We relaxed on Saturday morning and arrived at the main intersection ("four corners") around 10am. Unfortunately, we realized that the museum, visitors centre, and gift shop we'd planned to visit were all closed, so we changed tack and headed north. We arrived at the base of Hospital Hill and thought of following the road eastwards, but B saw someone picking berries on the slope and an inviting uphill trail, so we crossed the road and started up.
It was beautifully sunny and warm. B used an app to identify some bilberries, which were listed as "food", so we ate some. They were delicious, like sweet little blueberries. We crested the hill and got a great view of the whole city, the bay, and more hills in all directions, and stopped for a snack. Walking down the far side, we met more people picking berries and asked how it was going -- they smiled and showed us a big ziplock bag full of their haul.
We'd left the path behind -- trails often seem to peter out into vague suggestions on the tundra -- but we circled around some houses and walked along a big fence protecting Iqaluit's potable water reservoir, then intersected with a gravel road officially named the Road to Nowhere. We found a well-placed bench with a view of an idyllic river valley, where we rested for a bit before heading back into town.
At the community centre, we helped set up for the Weirdly Good event, where people brought strange foods for everyone to try. Only a few people showed up (it seemed to us like the whole town was out enjoying the perfect weekend weather, picking berries, camping, or hunting), but we all had a good time. There were strong French cheeses, kimchi, haggis, mint candies with anis, and bread with marmite and vegemite. Joseph's wife brought her family's traditional lime jello with ricotta, which was ... something, and we brought some Mexican tamarind candies, cactus fruit, marzipan, and blood pudding, all of which Canadian North had somewhat surprizingly let us carry onto the plane from Montreal. The big hit was Mary's igunaq, fermented walrus fat, served on frozen raw caribou slices. Joseph's kids were adorable and of course made instant pals with B as she grabbed hunks of marzipan for them to make sculptures with.
After the event, we couldn't resist another hike along the Apex trail despite our weary legs. It was majestic and serene -- there are no waves in the bay, which lends a tranquility to the scene. The loons began calling again on our way back. We stopped at the grocery store for some cheese, bread, and pizza pockets, only barely making it back to the hotel.
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