Trip report - Sweden 2011 part 2

Day 7 16th June

Reaching the Park!

Today our aim was to get into the National Park. It was so hard to judge distance and terrain and estimate how far we'd get each day. We were only going about 12 kms or so but distance wasn't that important really. I guess we wanted to go as far as possible over the 2 weeks but as it was a walk in walk out by the same route and we weren't sure how much snow they'd be as we got higher, we knew we might not get too far.

Just before the huts at Sammarlappastugan the trail follows a really narrow route at the base of a cliff. We had to walk really close to the river at this point and its power was really obvious and a bit frightening. On the map it looks big but not enormous but it was early summer and snowmelt had started.The huts are right by the river (we'd become more familiar with one on the way back!).

Lots of stream crossings

We saw loads of lemmings today. Also our first white tailed eagles (lifer for me!), more willow grouse, woodcock, redwings and bramblings, bluethroat, tree pipits and kestrels. Finally in the early afternoon we reached the park! The views were constantly awe-inspiring.

By now sightings of white tailed eagle were pretty frequent but the highlight of the day was a weasel on the trail catching a vole and dragging it towards us for a bit until he realised we were there!

Camping on a bluff above the trail with
lots of patches of snow about

We found a good camping spot on a bluff above the trail - it looked like we weren't the first to have used the site. I build a little shelter for our stove! Chicken curry was on the menu tonight! After tea we went for a wander east up hill off the trail. The habitat and views were just amazing and we saw wheatear, long tailed skua, a tuftie or maybe a scaup distantly, redshank, ptarmigan, golden plover, lots of redpoll (feeding on seeds in the snowmelt). It felt like we'd reached the sort of place we'd been dreaming of and it felt good. Plus we'd got here under our own stream and that was very satisfying!

Golden plover

View looking south ish with Staika prominent

We could see that there was still a fair amount of snow and the distant lakes were iced up. I scanned the valley constantly for bears or wolves or wolverine! I didn't see any but by now it was a nightly ritual!! Although it I had seen a bear it would have been a poor nights sleep! We headed back down slope, feeling the burn on our legs but glad to not be carrying packs!

Day 8 17th June

Long-tailed skua

We manged to break camp by 9 am - a record for us! We were definitely in long-tailed skua territory now and we got amazing views of a pair, but thank fully no dive bombing (not as aggressive as arctics or bonxies). There was plenty of other things about too: willow grouse, bluethroats, lapland bunting, common scoter, white-tailed eagle, wood sandpiper, greenshank, grey-headed wagtail, common gull, redpoll. Looking across to the far beach of Darteluoppal we saw a family of foxes with very small kits. I was trail blazing by this stage, eager for lunch, and made an unwise river crossing on my own - my wet feet taught me in future to wait for Tom... luckily the sun was shining and I soon dried out.

Willow grouse

I think we'd already decided by this point that this area was as far as we'd get. I was keen to set up a base camp and do some day treks now, plus it looked pretty snowy further north. Bjorn had told us a party had made it through this season already but they were probably braver crossing snowfields! So we set up at Tarraluoppalstugorna on the west side of the river from the huts on a little bluff above the river. It was a lovely campsite and we still hadn't seen anybody since leaving Bjorn. To get water we had to scramble down to the river, which was fun. I made another stove shelter - becoming an expert by now.

After lunch we trundled up the hill towards Tuottarstugorna, interested to see how far we'd get. On the way up, about 1 km from our tents we saw a person! It looked like the guy who shared our bus ride to Kvikkjokk! He headed over to our tent and I had a horrible moment when I wondered if he was going to trash it or pinch something (we had our optics but we didn't have our food, and 5 days into a hike, that was probably more valuable!). He took a pretty close look at our stuff. In retrospect he may have been drawn over by the 'flag' flapping on the guy ropes - my recently washed pants!!! He headed off and we carried on, bizarrely we didn't see him again!

I liked it here!

Plenty of good birds up here - more long-tailed skuas, ring ouzel, wheatear, scaup, ringed plover, white-tailed eagle and the best new bird - Temminck's stint!!! The snow was quite extensive. I think we'd have been able to get through but its un-nerved walking and not knowing what's beneath so I was pleased to have stopped when we did. The season seemed so far behind up here with very little flowering vegetation. It seemed like the birds were probably starting to sit on eggs though.

Sinister foxy fox

That evening T went for a wander on his own to the marsh near the lake and saw red-necked phalaropes, common scoter, tufties, grey-headed wagtails, greenshank and bluethroats. I stayed at the tent, perfected my stone stove shelter and saw dippers and long tailed duck. I could see T most of the time but I could also see him being stalked by the fox family. Slightly sinister! Luckily he made it back unscathed for a few card games before bed.