The Hiking Hermit in Svalbard

Now back where I have high speed internet, I'm processing a big backlog of material gathered during the Arctic travels. Chronologically, the visit to Svalbard came first. Spent about six days there on the very remote and wild island of Spitzbergen, between 79 and 80 degrees north latitude, just 600 miles from the North Pole. I passed north of 80N on the ship, but my northernmost hike was just a few miles shy of that latitude. The flora and fauna of the island and surrounding waters, along with the glaciers, were the main attractions for me.

I had considered migrating my blogging to a new WordPress site at HikingHermit.com, so I posted more extensive reports there. I've changed my mind about paying for that hosting. That blog is going away early in 2024, so here are a few highlights from my hikes in still photos: