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Complete Arctic Circle Trail Packing List

Arctic Circle Trail. having a rest in Greenland
Having a short nap with my backpack.

The Arctic Circle Trail in Greenland is one of the best hikes in the world.
But it might not be for everyone since you have to be completely self-sufficient; you will have to carry your own food for every day on the hike, between 9 and 11 days, depending on your speed and the wheater condition.

Here´s my “Arctic Circle Trail packing list,” here´s everything that was in my backpack during the nine days I used to hike the 163KM from Kangerlussuaq to Sisimut.

There’s technically nowhere to get food on along the trail, tho you could try your fishing luck.

And the only way to wash your clothes in the cold rivers and lakes, even tho it was sunny during most of my hike, so wasn’t it warm enough to try wet clothes.

If you have checked my other packing lists for hiking, so will you notice I always use walking sticks. I can´t recommend that enough.

arctic circle what to pack resting in my tent
My Black Diamond Tent during the hike.

My Sleeping bag and mat might seem like a bit of an overkill. But the nights were chilly, and I’m very pleased. I packed it with me.

There´s a free cabin to stay at every night, but they are often full, so you should defiantly bring a tent with you.

Here´s my complete Arctic Circle trail Packing List.

Accessories & Equipment to pack for Arctic Circle trail.

Backpack: Arc’teryx Altra 75 Backpack
Tent: Mountain Hardwear Unisex Optic VUE 2.5
Kitchen: MSR WindBurner Personal Stove System, 1.0-Liter
Coffee Press for my WindBurner: MSR Windburner Coffee Press Kit, 1 L
Sleeping Mat: Exped Synmat Hyperlite Sleeping Pad
Sleeping Bag: Ajungilak Kompakt Down.
Walking Sticks: Black Diamond Expedition 2
Pocket Knife: Leatherman Pocket Knife
Waterbottles *3: Bear Grylls Waterbottle
Headlamp: Black Diamond Unisex ReVolt Black One Size Never Used.
Gorrilatape: Gorilla Tape, Black Duct Tape
First Aid Kit: First Aid Hiker and Adventurer Essential First Aid Kit
Igniter: MSR Strike Igniter
SportsTape: White Athletic Sports Tape VERY Strong
Suncream
Toiletries
Mosquito Spray
Gass*2 for cooking

Cloths to pack for the Arctic Circle trail Hike.

Parts of the Hike is very wet, so I would recommend two bring two pairs of shoes and a couple of flip-flops or sandals to leet your feet to dry in the evenings.
Shoes: Salomon Men’s Speedcross 3 And Arcteryx Acrux SL GTX Approach Shoe
Flip Flops: Quiksilver Flip Flops
Hiking Socks*6: Darn Tough Merino Wool Boot Sock
Underwear*9
Hiking Pants: Fjallraven – Men’s Keb Trousers Regular
Hiking Shorts: Rab Rockover Shorts
Marino Wool Tshirt *2 Icebreaker Men’s Oasis Long Sleeve and Arc’teryx Men’s Delta
Fleece Jacket: Columbia Men’s Steens MountainWool Sweater
Sunglasses
Rain Jacket Wind Jacket: Arc’Teryx Theta
Hat: Patagonia Fitz Roy Bison Trucker Hat
Travel Towel: RainLeaf Antibacterial Microfiber Towel
Mosquito Hat. This is VERY important. I never experienced that amount of mosquitos anywhere else in the world, as I did during the Arctic Circle Trail Hike.

Food to pack for Arctic Circle trail

As mention in the main blog post (click here), so didn’t I see a single berry during my hike, like previous hikers a few years ago have mentioned they did.

The reason might be that the hike has become very popular lately with hikers.

I did meet people on the hike that had caught fresh Salamon like I was offered on day 5 (click here to read). You are supposed to buy a fishing license to be allowed to fish, but nobody I meet during the hike had bothered doing so.

While there´s a supermarket in Kangerlussuaq and Sisimut, so will I highly recommend you to bring all the food you will need with you from home.

If you have forgotten something, so can you get the basic and toiletries in both places, but not much more, and there no hiking food in any of the towns for sale.

For breakfast, did I bring 4.5KG of Muslei with added nuts and berries and about 1 KG of milk powder.

I Did bring 20 Packs of REAL Turmat; they offer a huge selection of varieties of different meals in Northern Europe. But it doesn’t seem to be popular anywhere else.

I also packed with me 20 packs of protein bars. I finished the hike in 9days, so I had a few spare hiking foods and protein bars, but I did finish all my Musel and had ration the two lasts days.

Electronics.

Obviously, so is there nowhere to charge your electronics during the hike.

Camera: Olympus OMD-1
Lens: 12-40 f2,8 and 40-150 f2.8
Battery: 6
Mobile.
Battery pack.

What would I have done differently?

I was pretty satisfied with what I had packet when I finished the trek; I used all of my clothes during the hike.
But If I should have done anything differently, so was there no need to bring a headlamp since the midnight sun, and it never gets dark during the summer months.

And I should have packed with me another 500grams more of Museli for breakfast so I wouldn’t have had to ration the portions the last two days on the hike.

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Complete packing guide to the Arctic circle trail in Greenland
The Arctic Circle Trail in Greenland is one of the best hikes in the world.
But it might not be for everyone since you have to be completely self-sufficient. so here´s your complete packing guide
what to pack for the Arctic circle trail in Greenland guide
what to pack for the Arctic circle trail in the Greenland guide

Hanna

Tuesday 20th of June 2023

Hey! I don't know if I missed it somewhere in your blog but what month did you hike the ACT?

Christian L.

Sunday 25th of June 2023

Hello Hanna. I did the trek from beginning of July.

Peter

Sunday 28th of February 2021

Sounds like you had quite a lot. What was your starting pack weight.

Peter

Christian L.

Monday 1st of March 2021

Hello. Yes, my backpack was on the heavy side, around 35kg plus water. However, most of the weight was food. If I would ever do the trek again, would I carry the same amount of food, but fewer gadgets.

Yair

Thursday 2nd of August 2018

Hello and may thanks for your informative blog. I wanted to know how easy is it to buy cooking gas in Kangerlussuaq. Is there a variety of different canister types and is it possible to buy/ rent a stove in case no gas is available for my stove. Thanks a lot in advance' Yair

Christian L.

Friday 3rd of August 2018

Hello Yair. When I was in Kangerlussuaq did the main supermarket (just across from the airport) have two types of gas canisters, since I did the hike very early in the season was the shop well stocked, but I have heard from other hikers that did the hike late in the season that the canisters were out of stock. I didn't see anywhere that you could rent any equipment