Category: Food stuff

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Hiking the Sleeping Giant near Thunder Bay, Ontario

September 19th 2018
Camp at Lehtinen’s Bay
After getting off to a rather late start this morning, I stopped at the ‘Bay Village’ coffee shop to pick up some gear they offered to lend me. Naturally, I stayed for a nice ‘Bulletproof’ – and didn’t get on the road until after 11 am.
Luckily I just made it to the parking permit office 5min before they closed for lunch, got my paperwork in order and continued to the parking lot at the trailhead!
Around 12:15 I started on the trail towards ‘Sawyer Bay’, planning to climb the head of the giant on the first day.
‘Sawyer Bay Trail’ does frankly resemble a quad track more than a hiking trail, it’s also very easy to walk and should be ideal for groups as two or three people can walk beside each other and chat comfortably.
Where the trail reached ‘Sawyer Bay’ there are several, really nice campsites and fireplaces. Beautifully arranged right at the shore!
The trail continues as a clearly visible, and easy to follow, footpath, soon reaching the fork where the ‘Head Trail’ takes of up the hillside.
 
I followed it up to the top, and the view is totally worth the effort of climbing the trail. And, yes, partly it is more a climb than a hike, just take it slow and You’ll be good!
Once back at the fork I continued the ‘Kabeyun Trail’ along the shore of ‘Lake Superior. The trail is very easy to find and follow, mostly close to the water and with very few changes in elevation.
After leaving the western shoreline and starting the climb over the giant’s feet, the ground gets clearly rougher. First, just an uphill slope, later steeply downhill on the east side. Closer to ‘Lehtinen’s Bay’ the trail climbs over large rocks and progress slows down immensely!
Just a short way past the rocky area I found this beautiful camp between the trail and the shore, the view over the lake is truly amazing and I look forward to falling asleep to the sound of the waves hitting shore!

On the next morning, I got started around 9 am and headed for the Talus trail to get to the crossing that would take me to the top of the giant. This was a much more mellow hike than to the head, still partly steep, yet with beautiful steps built into the trail, making the steep parts so much easier.

I found it a little weird when finding the sign for the ‘top’ pretty much in the woods and not even near the highest point in the area.

Continuing further up the trail got me to the western cliffs and opened up a beautiful scenery!

The sky, that had been overcast already, grew darker the longer the day went towards noon and, also considering the fact that I didn´t find any water in the streams, I decided to head back to the car. Finally leaving the park just after 1 pm for the hour-long drive back to town!

I really enjoyed hiking the area and am rather happy to have left the ‘chest’ for a later occation, giving me an excuse to come back!

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Peace // Claes

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Hiking while fasting!

In March of 2018 I conducted a short experiment with going on a hike while fasting, the hike itself is described Here:
In this article I want to clarify what led up to the decision to hike fasted and how I prepared for the experiment.
So, if You been following my stuff for any amount of time, You already know that I’m a proponent of low carb nutrition and fuel my own activities primarily with fat. I noticed a considerable shift in my metabolism after the 30 day hike in nutritional ketosis I did in the summer of 2017, after which I no longer need a few days adaptation when choosing to up the carbs for a day or a few. My thoughts are that the prolonged activity during ketosis restored my bodies natural metabolic flexibility and increased my ability to fuel with free fatty acids directly.
I have felt inclined to try an extended fast for quite some time, just didn’t seem to get to it, and now I thought the time was right and the decision was made on pretty short notice.
Just a couple of days before the start of the hike on Friday, March 23rd 2018, I caught myself falling into a pattern of spontaneous OMAD (one meal a day). I had my usual fat coffee in the morning and just wasn’t hungry more than once a day.
Probably this can be explained by stress levels being a lot lower than back in Stockholm and the abundance of sunlight I enjoy here on the island.
Anyway, I was clearly in fat burning mode when I skipped my fat coffee on Friday morning, leaving dinner at 18:00 (6PM) Thursday as my last meal before going out into the hills 13:30 (1:30PM) Friday.
Totalling just short of 80km (50 miles) I ended the hike on Sunday 16:00 and did only take in water and pink Himalayan salt (contains lots of electrolytes besides the sodium) during this time. Admittedly I consumed a lot of water and added about 0.5 tsp salt to each 1.5l bottle.
Timing proved to be perfect and on Sunday night my body told me to end the fast, dinner at 20:00 (8PM) left me with a 74 hour fasting period, maybe it had felt good to go longer if I had not been hiking. For now and under the circumstances, this was exactly right for me.
Now, I can’t stretch enough the importance of being properly fat and keto adapted if You want to copy the experience. Though it is true that fasting is one of the fastest ways of entering nutritional ketosis, doing that while being this physically active can only be a very unpleasant experience.
So, will I do this again?
Well, on the fasting side – definitely! I felt really good the whole weekend, good energy levels most of the time and really no feelings of fatigue or even serious hunger. The plan for now is to incorporate 24-36 hours fasts on a more or less weekly basis with an extended fast every now and then when it fits into my life situation.
At some point, when life’s slow and rather stress free, I´d like to go for a longer fast, maybe 7-10 days, to really reap the health benefits. For now the natural intermittent fasting I do on an almost daily basis will suffice!

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Day 16/30 of the 2017 Keto Hiker experiment

21:40 Camp 1km northeast Teusajaure cabin
I woke before 6AM and packed my stuff, thankfully the forecast had been wrong and there was no rain during the night. For the first time this tour I was able to get everything, included tent and abside, to fit inside the backpack. Great sign that I’ve eaten away some weight and volume!
After taking care of my boots and some other equipment I went over to the main building where they serve breakfast between 7 and 9. Staying there for the entire time and eating small portions continuously, I managed to get approximately 1200-1500 kcal in, mostly from fat – cheese, butter, eggs, meat, seeds and nuts – and probably a little too much protein. Yet very limited carbs and apparently the insulin spike never got high enough to impact keton production as my Ketonix readings were still showing nutritional ketosis hours after the meal.
The boat taking me over to the other side of the lake left at 10:40, leaving me more than enough time to gather my stuff and say ‘bye’ to people I talked to. Many showed interest in the project and are curious about ketosis, which is very encouraging for the health development in the future. I actually thought that most people hiking would be more stuck in the old carb paradigm and this is a good point to be wrong!
Bus ride took a while and I was arriving Vakkotavare just before 13:00 – as it was raining at the time I went into the cabin for a cup of tea and spent a couple of hours chatting with the hosts and their family and a couple I met last year when they were hosts in Vistas cabin.
Besides having a great social time I also got a video for the ‘Cabin host series’ on offthegridhiker.com!
Leaving the cabin at ten to 3 in
 the afternoon I was still energized from the breakfast and felt no need for any additional intake
of food. I hiked the 15km in 3 hours and 15 min, arriving at the lake more than an hour before the motor boat ride I aimed for.

Thankfully I found two rowing boats on my side of the lake, which meant I could just take one and get over. So I rowed the 1km over the lake and knocked at the cabin hosts door looking for video nr 2 this day.

Not only did I get my interview but stayed for two hours total, taking part in the preparation for smoking trouts and even got treated to one he’d smoked some days earlier. It was delicious!
I totally would have stayed there and camped, the place is just beautiful, yet having spent the night before in Saltoluokta’s birch forest I longed to get up above the tree line again for some wind and a view.
Just half an hour of additional hiking brought me just that and after finishing my dinner and get ready for bed, I’ll spend the night here in this wonderful spot.
Observation: when undressing I noticed that my left calf was weirdly swollen from just below the knee down to where the top of the boot shaft ends. No pain involved at all, just this swelling of the subcutaneous tissue… Gotta keep an eye on this.

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Peace // Claes

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Day 13/30 of the 2017 Keto Hiker experiment

09:20 Camp 1km East Alggajåhkå in Alggavagge

It’s been raining and quite windy all night and I rested/slept/stayed in my sleeping bag more or less twelve hours – I feel amazingly rested and recovered!
Now, for the last half hour or so there has been no more rain and I made tea and have some jerky and coconut oil for breakfast.

Actually feeling hungry in the morning for once.
My plan for the day was to move on up the valley and turn east through Guohpervagge, yet for now it’s totally dependent on how the weather develops. Not having had a real rest day so far I’m actually ok with staying here, should the rain start pouring again. It’s just one of the things we can’t control, yet we can chose if we want to start a days hike in a rain storm or wait it out. I’m very grateful that I am in no hurry at all!!!

For now I’m happy having my tea and breakfast, when done with that I’ll just start get my stuff sorted and then see what it looks like outside. I’m rather positive that I’ll get back on the trail today as well!

19:40 Camp 300m east of Tjågnårisjågåsj on the mountain side above the trail

It turned out there was no more rain today – after finishing breakfast I wiped off the tent and the wind did the rest. Just before 11:30 I moved on with everything packed dry, just amazing how well things work out!

The actual trail runs rather far down the bottom of Alggavagge and that area was way to wet for my leather boots due to all the melting snow and the rain. I’m sure it’s wonderful and easy to follow at another time, yet today I was back at my reindeer tracks and the first part of today was through wet bushes again. Not my favorite, yet what a great metaphor for having to go through some trials and tribulations to get to the boon!
In this case, the wonderful soft and smooth mountain grass under my feet!
The higher part of Alggavagge is beautiful with huge plains o green grass and an abundance of camp sites, you could basically put a tent down almost anywhere up there.
This changes rapidly when starting to descend on the northern side, much rougher ground, more stones, yet still very pleasant to hike.
Crossing Guoperjåhkå was the real thing, murky water from the glaciers so I knew it would be cold.

 

It was impossible to see the depth so I chose a part with less strong current and left my pants off in case – turned out the water was never more than knee deep and the whole thing turned out to be just fun.
After walking a couple of hundred meters to get warm I stopped for coffee and a snack. At the same time renewing the tapes on my feet, they had become wet too many times to still stick.
Sitting there I saw two people with blue covers on their backpacks start up the hillside and turn the direction I was heading.
Turns out I catch up on them, two Swedish guys named Carl and Fredrik, a few km’s onward and we hike together to the next river crossing. Passing the emergency cabin at the bridge over Mihkajåhkå we stopped and looked inside – definitely a place to remember if ever in need for shelter in this area!
Also passed a German party of six people on the trail, I’m really quite surprised how many people move around here. I thought everyone was doing Sarek through Rapa valley and Rouhtesvagge.

Anyway, after the first river crossing over Mahtujågåsj, I continued by myself again and, once again, went for the reindeer tracks as the trail pushed through the wetlands lower down on the mountain side. Also I had my first close encounter with a reindeer herd on this trip, really nice to see them close up again. Especially the ones born this year are so adorable!!!
Little later I get to the next river to cross, Tjågnårisjågåsj, and find a nice snow bridge over the stream. Now, let me get one thing straight here, I don’t normally use snow bridges for crossing rivers and I certainly don not endorsed doing so! It’s potentially very dangerous as one can never know exactly how strong or thick the snow is or when or why it might break.
My decision today was built on two facts, first that an entire herd of reindeer had come this way before me and their tracks were all over the snow (and they probably didn’t cross one by one…) and secondly that I could see from both sides that the snow was over 1m thick and I had no reason to believe it would be thinner towards the middle.

That said, every situation like this has to be analyzed separately and one better be very sure, or else go downstream and wade!

This time all went well and I’m off to another night with amazing view and great, fresh air!

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Day 10/30 of the 2017 Keto Hiker experiment

07:15 Camp at Pårka, between Låddejåckå and Arasluokta

Again I slept amazingly well, can’t say if it’s the ketogenic state helping with sleep also, yet I can definitely say that my sleep is better than I can recall from previous years up here.
Tonight again I got my ideal nine hours, dreaming a lot of good dreams, though I don’t remember the details I have a pleasant feeling lingering from the dreams. Having the sound of the stream accompaning me through the night and morning is soothing and relaxing. I just love these sounds of nature, be it water flowing, wind blowing and even rain falling. There’s something genuinely connecting being out in nature listening to its sounds.

I really look forward to the hike today, I remember it as beautiful and rather soft with just one real uphill climb after Arasluokta. And I’m so glad getting to Staloluokta once again, going there was in my original plan as well, just now I come from another direction. I’m really curious how the place has developed since I saw it last, I still have to look up when that was, though it can’t be less than 12 years ago!

I’m very happy and impressed with how my body feels and works, though I eat very little during the day my energy is top notch, I feel strong and my mood is formidable. From a personal, subjective standpoint this little experiment is already a success.
Especially I can see an immense shift in my mental state and stability – earlier my mood was definitely more affected by the conditions. Now, I don’t know what part the ketogenic diet plays here and what is this effect of all the mental, emotional and spiritual development I’ve deliberately gone through over the last year – and I’ll probably never will.
What I can say is that when I went out of ketosis back home to prepare for the pre-hike blood tests, my emotional stability was affected and I didn’t really like that shift!

21:55 Camp near Staloluokta, view over Virihaure

What a beautiful day, the weather was just fantabulous most of the day with a short rain shower when I stopped to do my midday measuring of ketons. Just put my rain jacket on and waited 15 min, then everything dried up just about as fast as it got wet.
First part of the hike was mostly downhill to the bridge 4km north of Arasluokta, followed by a slow uphill stretch leveling out and then descending to Arasluokta about 8km from my starting point.

 

I continued past the cabin and crossed the bridge before taking a break to measure ketons and drink some water. As the rain started I decided to have a small snack as well, I wanted to wait for the shower to pass by anyway. Bad idea… The couple handfuls of nuts lay like a brick in my belly the whole ascent up the hill and really made it a lot harder than it actually is.
Excellent learning experience, though, not to eat anything without planning some time for it to digest. I got to try it with the PF and see if I tolerate that better as a quick snack, and if there’s a difference mixing it with hot or cold beverage.

Anyway, once the ascent was dealt with the trail was pretty much level and very comfortable to hike. I stopped for about half an hour at a small lake where the mosquitoes for some reason were almost nonexistent. And had a great Sit on one of the rocks in the sunshine, just one of these explicitly peaceful and serene moments in life. I’m so grateful I take the time to enjoy these opportunities nowadays, it has not always been that way!

Through the day I met a few people and pretty everyone warned me of the mosquitoes in Staloluokta, to the point that I played with the thought to camp up at the lakes.
Imagine my gratitude when I was met by a rather strong breeze while descending to the village and this wind staying almost the entire evening!
Shortly upon arrival I went up to visit the “kyrkokåta” – a small chapel build in the traditional Sami way of a hut. There had been one of the rare services earlier today and the pastor with his people was packing up to leave. As I met him once before many years ago I naturally introduced myself and chatted with him for a few minutes, then ending up helping out with the chores.
Apparently their was some cake left from after the service and as they learned I don’t eat wheat or sugar they left me some fresh cabbage, a pack of bacon (wow, what a breakfast tomorrow!!!) and a smoked and dried shoulder blade from a reindeer to cut the meat of for snacks. Frankly I felt like a kid on Christmas Day after basically eating the same food for 10 days and starting to think too much of eggs and bacon!
Amazing!!!

So, after a snack with fat coffee and reindeer meat I made camp and then it was time for the sauna. It was every bit as good as I remembered it, I did five rounds of sauna, each followed by a dip in the little lake next to it – and with an exquisite view!
I could easily have stayed for another round, yet my growling stomach insisted on dinner, and, experiencing so little hunger during the days here, I was almost grateful for the feeling of needing something to eat.
The cabbage was a nice add on to my usual menu of ground beef with veggies and fat!

The rest of the evening was comfortably spent lounging in the cabin, chatting with other guests and reading until I felt the definitive urge to retire to my tent.
I feel very pleasantly tired and relaxed, looking forward to another good nights sleep!

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Day 8/30 of the 2017 Keto Hiker experiment

07:30 STF Fjällstation Ritsem

Woke up early enough to make the 07:45 boat and still decided against it. No wind tonight led to a lot of moisture in the tent and I want to let it air out decently. At the same time it’s good to have extra time to reorganize the gear, I need to get some food out from the bottom of the pack. It feels encouraging to observe my consumption, though the backpack is still too heavy for my taste.

Grateful how the body adjusts to the load and handles it better day by day.

I feel a little taxed by the long hike yesterday, especially the more monotonous 10km on the gravel road. Also I actually woke up hungry for the first time in a while, guess I used up more energy than I noticed yesterday.
Found some egg powder in the left-over-box here in the kitchen and I’m making an omelette with that and some cream powder from my pack.
Hopefully I can get everything except the tent and the Crocs to fit into the backpack now, which makes it easier to distribute the load and carry it more comfortable.
Looking to take the boat to Änonjalme and start walking the Padjelanta trail southbound. No real plan where to stop for camp, just want to get out of the birch forest and away from the higher concentration of mosquitoes!
20:45 Camp at bridge over Tsiekkimjågåsj
I spent a nice and slow morning at the fjällstation, got everything dried out and packed and chatted with several nice people. Partly the Norwegians that I shared trail with for some days now, and partly a party of five I first met last night and who just came out from a two week tour through Sarek. Especially one guy, who’s been in Sarek a lot, gave me some very useful tips for my tour through there. Still not sure I’m doing that, though, it all depends on the knee. Which today worked really well, by the way!

Just before 11:00 i left for the boat and got on board early. At the dock was a family of three with a dog who were visiting relatives in Änonjalmme and had a lot of luggage and boxes. I helped them get their stuff on board and we had a nice chat for the duration of the boat trip. After helping them get their stuff on shore in Änonjalmme, I started my hike at 12:15 aiming for Gisuris to start with.
The 15km hike went fast and easy with moderate intensity, I’d almost forgotten how much I love the soft and friendly trails of the Padjelanta national park. Only stopping for a 20min water break, at which I also got some writing done, I arrived at 16:00 and spent almost 30min chatting to the cabin host. He was about to bring his family back down to Änonjalmme for them to go home and still took thag time to meet with a stranger. I really appreciate this attitude up here!
As I experienced some technical issues getting the Ketonix connected with my iPhone I spent some time restarting both devices and didn’t have my PF coffee until almost an hour after I stopped.
I ended up spending a full two hours there and left filled with renewed energy.
Already back at Gisuris the mosquitoes were rather active and on the hike from there it got worse and worse as the sun started to go down and the wind disappeared. Once I found the camp site I immediately started getting the tent set up and connected the extra abside at once. Without it I would not have been able to cook for having all of those insects in my face… I really look forward moving to higher ground again tomorrow, hopefully there are a few less of them there!
On the other hand the heat just reached the area very recently and the mosquitoes hatched after that so actually this is their high season this year. Nothing to do but accept the fact and be grateful that they don’t bother me mentally as they used to do years ago. I seem to just ignore them most of the time nowadays and the good news are that their stings don’t really itch on me neither.

Anyway, it’s already past 21:00 and I didn’t get as much sleep as I’d liked last night so I aim for a swift close up of the evening. Just need to prepare tomorrow’s dinner and get myself ready for the sleeping bag!

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Day 7/30 of the 2017 Keto Hiker experiment

07:50 Hukejaure cabin

Woke up before 07:00 which gives me just short of nine hours sleep again, I really feel rested waking up here in the mountains. Even if I don’t sleep through entirely but wake up several times during the night, this seems to fit my personal rhythm rather well!

Yesterday I noticed my left knee being slightly swollen and thick, this improved during the night yet still I’m grateful for a few rather easy hiking days in front of me.
I have no idea what happened yesterday to cause the swelling, at some point I must have twisted or over bent it.
Anyway, so far this is nothing that keeps me from hiking and hopefully it remains that way and gets better day by day. I just have to watch my steps a little better!

Today is a 20km moderate hike down to Sitasjaure cabin and from there I can hopefully catch a ride to Ritsem. Really would appreciate not having to walk a gravel road for another 20km…
We’ll see!

20:00 STF Fjällstation Ritsem

After a small breakfast and packing up everything dry again (had to hang the tent inside for a short while) I started today’s hike at 10:15.
First part is still Norwegishly wild and rocky with two new bridges at the first larger river crossing. It would have been doable without them, yet it’s so nice to use a bridge for a change!
After a short uphill slope of a few km the scenery opens up to a beautiful high plateau stretching for quite a while. Really easy to hike the soft trail and with no changes in elevation for quite some km that part is also rather fast.
Around halfway towards Sitasjaure there’s another short uphill climb followed by a downhill slope and then another huge plateau. Here the Sami have a village and they are doing some work with the reindeer herds this time of the year so the tracks from their 4×4’s and cross motorcycles are present everywhere.
They have been considerate, though, leaving the hiking trail widely intact. Part of the trails overlap, though, and I’m quite happy they aren’t out driving today!
At one water crossing I actually use the 4×4 trail as the stream is easier to get through dry there than at the hiking trail where it’s narrow and much deeper.

Arriving at Sitasjaure cabin after just over five hours (I stopped briefly to eat some Mac nuts about 2/3 into the hike, else I only stopped to drink some water) the host tells me he doesn’t know about any transport to Ritsem and so i start walking. In two hours not a car passed by in my direction, then I stopped for a short water break and three cars drive by just after each other. Two of the just pass without even slowing down, the third on graciously stopped and the man gives me a lift to my destination.
Unfortunately I missed the boat transport I was aiming for and got to spend the night here in Ritsem.
Upside of that is a warm shower and all the devices I need for keeping track of ketons are fully charged again.
Talking about ketosis I just need to mention that I hiked 30km total in just over 7 hours on a breakfast consisting of coffee, 30g FhatFibre, 4 Brazil nuts, a little jerky and 2 spoons of ghee. Followed by a snack of 50g Mac nuts.

Fully energized all the time, never feeling hungry or fatigued – I find this super cool!
Yet needless to say I enjoyed my well deserved dinner once I was out of the shower!

Looking back at a rather tough and super rewarding hiking day full of beautiful scenery once again I expect to sleep well tonight!

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Day 5/30 of the 2017 Keto Hiker experiment

07:00 Camp near the peak of Smallerienpass
Turned out the weather forecast was right, which only makes me even more grateful for the fabulous evening I enjoyed in this place. Shorty after I slipped into my sleeping bag I heard drops starting to fall on the tent, continuing on and off all night I slept rather irregularly due to the rain and wind. Also I’ve start to dream – a lot – though I don’t remember any details, I wake up with the feeling of good dreams. My impression is that my subconscious works through issues my conscious mind doesn’t need to be involved in any more.
Anyway I got 9 hours in the sleeping bag, and though interrupted it should be sufficient for today’s adventures!
Yesterday I did PhatFibre in my coffe first, then measured ketones, followed with coconut oil and another measurement. Today I switch and see if there is any difference in how my keton production is affected. I naturally expect the PF to drive ketones up faster.
I’m confident that there will be a pause in the rain allowing me to get the tent down relatively dry after packing up all the other stuff!
20:30 Camp just south of the bridge northwest corner of Vuolip Coarvejavri
Thankfully the rain did stop shortly after 09:00 and after wiping it of I went back in and packed up everything else. In the meantime the wind had finished the work and both inner and outer tent was pretty much dry – always good to pack up dry equipment!
The first part down to the saddle was really easy, I used a large snowfield to get down with minimum effort. Walking on snow, especially downhill, is so much easier on the joints than rocks and blocks of stone.

I originally aimed for the southern side of the lake going into Dolbotvaggi, crossing the river was not doable, though and I turned back north and followed the northern shore.

Here were also lots of snowfields to  utilize and, as the hike was level most of
the time it didn’t take much to get to the other side of the lake (it has no name on the map, only marked with its elevation above sea level: 1091) which is still covered in snow and ice for the most part.

The rest of Dolbotvaggi was more challenging with lots of blocks and shifts in elevation yet still lots of snow to walk on, just a little more treacherous. Weather was unstable and I got several showers breaking up the steady, very light rain.
Almost at the southeast end of the valley I got a glimpse of Gautelifjellet before the clouds lowered down and covered the valley leaving almost no visiblility and, at the same time, the rain picked up heavily.

The decent was largely on instinct coupled with the sound of the river on the right, not until halfway down I could see the far northern part of Gautelisvatnet and, once again, once again had something to aim for.
Soon I came down in the trail leading from the dam to Gautelishytta, just far more west than I originally planned for. One just can’t beat the weather conditions, the only thing to do is adjust an motor on.

The just under 6km to the cabin took a while and I’ve made a mental note never to hike there again when it rains or has recently rained heavily. There are seven major creeks or rivers to cross and last time I went this way none of them presented even a slight problem. Today all of them were tricky and four out of seven would actually have required a change to wading shoes. I trusted my balance and the high shafts of my boots (which I love even more after today) and got over everyone without any incident, yet finding a possible place to cross and planning the move took a lot of time. I got really cold from standing still a lot and move slowly through the rivers and finally smelling smoke from a wood fire when I was about a km from the Gautelishytta was incredible welcome!
Ove there I met four friendly guys from Norway and Switzerland hiking together. They just arrived half an hour earlier yet already had the fire going and welcomed me in to warm up and dry some stuff as good as possible.
I also had a small snack, which was actually my first real meal for the day, in the morning I only had fat coffee and the weather conditions didn’t invite to any kind of longer break. 14km in slightly over 6h through rough terrain and in all but pleasant weather conditions with only a few spoons of fat in the morning for fuel. I guess the ketohiker has become reality and I want to give a great shout out in support of the PhatFibre from NourishBalanceThrive. That stuff really kicks my keton production into high gear according to the Ketonix.

Anyway, after two hours in the cabin, meeting Traude and Eckhard as well as my visitors from last night again and really enjoying the warmth, I decided to move on to my chosen camp. Tomorrow I reach Hukejaure early in the day and plan to camp near the cabin to take care of equipment, wash up some stuff, get into the sauna and clean myself up etc, and I just couldn’t stand the thought of spending two nights in a row outside a cabin.
Besides, I’ve camped here before and it’s just a beautiful place!

Taking it easy the 4km took me about 90min, including finally having to take of my shoes for the last river crossing, just 50m from my intended campsite. I just walk the last part in my crocs, continuing straight into the lake for a quick wash after leaving my gear at camp.

Soon the tent was up and dinner prepared, a good thing with this way of food planning and preparing is that it literally takes just minutes to have a meal cooked and ready. Pretty neat when dinner gets rather late like this day!

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Day 2/30 of the 2017 Keto Hiker experiment

Woke up early, first time at quarter to 5 and managed to doze off some more, when the sun rises over the mountains it gets really bright in the tent and my Buff over the eyes doesn’t keep it from waking me. Need to retire earlier in the evenings to get enough sleep.

 

Shouldn’t be any issue, though, as I from now on start a lot earlier in the day!

First night in the tent was very comfortable, the spot nice and soft and temperatures rather accommodating, I never had to close the sleeping bag at all.
Tried a spoon of PhatFibre in my morning coffee and I really like it, gonna have another one to load up MCT’s and help the body get into ketosis faster.
Yesterday was a little out of bounds food wise with the hamburger patties at the airport and then just a very small snack on the train with jerky, ghee and some pecans. From now on I control food entirely and eat to satiety whenever feeling the need to refuel!

Foods ready and cooling of enough for me to eat, feels amazing to have an early dinner. I’m aiming for a good night’s sleep and as the spot here will catch some sun in the morning that means getting into the sleeping bag timely.

Today’s hike started at 8:40, always takes a few days to get back into my mountain routine and everything takes longer than it will in a few days.

First part of the trail is neatly marked and easy to follow, just before reaching the first lake on the right hand side, there’s a path continuing straight on and the trail turns slightly to the west (right). Look for a sign that says ‘Lossi’ and for markers on the meadow just next to the lake.

The other path is also nicely marked with bright red pain on rocks, yet it will lead you astray far to the south leading to a private cabin next to Sealggajavri!

The trail towards Lossi is well marked until the western end of the meadow, after that it grows faint and markers are old and far apart with the red paint bleached by the sun, wind and snow. The valley is really hiking friendly, though, and as long as you keep on in the general direction, you will run into a marker every now and then. Just stay clear of the wet areas down at the lakes and you’ll be good!

I took it slow and easy, didn’t really care about the trail and explored the southern path some before turning back towards the trail. Aiming for lunch break at Leirvatnet I reached the river crossing just before the lake and that was it…

I had crossed one river earlier using my Crocs and here I once more changed shoes and went into the water only to have to turn around after about a third of the distance. Water is ice cold direct from the glaciers, the current was considerably stronger than normal and as it came up towards the knees and over, the murkiness due to sediment made it impossible to see where to step next.
Leaving the backpack and boots on the shore I tried to cross at a few other places and couldn’t find a safe way to get to the other side.
Water crossings are sometimes treacherous up here and the rule is always ‘safety first’, had there been two or more of us I might have stripped and found a way over.
Also, the amount of snow in the valley and me sliding down a steep snowfield when crossing and having to find another route across already made it rather far fetched that doing the pass would have been possible anyway.
Otherwise I would have camped at the crossing and gone over in the early morning hours when water levels are usually the lowest.
As for this time I took a break for snacks (jerky, coconut oil and some Mac nuts) and tea, totally enjoying the sun and a mild breeze.
I couldn’t down as much fat as I think I’d actually needed, after a few spoonfuls I started to get slightly nauseous and felt sluggish on my way back down the valley.
Sun was shining and I tested the new solar charger for the first time, worked satisfactory charging my iPhone back to 100% and giving the Ketonix some love after that. As long as I get a few hours of sun every now and then, there will be no power issues!!!

Just before the last climb I stopped for a short break and had a coffee with two spoonfuls of coconut oil and this really did the trick, very good energy on the way up the hill and only positive thoughts during the quick wash up in the icy creak.

I’m almost amazed about the total lack of disappointment due to these forced changes of plans. I’m so happy and grateful that I can just accept the change of plan, make the most out of it, and, finding my way back to this spot, once again enjoy the gorgeous view of Hunddalen!

And another thing – before I started the hike today I’d heard about the amount of

snow and water. Now I’ve seen for myself and this might save me some real trouble later on during this tour.I definitely need to check my planned route on the map again and, if safety calls for that, make adjustments.

There are so many beautiful trails and cool places here that, in the end, it really doesn’t matter that much!

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Peace // Claes

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Day 1/30 of the 2017 Keto Hiker experiment

Woke up early at home and had my regular fat coffee (about 1 tbs each of butter, coconut oil and MCT oil mixed into a cup of coffee), did my reading and started splitting the gear into two bags. Tent, gear shed and most of the food went into a big plastic bag and got secured with duct tape. I took the valuable stuff (camera, electronics etc) as carry on in the lid of the backpack.
Although everything was in one place to start with I barely made it through a quick shower before the airport coach was outside to pick me up.
Check in and security went really smooth, after passing I still had an hour before departure and went for a couple of hamburger patties.

Flight was soft, just under 1.5 hours and I even had a great Sit (that’s what we call our daily meditation session in the MKE) while in the air. As we landed on time I knew I would make it time wise doing my last shopping (gas for the stove) in Kiruna and could continue according to plan ‘A’. Take the train to Katterat and start from there!

Picking up my luggage I found that they apparently weren’t that gentle handling luggage, one container with ghee had been hit slightly ajar and some of the fat had leaked out in the food bag.
Thankfully I noticed this while waiting for the train to depart from Kiruna and I had time to clean it up decently.
Still, putting up a ‘note to self’ to secure food containers with tape inthe future, isn’t it great how we always can choose to learn something instead of being an upset victim?!

After just over 2 hours of train ride we arrived in Katterat at 17:10 (that’s 5:10PM for you Americans) and I started down the gravel road leading up to the damm right next to ‘Hunddalshytta’ (“Dog Valley cabin’ in Norwegian).

The gravel road presented for the most part a slight uphill slope, every now and then leveling out yet slowly climbing almost 300m (1000ft) of elevation. Walking a road is always easy on the legs and it was a good way to start after the rather lengthy travel.Still I was more than pleased reaching the end of the road and getting onto the trail after an easy river crossing.

Continuing uphill towards the pass I couldn’t do last year due to weather conditions, I stopped after a total of three hours to raise the tent and get a timely dinner.
Finding a wonderfully soft spot with perfect view into Hunddalen was just too inviting to continue on.

Even though I motored along rather well I could feel I was not in ketosis and I need to get quite some fat with my dinner.
I really look forward to try the PhatFibre for the first time tomorrow morning.

 

The backpack is clearly too heavy to be carried comfortably and I even had thoughts about leaving stuff in a depot to come back to later. Funny how easy it sometimes is to forget all the times I already done the same thing successfully that now seems hard to do. I’m so grateful how I nowadays catch my undesirable thoughts almost immediately and can focus on enjoying the scenery instead. Nature here is just breathtakingly beautiful!!!

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Peace // Claes