The great hiking adventure

It is an understatement to say that this year has been very different for many of us. A tiny virus has forced people to cancel trips, lock themselves up in their apartments and be away from their loved ones for an extended amount of time. Usually, I am planning my vacations ahead, but this year I didn't have any specific plans. Therefore, I had no canceled trips, which was pretty nice. On the contrary, I had to make quite a dramatic exit from Latvia in May, when the situation became too weird for me to handle.

As many of you know, I like to take my vacations in the U.S, and I would probably have gone there, had the situation been more normal. Interestingly, it has been a dream of mine to hike in the very northern part of Sweden for a very long time, but due to various circumstances the plans were never realized. So now, when circumstances more or less forced me to take my vacation in Sweden, I finally got to go. A friend of mine and I took the night train to Abisko, which is almost 1700 kilometers away from Göteborg. The train took 22 hours and it was impossible to sleep. But who cares, when you are on your way to the most exciting wilderness experience of your life?

We arrived in Abisko National Park on September 6 at four in the afternoon. The plan was to sleep in our tents every night, but that turned out to be more uncomfortable (read cold!) than we expected. Fortunately, the first two nights were bearable.

Beautiful canyon in Abisko National Park

Abisko - Abiskojaure: 15 kilometers

We had a steady breakfast at the hotel, and then we started our hike. The weather was really nice, around 12 degrees Celsius and no wind. We walked along the water through a birch forest, and suddenly the landscape opened up and we could see the mountains. Really the perfect first day! Eventually, we reached a sign that said 4 kilometers to Abiskojaure. "Piece of cake." we said to each other. However, it was so much more strenuous than we expected, and I am sure it was longer than 4 k. Finally, we reached our destination and set up our tents in a birch forest where - naturally - there were mosquitos (in September!) We spent the evening in the kitchen hiding from the mosquitos, where we started talking to a bunch of hikers from different countries. They had started from the beginning of Kungsleden, Hemavan, which is about 400 kilometers south of Abisko. Obviously, they had only one last hike to do before they would reach their final destination, whereas we still had a ways to go. Finally, we went back to our tents in order to get at least a couple of hours of sleep. The ground tilted, so we kept rolling to one side of the tent, which was kind of annoying. At least the temperature was ok.

Excited about the first stage!

We followed the river the whole way to Abiskojaure

The wooden planks looked like ski tracks

Beautiful view from Abiskojaure camp site

Day 2: Abiskojaure - Alesjaure, 22 kilometers

Still excited, we started our journey on the longest distance of the entire hike. Now we entered the mountainous regions, so the first kilometers were quite hilly. Mesmerized by the amazing scenery, we took our time, watched the rein deer, stopped to take photos and had a hearty lunch. When we had been walking for seven hours we were still quite far away from our destination. Supposedly, there was a boat trip that could shorten the hike with 6 k, but unfortunately the boat season was over, so we had to endure the last kilometers by foot. I have run almost 22 k and I have walked 22 k before, but never during these circumstances! After what seemed like an eternity, we could see the cabins of Alesjaure far away in the distance, and then came a sign that said we had 3 kilometers left. Seriously though, one kilometer is sooo much further in the mountains than in the city - or anywhere else for that matter. There is absolutely no comparison! We passed a guy who was limping and his buddy stood further away waiting for him. It turned out they were on the exact same route as us, and this guy had started having troubles with one of his toenails - ouch.

We anticipated that this stage of the hike would be rough, but not this extreme. Therefore, we had booked a room so that we would not have to set up our tents when we arrived. Very smart! Additionally, the wind was very cold that night and it started raining, so I was extremely happy with our decision. We had been out for almost 10 hours and I was so hungry, but had to suffice with snacks and chocolate. Nevermind, a warm bed made it all worth it. We fell asleep early.

Leaving Abiskojaure

Also leaving the trees behind....

... and entering the mountainous region

Mountains, stones and grass. And water

Difficult to capture the vast beauty of this breathtaking landscape, but I tried

A gorgeous rainbow surprised us!

We stopped for a snack break in this little cabin. It's not for overnight use, but we sure were tempted to stay

Walking and walking and walking. And then walking just a little bit more.Thankfully, the fantastic surroundings made it easier to get ourselves motivated.

At the very far right end of this lake, the cabins were located.

Day 3: Alesjaure - Tjäktja [Check-cha], 12 kilometers

Are we sick? That's what we feared when we woke up to this day. Our eyes were swollen, noses runny and bodies sore. However, it only turned out to be a mild case of overexertion. The lady at the reception told us that we would have a strong head-wind on our way to Tjäktja. She was dead right. It turned out to be a not so pleasant hike and we decided to wait with our lunch until we got to the cabins, which is not a favorite with me. The last kilometers were uphill and I was so set on arriving that I kind of flew up the hills. The cabin was quite high up and it actually started snowing when we arrived. There was no good place for setting up the tents, so we decided to stay in the cabin. We shared a room with 11 other people but it was all good. Again I was overwhelmed with joy not having to spend a cold and windy night in my tent. In the evening we played Yatzy and talked to some other hikers. At eight o'clock everyone went to bed - because it was dark. There is no electricity in the cabins and most people wanted to get up early the next morning, so we also deciced to hit the sack.

Our view from the cabin in Tjäktja. You had to walk all the way down to the river to get your water. An adventure in itself!

Since the wind was so strong this day, I don't have any other pictures than on the camp site and the cabin

Day 4: Tjäktja - Sälka, 12 kilometers

Taking our time, we were among the last ones to leave the cabin this morning. We were not late, the other hikers were freakishly early. About 4-5 kilometers into this stage came the highest point of the whole hike. At that very point there was a cabin, where we found a German guy traveling solo. He was walking the opposite direction, so he had just climbed up the steep hill that for us became a very steep downhill. My knees, ouch. The weather changed about a million times before we hit our next destination - Sälka. However, it was mostly nice and we started thinking about lunch when the wind started blowing and heavy clouds surrounded us. As soon as we arrived the rain started pouring down, which resulted in us spending our time in a very cold kitchen. I was so cold that I started crawling into my sleeping bag while sitting on a stool. Not a very good idea. The stool disappeared behind me and I hit the back of my head on an edge - thankfully not sharp. In the end I was ok, but we still had to set up our tents. The rain was subsiding, so we decided to give it a try. Naturally, as soon as we got to the camp site the rain started pouring down again. What to do? We tried to set up as quickly as possible - completely unaware that every single hiker in the cabins surrounding us was watching. (We found this out later). Now, we had no choice but to go back to the kitchen and try to dry ourselves and all the stuff. Around ten o'clock a ranger came and checked that everything was ok. Reluctantly, we dragged ourselves to the camp site. I tried to remember to bring everything I would need: warm clothes, extra food, candy, but failed to bring the most important piece of all: earplugs. What we didn't realize was that we had set up our tents right next to a stream that was as loud as a jet plane. Add 0 degrees Celsius and the heavy wind that grabbed hold of the tent every other minute and you got yourself a recipe for a sleepless night. Well, at least we tried...