The rain started around 20:30 last night and has continued so far with few breaks in between long showers. It’s rather soothing to listen to the drops falling on the tent and my body definitely didn’t mind the extra rest it meant to sleep in today.
Not that fond of starting the day packing up a wet tent I intend to give it some time and see if it clears up a little.
I woke up around 6:30, giving me a good 9 hours of sleep tonight, and after that just drifted between sleep and meditation. I thoroughly enjoy not having any fixed plans and being able to adjust according to conditions.
It will take an hour or more to get ready and have breakfast, after that I’ll just see what the weather looks like and get moving.
Finally in my tent after a long
and wet day, having had a good dinner and waiting for my tea to get ready.
Actually I never wanted to camp near a cabin this early on the tour, yet the hike today literally soaked my boots and they would take days to dry in a tent. Two guys staying here were kind enough to let me hang them inside the cabin to dry, and I spent some time chatting with the before making camp.
So nice how people help each other out here in the wilderness, I don’t think we find the same friendliness and connection between almost everybody and anybody back in civilization.
An elderly German couple, Traude and Eckhard, whom I met several times in the trail, even invited me for a cup of hot tea after I’d been out in the rain raising my tent.
Well, let me go back to this morning – I packed everything inside the tent and then went out to take it down. There was just no way to get it packed dry, the outer tarp was soaked and I just shakes of as much water as possible. Worse was that it was still raining so the inner tent got moist as well and I had no opportunity to dry it on the way as it continued to rain more or less the entire day.
While I was packing up there was a group of four from the Netherlands passing, whom I later passed and met again at the first break.
First part, down to the security cabin at one of the larger lakes in Oallavaggi, was easy and at the first water crossing there was no doubt about changing shoes. Funny how less enjoyable getting the feet wet suddenly gets when it’s raining and there’s a rather cold wind!
This was also the first time I met the German couple and, though they seemed to know what they were doing, I kept an eye on them during wading. They did amazingly well!
Once arrived at the small cabin I put a kettle with enough water for me and everyone following to boil. As I knew the hike would be mostly level and down hill, I saved my PhatFibre supply and did coffee with coconut oil and some snacks.
The Germans came and left again rather quickly, the Dutch arrived when the Germans left and stayed for a while.
I enjoyed being in the warm cabin and was in no hurry to leave, so we chatted a little. This gave me the opportunity to help them avoid some unpleasant surprises and possibly some bad experiences. They planned to hike Lossi-Hunddalen on their way back and, hearing my description of the conditions, decided to change plans.
This is why talking to others about your plans can sometimes be crusial or even the difference between a successful, enjoyable adventure and a dangerous disaster.
Moving on after the break the trail was really nice at first and I was able to cross the streams without changing, though they carried considerably more water than last year. Passing the highest point of the valley and starting the decent towards Cunojaure it became obvious just how ridiculously wet the area had become. Last year it was difficult to get through parts of the trail without getting the feet wet, this year those parts resembled small swamps, acting as obstacles on the way down.
Crossing one river dry, and almost slipping, led to wading at the next larger one. Knee deep at the deepest part and with a really strong current I was grateful that it wasn’t wider and I got through it without getting my feet too cold.
Reaching lower and closer to the lake, the trail grow increasingly muddy, still at last water crossing I had to wade through, my boots was ok. Well, they were wet, but not soaked…
Once in to the cabin at Cunojaure, I checked again and, as stated above, there was no way to have them dry in the abside of my tent and I decided to stay.
Right now it only rains very lightly and I’ve gotten rid of most moisture inside the tent, enough, anyway, to take in my gear and get ready for the night. Hopefully waking up to a drier day tomorrow, I’m still amazed and grateful for my high spirits during this day today. No matter the rain, the wet trail, soaked tent or cold feet – I’ve spent a very happy day in the mountains.
Also I start to adapt to the load and am definitely getting full blown fat adapted again, probably even burning a solid amount of ketones. After the most difficult hike I went downstream to help check the south part of the wade for Traude and Eckhard, who choose another spot for crossing, and returning to my backpack I actually ran up the hill without thinking about it until afterwards.
Looking forward to another awesome day tomorrow!
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Peace // Claes
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