was the easiest to climb for you and tried to arrange your ascent accordingly. There were some pretty wildflowers and stream scenes, but I did not want to take the time to stop and get my large camera out of my backpack where it was safe from bouncing and the rain. I thought that it was a much harder climb than the climbs on the first two days. After an initial tarrying downhill from the best collecting area, all made it safely to the ”beryllium area” and began collecting after about a two hour climb.
There were a couple of areas where we started. One was near a tugtupite “cave,” where Peter and Mark had been blasting the previous year, or at least before we had arrived. Another area was just downhill from the cave where Howie and Mark had found the first deposit of a splendid new assemblage of fluorescent minerals, which Mark is selling as “Taseq Fantasy Rocks.” We dubbed them “Howie Wowie” (in honor of the discoverer), much to Howie’s chagrin. Howie preferred Area 35, which was the location from an earlier Danish geological study of the beryllium complex. More of this material was later located a little farther away on the other side of a small lingering snow field.
In the middle of our collecting a helicopter flew over. This was not the Greenland Airlines helicopter, which goes through Narsaq ever other day or so. It was a huey, which I thought might be a charter helicopter. I waved. The helicopter proceeded overhead and over the ridge. It sounded to me like it landed near the Taseq Lake. A little while later, two men and a woman came over the ridge and approached us. One of the men was wearing a large red conical (and comical) hat. The conversations as they approached our party were strange, almost surreal, and (I believe) not honest on their part. The woman told us that the “red hat” man owned the mountain. We knew this not to be true. The other man was the helicopter pilot. I was minding my own business lamping under my tarp, when all of a sudden the woman appear next to me asking what I was doing. I showed her. Next, the “red hat” man showed up, also unannounced. The three left almost as quickly as they arrived. When we got back to Narsaq, Peter told us that the “red hat” guy was an Australian, who had been there before and was considering mining Taseq for zirconium, which had recently gone up in price significantly. The presence of a zirconium mine would really change collecting fluorescent minerals on Taseq.
Jared and I had collected a lot and wanted to start down on the long hike. Mark discouraged us (fortunately), and soon he and others found more of this interesting new material on the other side of the snowfield. There also was what appeared to be a little mylonitized tugtupite there. This increased an already heavy load. What great specimens were collected on this day!
Kerry had talked several into leaving equipment there so we could return the next day. He and Mark left their lamps and tarps, but the rest of us brought all of our collecting materials down. It turned out that we could not collect there the next day because a foehn (strong, warm wind coming off the ice field) was expected.
General finds at Taseq West: Tugtupite, analcime, chkalovite, sodalite, uranyl salts, and albite (and multi-color combinations of the above).
Day 6 – Tuesday, August 15th, Day 4 of Collecting, Rockfall near Kvanefjeld and the Uranium Mine
 We were all tired from Taseq West and the weather was miserable all of last night. We stayed at the Rock Hotel and did not go back to Taseq West, as had been proposed yesterday. We also assumed that the Taseq Elv was even more swollen than the day before, so we did not mind sleeping in; stocking up on groceries; and visiting Brode’s Rock shop and Museum. I bought a Greenland Rock Club t-shirt and collecting bag, a book about the Ilimaussaq complex (in Danish) and a small specimen of cryolite. We continued our walkabout in Narsaq and checked out the Narsaq Tourist Information Office for souvenirs and other information. When we returned to the Rock Hotel, we heard that Peter and Ulrik had gone to the Taseq Elv to build some bridges to span the jump crossings I mentioned in yesterday’s description. While we were awaiting their return I heard some strange voices in the room next door. It was Mike (Mickey, Harry’s son) Andersen and his girlfriend Pam. They had brought some tugtupite from Kangerluarsuk to sell to us. Think about it – door-to-door tugtupite salesmen. Kerry, Jim and I bought a couple of pieces each. I was hedging my bets, because I was not sure that we would be able to collect at Kangerluarsuk, a two hour boat ride in iceberg infested waters. I think that the purchasers wanted to encourage the salesmen to collect, and possibly offer, more material next year. After Mickey and Pam left, Peter and Ulrik returned from the Taseq Elv. Since it was a little late in the day, Mark decided that we would explore a new area for tugtupite.
The new area for exploration was the rockfall area beneath the Kvanefjeld Ridge and above the uranium mine road east of the trailhead to Kvanefjeld. The hope was that we could locate some gem tugtupite in the scree. It seemed to me (and I think to others) that we were not finding much, especially compared to what we had found at the previous three locations. Most found a few things, the most interesting was probably an apparently purple fluorescent, fondly referred to as purple dots or purplite, tentatively identified as rinkite.
The first group in the jeep took all of the packs and started cooking once they arrived at the Rock Hotel. The second group walked down the mine road until Peter met them, some collected at the mine dump. The second group reached the Rock Hotel just before the all night downpour began and continued off and on through the night.
General finds at Kvanefjeld Slope: Some tugtupite, sodalite, uranyl salts, unknown SW FL violet/blue dots, and albite (and multi-color combinations of the above).
Day 7 – Wednesday, August 16th, Day 5 of Collecting, Taseq West II
The morning was cloudy/foggy so we waited to start out. This was particularly an issue because we had to cross the still swollen Taseq Elv and then make it up the hill, with the other hiking obstacles potentially exacerbated by the additional rain. At about 11, we headed out from the permanent bridge. Peter and Ulrik had built some fine bridges (two different 4x4s and what looked a lot like a heavily constructed door. It is no matter what they looked like, they worked very well.
The main purpose of the second trip was to collect “margarosanite,” a translucent pink/blue tugtupite that Howie has been waiting a year to collect. We were unable to find it on the first trip, because Howie thought it was under the snow. Jared and Howie made it up first. Jörn and I were left behind and kept going straight up the slope, but too far to the east. Both of us crawled across snowfields and then worked our way westward. Jared appeared a few moments later, he had seen Jörn and was wondering where I was. Jared told us that the rain and heat had uncovered the margarosanite mine. Near the mine was a duffle bag containing a gasoline-powered jack-hammer. We had found some other parts of this equipment the last trip. Within about 25 yards of this spot most folks collected all of the rocks they could carry. Since we were unable to manually remove the margarosanite, we all determined that we would come back again to blast it out. However, based on our previous experience, no one left collecting equipment this time.
The descent began earlier than we had planned, because it started raining heavily, bad news because of the hiking obstacles and the possibility of complications crossing the Narsaq Elv. We passed some gem tugtupite on our way down and Mark marked it on his GPS. Unfortunately, he would forget to check it out the next time we were at the location. We stayed together as a group during the descent; this was a blessing for the slower descenders, who could lose sight of the others in the fog. Even though the Taseq Elv was more swollen from the additional rain, the bridges were still in place and above the rushing water. Even after it had rained for most of the afternoon, we crossed easily. Once the wet and weary collectors crossed the permanent bridge, we were greeted by a welcome sight: a minibus from the Narsaq Tourist Information Center with real cushioned seats for all of us. If we had to return in the jeep, some of us would have had to wait in the downpour for the second jeep run.
We all were tired from the hike, the wet, and the cold. We prepared our dinners and then had the nightly show and tell. Our hope was to go to Kangerluarsuk for Kerry, since we had not been there yet and it would be his last potential collecting day. We also talked about a site on the opposite side (south) of the Tunulliarfik Fjord from the site we collected on Collecting Day 2.
General finds at Taseq West: Tugtupite, analcime, chkalovite, sodalite, uranyl salts, and albite, (and multi-color combinations of the above), but not the illusive “margarosanite.”
Day 8 – Thursday, August 17th, Day 6 of Collecting, Uranium Mine Dump
It was another miserable rainy day. The weather ruled out going anywhere by boat and also hiking Taseq. Kerry would leave tomorrow so he started to pack. I began the day as was now my custom by walking down and then uphill to the bakery to buy Danish pastry and sometimes bread. Jared and I hunted for souvenirs at Eskimo Pels, a sealskin fur factory employing local people and the Narsaq Museum of the local history and culture.
At about 3:00 pm the rain stopped long enough for three of us (Jim, Jörn, and I) to go for a short collecting trip to the Uranium mine dump with Mark. We had to be back at about 7:00 p.m. for a special dinner at the Lindbergs. On the way out, we took some photos of scenery along the Taseq Valley road and some ponies in the fog. Collecting at the mine dump was not too productive except for a larger deposit of purplite and the obvious uranyl salts. On the way back Mark took us through a part of Narsaq, where we had never been before (near the Kayak Harbor), looking for a man who had a bunch of rock in his yard. We couldn’t find the house.
General fluorescent mineral finds at the Uranium Mine Tailings: Uranyl salts, albite, sodalite and SW blue/violet unknown (nicknamed purplite by Jim).
The dinner at the Lindbergs was delicious. Here is what was served: local shrimp on slices of bread with mayonnaise, roast leg of Greenland lamb and gravy, local potatoes, mixed vegetables, local trout (prepared by Ulrik), rhubarb “applesauce”, wine (brought by Kerry) and Neapolitan ice cream. After dinner, Yvonne and Ulrik put on their traditional Greenlandic costumes, which are worn for all formal occasions. Judith had made these by hand.
Several of us checked our email boxes and then paid Peter for our lodging expenses via Paypal.
Day 9 – Friday, August 18th, Day 7 of Collecting, Taseq West III (The Grand Finale)
This is the first morning since we have been in Greenland, where it has not been raining. The forecast was for good weather today and Sunday, but not Saturday and Monday. Forecasts have not been too accurate.
 Our objective today is to return to Taseq West to try to blast out the margarosanite. It takes more than an hour to reach the area marked out by red tipped wooden stakes placed in bore holes, which are numbered in red paint. Some preliminary blasting is necessary to get better access to the very small deposit so that it is not all shattered but comes out in larger pieces. Targeted blasting then removed the bulk of the material, mostly in a few large pieces from the small vein. Howie gets the major piece, he is a very happy camper. At this point Howie took me looking for “eyes” that he found on the first trip up. We do not find the “eyes” material, but I find something different on the surface of a large sodalite boulder. I chipped a few pieces of this “silver” polylithionite off and it is then about time to go.
General finds at Taseq West III: “Margarosanite,” tugtupite, analcime, chkalovite, sodalite, uranyl minerals, “silver” polylithionite, and albite (and multi-color combinations of the above).
We all are invited to the Lindbergs for Judith’s birthday party. Birthdays are a big deal in Greenland. There are about four nice desserts, including cake. We enjoy the company and the food. It is the end of the summer, when the Lindbergs children head off to school in Aarhus Denmark (Yvonne) and work in Nuuk (Ulrik) and the Geoadventurers head home. It will be a different Lindberg household in another two weeks.
After the party, it remained relatively clear through dusk. Jared, Jörn, and I tried to take some sunset photos, but the clouds obscured the setting sun. The views were nice, but tones of gray rather than tones of orange. Some headed to the Narsaq Hotel for dinner at the famous Clara Restaurant, while the rest of us go back to the Rock Hotel to make our own dinner. The restaurant diners are again thwarted (a private party of 15 closes the place to anyone else). They head to A-21 instead.
The tentative plan for tomorrow is Kangerluarsuk.
Day 10 – Saturday, August 19th, Day 8 of Collecting, Sodalite Beach, a new locality on Tunulliarfik Fjord, and the Tuttup Attakoorfia.
The weather was good enough for a short boat trip, so Peter took four of us (Jared, Jim, Jörn and I) to collect at Sodalite Beach. Mark was on the first boat with some of us. Once we were on the nice fine gravel beach, Mark pointed us way up the hill (another surprise) to where we could find pea green sodalite, yellow sodalite, and gem green sodalite. When the second boat arrived, Mark and Howie left us to collect there and went to look at a new location (hoping to find fluorite and something new).
It was at Sodalite Beach that at my own hand I had the opportunity to crack open several sodalite rocks and see the Freshly Exposed Surface Ephemeral Chromomorphism in Daylight (FESECD), which I discussed in Tunulliarfik (Collecting Day 2). I had seen it earlier on the trip at Tunulliarfik, when Mark had broken into a gem sodalite boulder. At Sodalite Beach it was very easy to see the purple color fleetingly appear and then fade in the broken face of the rock. We found all of the sodalite we needed and probably more. The most work was spent on a very large (about a cubic meter) boulder of gem green sodalite (a chartreuse shade) where last year there had been blasting. This rock also had little pockets of what turned out to be little crystals of catapleiite and albite. Jared found and carried a large (about one cubic foot) boulder containing “gem green” sodalite downhill to a flat place and did a lot of cracking on it. Jared collected his fill early and hiked back down to the beach (a nice pebbly beach) and walked off to the east to take some of the nicest fjord scenery photos of the trip on this partly cloudy day. Soon we saw the boat with Mark and Howie motor back past us and land to the west at or near Tunulliarfik, the place where we had collected on our second day. Peter then came back to pick us up and take us to collect where Mark and Howie were collecting at the Tuttup Attakoorfia. The tide had come in since they had landed and we could not easily disembark, so Peter took us back to Narsaq. Howie and Mark came back after Peter dropped us off. At the Tuttup Attakoorfia, Mark and Howie were able to collect a few pieces of “tugtulite” and tugtupite. The search at the other new location proved fruitless, except for Peter’s find of new gem grade massive eudialyte.
General finds: at Sodalite Beach-- Gem green sodalite, yellow sodalite, pea green sodalite, catapleiite, albite; at the new exploratory location on Tunulliarfik Fjord -- gem grade eudialyte; and at the Tuttup Attakoorfia -- “tugtulite” and tugtupite
The weather was a little clear and the water was almost flat at the large boat harbor when we returned. This harbor would be our new “boat trip gateway,” for the rest of the tour, because of the larger number of icebergs in the fjord. The small boat harbor was a longer trip through the icebergs. Jared and I had our packs taken up to the Rock Hotel, while we walked around the large boat harbor taking photos in the relatively smooth water for a while, and then went to A-21 for a piece of chocolate cake, before returning to the Rock Hotel. When Mark returned he gave each of us a small sample piece of “tugtulite.” Since we had hopes of going to Kangerluarsuk on Sunday and then Taseq East on Monday, which would be the usual packing day, we all started packing early and swapping/donating when we had extras. The “carry these rocks back to the mine” pile and the Minershop donations” sacks began to grow and the floors became less rock-covered. The sounds of rock “downsizing” on the stoop (during the drizzle) interrupted the normally quite night at the Rock Hotel. Jörn packed the quickest and Jim weighed out his rocks and organized for the sorting process. Howie, Jared and I were a little slower at this process.
Day 11 – Sunday, August 20th, 9th Day of Collecting, Taseq East
 Our original plans, like most of our earlier plans, were changed by the weather. It was a rainy/drizzly/dreary day. Because the fjord was still very crowded with icebergs, low visibility made it too risky for the two hour boat trip. All of us still wanted to go to Taseq East, which was possible to hike with care, even in the rain. We waited as long as we could for the rain to stop and finally left in time to be on the permanent bridge at about 1:40 p.m.. It was still raining. Footing was a little slippery, but not too bad. We easily crossed the Narsaq Elv and headed up the slope. Almost immediately Howie spotted some sørensenite on the ground. We cairned it and intended to retrieve it on the way back. Taseq sørensenite is known for its bright fluorescence. It was not long before were more than half way up the slope, where we had reached an area of white veins which had been worked. It turned out that the attraction in these veins was gem sodalite. Some of us stopped to collect there.
Very soon after that, Mark whistled from a spot a bit higher up the slope (naturally). He had found the spot for pink Taseq tugtupite. This material was on the bottom of a large layered boulder about 2 cubic yards in size. It was not clear where the boulder came from. It did not match any of the rock layers where it was. The boulder had been rolled over on its side (by Peter and Ulrik?) and the bottom was blown or broken off. Folks immediately started working on this bottom chunk of material, which must have been a little larger than 2’x2’x1’. There were many pieces of beautiful dark pink tugtupite removed from this smaller chunk. Most of the tugtupite was associated with analcime which was either non-fluorescent or FL translucent green, because it contained natrolite. In one part of this chunk, the tugtupite was much more solid and a gemmy fuchsia shade. Many pieces had little vugs of tugtupite crystals. In retrospect, it was a blessing that it was raining. All of this tugtupite was much prettier in the rain, than it would have been if it had been dry. It would have been much harder for me to see, if it had not been raining. We collected all we could carry and then headed back. Howie had done especially well and commissioned Sherpa Jared to carry down some of his loot.
The cloud cover had been variable all day with the fog rolling in and out of the valley. We all were on the bridge at about 6:30 p.m., soaking wet but very happy. It was a cramped jeep carrying six collectors and six rock-laden backpacks, but there were no complaints.
General finds at Taseq East: Pink tugtupite, gem tugtupite, analcime, gem yellow sodalite, natrolite, and uranyl salts, and albite (and multi-color combinations of the above).
Tomorrow now promised to be a boat trip to Kangerluarsuk. More packing occurred this evening.
Day 12 – Monday, August 21st, Day 10 of Collecting, Kangerluarsuk
The day started early. We took two jeep loads of folks to the large boat harbor again. Jared would not go on this trip because he had agreed to go kayaking with Ulrik. There were two boats: Peter’s boat and another “open” hired boat. Most of the gear was placed in the open boat, where Mark and I rode. Peter told us that there were insulated coveralls to wear, which we both foolishly refused. I later draped the coveralls over my arms and chest. It was a windy cold ride for us in the lead boat. There were so many icebergs in the fjord that we motored slowly and often scraped. Farther up the fjord (westward toward the coast) there were fewer icebergs; and Peter pulled along beside us as both boats sped up. Once we rounded the corner and turned back in the opposite direction into Kangerluarsuk Fjord, there were fewer icebergs, because this fjord was more isolated from a glacier than Tunulliarfik Fjord was. It was foggy and drizzly (another surprise), when we reached the rocky shoreline where the boats would let us off. Apparently, the beach was too rocky to land. So we landed at a rocky shore, where there were a lot of slippery sea weeds, which made for interesting footing. This was by far the flattest and easiest hike of our trip. We quickly reached an area where there was an exposed white vein uncovered in some places by a trench. The rain had nicely washed off previous diggings. The pink, tenebrescent tugtupite here is easy to see and we quickly snarfed up all that there was for lamping later. The vein material was very hard and we made little progress with it manually. Once all of the pink material was located and a few large rocks cracked, Mark asked if we wanted to look for the gem sodalite. We found what was left of it, but there was very little. No other new material sodalite was located in the area. In the meantime others started to explore. Mark said that he would blast, if someone would bring the blasting equipment which Peter had left at the landing. Peter had gone to Qaqortoq for business and to buy a Greenland-made hunting knife for me to give Jared for his birthday in two days. We thought that blasting would probably be the only way to release any tugtupite from the veins, so Jim and I hauled back the blasting equipment. Blasting did not work because the rock was so wet. It wasn’t too long before Peter arrived and was able to successfully blast the vein, but the vein would not yield any good specimens. Searches for continuation of the vein also proved fruitless.
Just as we were blasting, a person appeared from the south. It was a German geology graduate student who had been studying the complex and camping there for three weeks. He thought that Harry Andersen was going to meet him and his colleagues today. It turns out that the pickup date was still two days away; at least that is what Harry said when we mentioned it the next day.
When the vein would not budge, Peter and Mark turned their attention to a nearby large boulder. The blasted yielded nothing interesting in the boulder, but in one blast a fairly large rock made a direct hit on Jörn’s tarp. When we checked under the tarp, we found that the rock made a direct hit on the handle of Jörn’s new Superbright II. The handle was shattered and the handle yoke was badly bent. However, the lamp still lit up and the filter was undamaged. Fortunately it was the end of the last day of collecting. The handle can probably be repaired when Jörn returns to the UK. It was at this point that we all agreed that it was time to leave. We loaded the two boats as when we came, except that Mark and I “de-volunteered” for the open boat. On the way back I noticed that the open boat followed for a while but then moved over to run along closer to the shore. Eventually it beached. In Peter’s boat, we did not know what was up and headed back in that direction. When we caught up to the boat, Jim and Howie were unloading all of our gear. It turns out that the open boat had a leak from where it hit an ice berg and the seriousness of the leak only became apparent with the load and the higher speed (the owner had been fishing by himself the entire time we were collecting). We loaded all of the gear and people into Peter’s boat and slowly headed back, keeping an eye on the other boat to make sure that the leak was not getting worse. The rest of the return trip was uneventful.
General finds at Kangerluarsuk: Tenebrescent and phosphorescent tugtupite, polylithionite, chkalovite, gem green sodalite, uranyl salts, and albite (and multi-color combinations of the above).
Jared joined us after his kayaking with Ulrik. It must have been an interesting day for him. His close-up photos of icebergs are interesting.
When we returned some went to Clara’s Restaurant (the fancy place at the Narsaq Hotel that turned us back early in the trip), others cooked their own meal at the Rock Hut kitchen. Lightning struck twice as they were turned away again, because of a party of 15. They took refuge at A-21, which in my personal opinion was a better value anyway. Besides, Susie needed the business. We continued our wrapping, packing and weighing. Most of us were completely done by 11. Many bags were at or near the 70 pound limit allowed by the airlines. Even so, anything weighing over 50 pounds was subject to an overweight fee. A couple of us also shipped a bag home in the Minershop shipping container.
Day 13 – Tuesday, August 22nd, Departure Day
Because the weather was good, we would be leaving by two boats at noon to meet out flight which was scheduled to depart at 4:00 p.m.. We left Narsaq soon after a large group of Icelandic hunters and fishermen, who fussed about our being in the way at the ramp.
The trip the airport at Narsarsuaq was lovely and uneventful. Unfortunately the cloud cover was at the mountain top level or it would have been perfect. We all worked hard to get our heavy gear up that steep ramp at the Narsarsuaq dock. We once on the pier, we loaded our gear on the shuttle bus, checked it in at the airport (no weights were taken or overweight bag charges levied). Relieved, we took our baggage fee money to the Narsarsuaq Hotel cafeteria, where we ate mostly western food. Just before the plane arrived, we started our walk back to the airport. It was not long before we were airborne and looking out the windows (or mostly sleeping) to see if we could see the beautiful Greenland glaciers, fjords, ice field, and snow-capped mountains. This scenery was visible, but there was a lot of fog and haze.
In two hours we were at the domestic airport in Reykjavik and in a shuttle bus to the Baron Hotel. We checked in and one group decided to go to an Indian restaurant, which they had enjoyed on previous trips. Jared and I opted for something softer on my sensitive digestive system – Subway ($25 for two 12” sandwiches, sodas, and cookies). We slept well on real beds. We arose to pounding on our door. Mark and Howie were ready for complimentary breakfast. Instead of a relaxing sit-down complimentary continental breakfast, we made an on-the-fly sandwich and guzzled a glass of juice. In front of the Hotel, we all sang Happy Birthday to Jared in honor of his 16th. We then began another quest: a search for Howie’s hat (left at the restaurant) and the location of an Icelandic Rock Shop (which had changed location from last year). We recovered Howie’s hat, but the quest for the rock shop was a long, involved search, where we eventually lost each other. Howie found the shop and I found Howie. The others walked the streets of Reykjavik, until it was time to take the bus to Keflavik.
The hotel made a little mistake about the shuttle to the main bus station where we would catch the Flybus, so that we almost missed the bus, but it worked out. We arrived at the international airport with plenty of time to check in, grab a meal, and shop. Again, we waited for the expected overweight bag charge, but it did not happen. All bags checked easily. The only hitch was Howie’s large boulder in his carry-on was rejected by airport security agent, who made him check it. Again there was a financial blessing, no charge for the extra bag. The airport stores in Iceland benefited from our found money resulting from no excess baggage fees. We left on time and were home a little late. At BWI, no bags were lost and no rocks were breaking through luggage. Customs and immigration were uneventful. A fine trip was complete, when Jared and I saw Janie approaching with a luggage cart.
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