T had been badgering me about Sweden for years after he took a trip to Sarek in 2001. I'd resisted although I'm not sure why. Now I wish we'd gone together years ago!
10th - 26th June 2011 Padjelanta and Sarek National Park from Kvikkjokk
Our original plan had been to go to Ritsem and walk into Sarek National Park from the north. However, a couple of weeks before we were due to go we realised that buses weren't running to Ritsem that early in the season! Cue a few days of pouring over maps and trying to decide what to do. At the time I was disappointed we had to change our plans but like many things in life, leaving things up to fate turned out to be very exciting.
We chose to walk from Kvikkjokk in a south westerly direction along the Padjelanta long distance trail for as long as we could. This section of the 160 km trail follows the Tarra river. In my mind I was aiming for the hut at Tuottarstugorna. The Padjelanta is maintained by the Swedish Tourist Board, who also maintain several huts en route. The huts don't open for the season until the end of June, which is the start of the peak tourist season. So we wouldn't be relying on these. Most have one hut which is open all year round for emergencies and some have emergency phones. The trail is well marked but rough in parts. Duck boards are used over wet sections and most, but not all big rivers are bridged. Fording streams a few metres wide is common place. Because we knew some of the ground would be wet and there'd be streams to cross, we opted to walk in wellies - decent ones though from Aigle which we knew we could walk in for long periods. Turned out to be a good choice!
Day 1 10th June
Flight from Heathrow to Stockholm and then to Kiruna in Northern Sweden, we got a few funny looks because we were in wellies! We arrived in Kiruna at about 10 pm, it was 22 degrees C. The airport is a way out of town so we pondered the best way to make it to the hostel. Once everyone else has disappeared from the airport and we were left with a confused French man, we realised that it was either going to be a long walk or someone was going to need to test their Swedish and call a taxi. Just then a taxi pulled up and me, T and our new friend David headed into Kiruna. We were staying at a hostel that night which turned out to be a mistake, we should have just wild camped near the airport!
After a fairly sleepless night we gathered our stuff and headed into the town centre to find gas and the train station. We'd decided to head to Abisko for a couple of days while we waited for the right transport connections to Kvikkjokk. As we hadn't been able to bring gas for our stove in the plane, the first priority was to locate an outdoor store. Unfortunately it was Saturday so shops were late opening (but at least they were open!). We headed for the train station and booked our tickets. T trundled back into town to get the gas and returned with David! It was a relief to drop our bags for a while and chill out. That is until I mentioned matches..."Matches!", T screamed and legged it back up to the town. There was no need to rush - the train was delayed (which is apparently common in Sweden because every so often they stop to get cleaned. Nice to have clean trains but on time trains are also nice!).
As the train headed on its way, the scenery got better and the drunk guy in the seats next to us got drunker. We chatted to David about his plans. They seemed ambitious and he still seemed confused and a little under prepared (he didn't have a map and after a quick case conference we decided to give him ours or the death of a small French man would forever be on our conscience! He refused). He was planning to walk the 105 miles from Abisko to Nikkluokta in 2 days. Apparently he had recently walked 50 miles in a day in France so felt prepared. We were worried and tried to talk to him about it in broken English and GCSE French. The drunk guy was worried and told him in very clear English, he was stupid and was going to die. The latter seemed to sink in and when we left D at the station he was considering a short day hike.
The weather was incredible - usually this would be welcome but carrying half your body weight on your back is sweaty work. I had about 15 kg and T 25 kg. For some reason we also had a few bit hanging off our otherwise perfectly packed rucksacks. In short, it was hard work. In fact for the first couple of miles every step was an effort, we wanted to cry and we wondered if we'd ever be able to make it anywhere. But Abisko was pretty amazing and that kept us going.
We soon realised the trip was going to be an exciting one because it was a lemming year!!! After being verbally abused by several I knew they couldn't be trusted. They were everywhere and so, we were hoping were the rough legged buzzards, hawk owls and long tailed skuas...This day we saw brambling, bluethroat, fieldfare, willow tit, redstart, grey headed wagtail and loads of cool plants - the trip was off to a good start!
After a couple of games of Yhatzee were were out for the count.
Day 3 12th June
Our plan this day was for a short hike in the morning towards Taltlagret and then head back to the train station. We walked to the edge of the National Park and saw our first and only rough legged buzzard. Lemmings were everywhere too! T is the family botanist and he was in his element. The season had started but it was still early for a lot of flowering plants. The birds also hadn't really got started breeding just yet. 
Back at the train station it was a reliefagain to dump the bags and board the replacement bus back to Kiruna. From here we boarded the train to Murjek, arriving at 2020. Not certain where to camp in the village (although later in the trip we'd be back and braver!) we headed for a bog on the outskirts of town. A little walk that evening was productive with waxwing, redwing, woodcock and cranes bugling away on a nearby but invisible bog. Perfect.
Day 4 13th June
0855 bus to Jokkmokk. Buses apparently double as post vans in Sweden so there was a lot of stopping to drop off and pick up parcels! A Jokkmokk we binge ate chocolate, doughnuts and crisps - well, it was our last chance! The bus to Kvikkjokk was practically empty bar one other person - a guy who looked like he'd be living off the land for a few weeks. He didn't have very much stuff with him though! We were met by Bjorn - a slightly crazy man who said he was a direct descendant of Linnaeus. Bjorn is the guy who gets you across the river at Kvikkjokk and on to the start of the Padjelanta Trail. I think perhaps we were the first hikers of the season because Bjorn seemed very happy to see us and show us around. 
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| Bye bye Bjorn - please remember to pick us up in 2 weeks! |
It felt dark, chilly and really quite scary. I knew we were miles from anywhere and on our own now. It felt like no-one had been here in a long, long time. I picked up my bag (with difficulties) and put on my bravest face - this was the start of the real adventure.
I'm a bit of a scardy cat but I try and face my fears and I don't think there has been anything I've wanted to do which I haven't. But this trip felt like a big deal. We were totally dependent on each other and the kit we carried on our backs. We didn't have a mobile phone and we knew it was really early in the season so other people would be scarce. That was one of the reasons we were here - we're not very sociable. There were a couple of huts en route for shelter if we needed it and an emergency phone at one, but basically it was us and whatever was to happen for the next two weeks.
After about 15 mins we passed some bear poo. Those that know me well know I have an unhealthy obsession with bears. I have planned many holidays around the sole intention of seeing bears in the USA and Canada. I must have every bear book under the sun. I Google' bears' regularly. I watch other people's videoas of bears on YouTube. I have a fascination with bear attacks. Basically I'm a bit of a bear freak. But I'm also scared witless by them. So 15 mins into this hike when I was already feeling a bit scared and trying my hardest to face my fears, the last thing I wanted to see was BEAR POO. It looked fresh too. Anyway, what could we do? We marched on. I tried not to cry.
We walked for about an hour to the next scary thing - a raging torrent with no bridge.It looked liked there had been some pretty serious rain or meltwater through recently and the bridge had been swept downstream (we found it trapped on a fallen tree). It was time to set up camp and face things in the morning!
Day 5 14th June
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| Moose (Elk) |
We noticed some pretty impressive footprints - a moose (or elk as they call them round these parts) and a bear - the same one that pooed on the path perhaps? probably. I didn't imagine it then...
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| Bear! |
Trundling up the Padjelanta towards Njunjes, it was crazy hot - probaby mid 20s and walking in wellies in the heat was hard! We were still in the spruce forest but this was broken up by lovely open bogs and meadows. Bird life was thin on the ground but we saw greenshank, brambling, siskin, crossbill, redwing, willow tit, tree pipit.
At the private huts at Backen the meadows were a great place for lunch. Our bags were heavy and it was tempting to eat more food to reduce the weight but we daren't! After Backen the bridge over Njunjesgarssa was down but easily fordable in wellies. We found a common sandpiper nest on the far side. One of the more bizarre sights on the trip was a very elderly couple on a quad bike heading towards us - who knows where they are heading! The huts at Njunjes were closed but we stayed a while and filled our water bottles. The area was pretty open terrain and a change from the dense forest. There is a bridge across the mighty river Tarra here, one of the few on the trail. We saw our first golden eagle here, being mobbed by 6 falcons, probably kestrels.
After Njunjes we had our first significant climb up a rocky slope. Hard going with full packs and in the heat but not very significant really. The view from the top though was a taste of things to come and it looked good. By now we were in birch scrub so could see for much further around us. Even though I worked as a woodland bird biologist at that stage, our natural habitat is the uplands and we were feeling pretty much at home here already.
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| View looking NW towards Stajgga (left) and Guratjahkka (centre) |
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| Camp for the night |
We woke to another amazing day and a bluethroat singing away in the nearby birch. We headed off and must have only gone about 500 m when I spotted a hawk owl! Perched up about 50 m away looking very angry. T was a way behind and I gesticulated to him to get a move on - he had no idea what I'd seen! After a while we realised there was actually two and it was probably a male and female at a nest site. Luckily we weren't dive bombed!
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| Hawk owl! |
The six kestrels from yesterday were with us again as we walked along the narrow path towards Tarrakaisrstugan. It was a trudge today. We were aiming for the huts for lunch but made it to within 100 m instead! While lunch was rehydrating T headed down towards the wetlands for a scan. I was happy to rest and 'look after lunch'! We were ready to leave the woodlands now and get into open terrain permanently. Quite a few other birds were seen today - bluethroats, ring ouzel, greenshank, goldeneye, redshank, red breasted merganser, arctic tern, teal, cuckoo, willow grouse, possible rough legged buzzard.
Tarrakaisrstugan is a nice set of huts, very wooded and next to the Tarra River. We filled our water bottles (although by now we were just drinking from streams as we passed through them). It was gradulayy opening up as we crossed some old riverbeds and one big river without a bridge, the Badurgarssa (which would cause some excitement on the way back!). The path was often very bouldery and tough going. With a large pack and trying to balance this meant a lot of time was spent watching the ground rather than the views!
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| The rocky floodplain of the Badurgarssa |
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| The rocky trail |
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| Another amazing campsite |
We walked another few kms and pitched up at another outstanding campsite.
To be continued...
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