Expedition Route
Kirkenes 
Girkonjárga
Location: 70° N 30° E
Country: Norway
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Kirkenes is located in the extreme northeastern part of Norway on the Bøkfjorden, a branch of the Varanger Fjord, which is a vast bay connected to the Barents Sea near the Russian-Norwegian border. The town is situated about 240 miles (400km) north of the Arctic Circle and the municipality of Kirkenes borders both the Russiand and the Finnish border! About 6000 people live in the town of Kirkenes.
The midnight sun shines for about 65 days (mid-may through end of July) while the polar night leaves Kirkenes in near dark with the sun never rising above the horizon for about 61 days (third week of November through third week of January). Though Kirkenes is so far north the climate is relatively moderate which is due to the warm golf stream flowing along the coastline. The mean temperature is 11.3°F (-11.5°C) in January, and 54.6°F (12.6°C) in July, with an annual precipitation of 17.7in (450mm). The record low was measured at -41.8°F (-41°C) and the record high was measured at 90.8°F (32.7°C). July 2004 was the warmest month on record, with a mean temperature of 62.4°F (16.9°C).
In 1902 Kirkenes was a settlement of a few houses and a church situated out on a peninsula, which is how the community got its name. 'Kirke' means church in Norwegian, and "nes" which means peninsula. Earlier, the Sea Sámi had their own name for Kirkenes: Akkalanjarga - The Porbeagle Pennisula.
The plant "Polarfjellflokk" (Jacob's Ladder) only grows in this region, and nowhere else on the Norwegian mainland. There are many plant species growing in the area that rare or does not exist in other parts of Norway but migrated from the Russian taiga to the east, including the forest and even some of the large predators like the wolf which migrates across the tundra into Norway. This area also has the largest population of brown bear in Norway as well as lynx and the rare wolverine, but also other animals such as the small muskrat, the mighty Kamchatka crab (king crab) and the Russian Salmon.
The Native Sámi knew about the black rock in the area. In 1906 the realization that Kirkenes was wealthy in iron was followed by a surge of 'outsiders' moving to the area and several thousand people settled in Kirkenes.
Because of its strategic placement on the Russian border, Kirkenes was a major battleground for the Second World War (WW2). The Russian (then Soviet Union) harbor Murmansk was the only ice-free harbour in the European part of the Soviet Union not under control of Nazi Germany. Therefore, Murmansk became vital to the allies. Enormous supplies were sent from the United States and England across the Arctic Ocean to Murmansk. This acted as a guarantee to prevent Moscow's fall. To fight this the Nazi's posted 30,000 men in Kirkenes. Russian (then Soviet) planes bombed Kirkenes day and night with more than 1000 air raid alarms and more than 300 aerial bombings. After a gruesome war of exhaustion with thousands of soldiers killed or frozen to death on both sides, the Red Army succeeded in forcing the Nazi Forces to retreat. In October 1944, Kirkenes was liberated, but was first burnt to the ground during the retreat of the Nazi forces and left on Soviet hands. Only some 20 homes remained standing. Thousands of people lived in their basements of their ruined houses during the following winter.
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