20:15 Camp in center of Kaskasavagge
Sitting in my tent looking through the valley towards Kungsleden in the far distance and enjoying the reflection of the beautiful evening sky in the perfectly still water of the lake in front of me. For the first night in quite a while I don’t need to hide in my sleeping bag to stand the cold or camp by a cabin to get dried up.
And that’s not the way this day started out…
I woke up rather early around half past six to the sound of… (drumroll!) raindrops falling on my tent again. The rain that started during my hike yesterday hadn’t really stopped – rather just taken very short breaks during the night. I even had a light rain falling when I put up the tent last night.
During one of the breaks I grabbed most of my stuff, except sleeping bag, mattress and, of course, the tent, and relocated into the kitchen of the closest cabin to make some coffee and start the day.
Naturally I met the same people as yesterday and had a very sociable morning and was able to help quite a few people with tips and ideas for the continuation of their tours.
Twice I was out wiping of the tent before finally it stopped raining for about half an hour and got my stuff packed reasonably dry.
In the meantime I got an interview with one of the hosts, which we had to do inside due to the weather. It was after half past eleven before I finally got away from Sälka and onto the trail towards Nallo.
Using the trail kept me roughly away from the wet bushes and scrubs, thereby helping to avoid soaking the boots within the first few km.After about 7km I left the trail and started working my way up the mountain side and turn into the western part of Unna Reiddasvagge. The ground was almost inconceivably drenched were there were no rocks and the rocks themselves were wet and slippery. Approaching the opening of the valley I suddenly found myself at about the same elevation as the clouds and really thought it’s have to hike in fog for the rest of that part.
Thankfully the clouds lifted and I had a wet and cold hike with good visibility up to the Unna Räitas cabin. This is one of the few cabins without a host and frankly it is pretty worn down and would definitely need some love and construction work. Now it’s more like an emergency shelter, I can’t imagine anyone wanting to sleep there except for a real emergency.
Location is just fantabulous, though, with a view of the Reaidda glacier, a beautiful meltwater lake and several summits at around 1900m.
Here I had my midday break with some tea and snacks, and while I was inside getting my stuff prepared out of the cold wind the miracle happened.
Within less than an hour the clouds opened up and revealed blue sky and sunshine, I dare to admit that I had to really look around to believe the change that had happened. This I had been wishing and praying for for days now and finally we got a nice and clear afternoon sky again.
Knowing that I’d be doing the pass crossing, I still had a thorough break before departing from the cabin and approaching the climb.
Not only was the snow field large enough to allow the crossing, most of the ascent could be done on snow, which is so much easier on joints and ligaments then hiking rocks, and I reached the summit of the pass after just an hour. The view was marvelous and well worth the climb, unfortunately pictures can’t show how steep it really is. I really had to kick my boots into the snow wall to be able to climb it without slipping and sliding back downhill.
Naturally the decent into Kaskasavagge was less physically demanding, yet it’s quite taxing mentally to keep focus on where to step next. There was some snow fields on the way down as well, yet mostly rocks, which thankfully had dried completely since the rain stopped. And what a different experience it is to walk on dry rocks compared to having them wet and slippery.
Already on the decent I spotted a possible camp site and even if I checked a few others I ended up in the place. Right in the middle of the valley and close to a stream it makes a perfect spot for me and a good starting point for tomorrow’s hike.
Now I just hope and pray that this preferable weather change will stick for a while. I’d love the weather to be like this for the remainder of my tour!
Thank You for checking out my blog, please leave a comment and share the post with friends and loved ones who might enjoy it!
By leaving Your name and email in the box below You get notification of futures posts and news!
Peace // Claes
Nice morning at Hukejaure, I always like to linger a little extra when I visit this cabin and this time I had a lazy morning inside until about 10. Several cups of coffee with coconut oil, some jerky and a few nuts made up a slow breakfast followed by a few cups of tea.
About half way through the valley there is a river crossing and this time I found a place quite a bit upstream of the place marked on the map where I could cross without getting my feet wet. Really a relief as the wind had become increasingly colder and the clouds in front of me got darker and promising rain today again.
I got started just after 10 this morning, for the first time with a rather moist tent in my backpack. The 10km down to Hukejaure were as easy and smooth as anything can be up here, wind still rough and cold and a few pretty decent rain showers hitting me on the way.
After coffee and a chat with the cabin host I started taking care of my equipment, wet rain gear got hung up to dry, socks and underwear washed and shoes cleaned and dried. Then some wood chopping and water hauling for the sauna before I fired it up and spent well over an hour just relaxing in the heat. Wow, was that good after literally being cold for two days and nights!
Olle, the cabin host had gone fishing and was successful, bringing home a huge trout. Having half of it himself left the other half to be shared between myself and two other guests at the cabin. Around 100g of super fresh trout file fried in ghee became an awesome starter for my dinner!
Not much more to report from this day, it’s a tired and very content hiker sitting here in his tent ready for a good night’s sleep. Air is pretty warm and it is quite, no wind shaking the tent and no splashing from raindrops falling. There’s been a few nights since I had an equally peaceful evening!
As I wanted to check out Battajavri and look for camp sites around that lake for future purposes, I kept my elevation after reaching about 950m and went around the mountain. Soon I had to go down some again to get off the super slippery wet rocks higher up on the mountain side.
Originally I planned to stay east of Rusjka and merge with Neasketvaggi at its northern end, yet the wind was to strong to safely hike a steep mountain side I didn’t know from earlier experience. So I turned west to go pass Ruskajavri on its eastern side.
I found several suitable spots along the lake, yet still didn’t really feel like stopping and call it a day. I already knew I wouldn’t go to Hukejaure, just wanted to cover a little more ground before setting up camp. I also already spotted this small lake on the map and wanted to give it a shot, knowing there are sites farther down if this one wouldn’t work.
What a wonderful morning, I woke up after 9 hours in the sleeping bag by the sun warming my tent. The night has been rather chilly and my breath has left some condensation on the outer tarp that is now drying of in the sun and light wind.
I got going just about 10am and the first 8km to Kaitumjaure cabin were done with in little over two hours. Kungsleden is not that inspiring to hike as it is very eroded, yet it is fast and the surroundings are really beautiful!
At the cabin I didn’t get much information about the area I was looking to hike, I did get another interview for ‘
Turns out that just about a km from the cabin I find a trail leading west up to the summit of Sanarcohkka. So I followed that trail until I was well clear of the tree line before turning northward and returning to follow reindeer tracks.
The wind that kept my camp free from mosquitoes last night and this morning increased steadily throughout the day. Coming from northwest and being rather chilly it made this day feel a lot more like early fall than late summer. Also I saw some yellow leaves on the birches already so it seems Lappland got a quite short summer this year.
Leaving the cabin at ten to 3 in
What a beautiful morning! I’m sitting in my tent with the abside open on the leeward side, facing the sun. The rather chilly wind from behind drives away most mosquitoes except for the very bravest, and the sun gives a nice warmth to the morning hours!
Plan for today is to go all the way to Saltoluokta as the weather could hardly be better and I’ll get an early start.
I have to admit that the first hour or so was a struggle… Lots of vegetation, wetlands and pools of standing water to be avoided and really no straight line to follow despite my efforts of aiming at the high point. In these situations it always feels like the forward progress is frustratingly slow and it becomes a mental game besides the physical struggle with the uneven ground and getting hooked up in the vegetation all the time.
The rest of the hike to the eastern end of Bietsavvre was pure joy, mixing grassland with rocks and some occasional bushes that I’ve got increasingly better at avoiding!
Unfortunately the cafe in the Sami village was closed and so I continued almost immediately along the trail down to Saltoluokta. The six km trail was super easy to follow and after a slight uphill slope merely downhill, after just under an hour I reached the fjällstation and checked in for a camp site. Sara at the reception was kind enough to help with recharging my Ketonix battery and the power bank over night, turns out she’s been following LCHF earlier and got of it during guide training.
Another day starting with rain, it began pouring down again sometimes during the night and continues throughout the morning with short breaks in between the showers.
Hiking through the valley following the lake was easy and none of the rivers required a change of shoes crossing. Soon the ascent towards the ridge started and half way up I decided to go far west instead of the shortest route up. It was just an idea I acted on, and what a view i got, both of the valley i just hiked through and the area lying in front of me. Marvelous, just marvelous!
one more river without getting my feet wet, where I once again met Carl and Fredrik.
The evening turned out beautiful also weather wise, with only a few drops of rain coming down and the sky looking rather clear for now. Let’s see what tomorrow has to deliver!
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!
wind did the rest. Just before 11:30 I moved on with everything packed dry, just amazing how well things work out!
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.
case – turned out the water was never more than knee deep and the whole thing turned out to be just fun.
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.
analyzed separately and one better be very sure, or else go downstream and wade!
Almost like a clockwork I now sleep for six full sleep cycles per night and wake up rested after around nine hours. It’s just amazing and I really hope to get used enough to this rythm that I can keep it up once home again.
started and the slowly motor on in the direction of Sarek.
Anyway, all in all it has been another amazing day up here and I had a lot of time to contemplate life in general and some things specifically. It’s just amazing how simple life can be when we’re close to nature and far from the (so called) civilized world. When I’m fed, warm and dry I really don’t have much need for anything else out here. So how come I ‘need’ all that stuff back home to consider myself happy? I don’t know for sure, yet my best guess is habits. And habits can be changed by will!