Sarek National Park Sept 2024.MLD Trailstar ......Day 2

Day 2 started dry,there had been some overnight rain,but unfortunately no clear skies.We were away for 8 am with what looked like on the map some wet ground to cover 
 

The ground was exceedingly wet as made our way across the pathless ground,but full of colur,in all the mosses and linchens.All sat under a grey sky.But we did get to spot some herds of  deer as we made our way across too the river,we needed to cross  

This is where i crossed it was very nearly leg deep for the last two steps ! but not too fast or cold,well  not icey cold at least.As soon as id crossed i stripped of my trousers and socks and wrung them out 

Old Sami shelter 

I set off a bit quicker and soon had the heat back in my legs and socks soon started to dry out,above my brother who choose to cross further up stream,too quick looking for my liking 

Once we had warmed up some we stopped for lunch on a higher bump in the land,a few deer looked up and just carried on past temp around 10c 

After lunch we saw that the cloud was breaking up,with glimpses of blue coming through

Over the space of the next hour or so the sky continued to clear and the temp started to climb,we were basically following the Smajlajjahka river SE ish and the ground was easy and mainly dry to walk on  

We caught sight of some of the glaciers around Ahkka in Stora Sjofallets national park, surrounded by the huge mountain peaks 

The views became sharper and bigger as the sun won its battle with the cloud and the sun increased in temperature ,we were soon down too windshirt/shirt and then just our shirts

We passed this old Sami shelter along our path,which had seen better days sadly 

Then the temperature went a bit bonkers ! 

We saw a person in front of us for a while and with the heat of the day we came across this big high dry area so decided to call it a day

Think this peak was called Kantberget,with the beating sun we soon removed our solar panels from our packs and pointed them into the sun,soon using up the charge we had used up out of our batt packs 

Early days on this trip so still a good choice from the pantry of meals i was carrying,Real Turmats pulled Pork is a favorite of mine 

With camp all set up,water collected it was time for a cuppa soup in the unusual warmth of the day,still really warm at 4 pm 

Behind us the tongue of the Oarjep Ruohtesjiegna glacier snaking it way down,to melt and fill the river system,all rivers now heading too and becoming part of the Rappa valley delta 

It was nice when the sun went behind the hills and we went into the shade 

After tea it was nice to lay down and rest,but the cold now suggested the skies had stayed clear.....a few hours later around 10pm i nipped out and fired of a test shot..glad i did as we had some Northern lights 

Thanks for looking,Safe travels Peter

 

Sarek National Park Sept 2024.MLD Trailstar ..Day 1

This years trip was to Sarek National Park in the far North of Sweden an,area protected with World heritage status.With mountains over 2000m and 100 glaciers,a place of  both long deep narrow valleys,but also wide flat high ones.Both of which  are criss crossed with wild rivers and glacier fed Lakes all joined together by miles of high alpine tundra and only 2 bridges in the park

It took us a full day of flights and trains and taxis to get to Lulea where we met up with Christie Crowler who had just finished her walk,we were to meet Matt Holland,who was going to join us,but the bad weather and the big storm had him change his plans   

Hotel was ok and close to the train staition,which we needed in the morning,so after grabbing our fuel off Christie (fanks again) we went to our room and got everything packed away

We then all met up and went for tea as Chrissie told us of the storm they had caught at the end of her walk,she bumped into Dale too while out hiking 

The next day we picked up our ( on the go breakfast,from hotel) and were on the train for 6 am arriving hours later at Gallivare....from there it was an interesting at times,bus drive for a few hours too Ritsem

But we did stop at a very nice cafe at Kebnats (one of the boats lands and departs from here) strongly recommend the cakes here 

We got dropped off just before Ritsem and used Fiskfly.g.se for our short and quick flight over the lake ,think its called Akkajaure

I was checking boat times and noticed the helicopter option for crossing from Ritsem too Akkastugorna,which was only a tenner ish more so we booked that,it also was only 7-10 mins fly time too,great experince and view 

More weight than i would have liked but included camera equipment 9 days food and fuel and battery,but my HMG Windrider carries it so well 

So 1-30 pm 31st August we set off on the 8 night trip planned for this area,praying that the storms that had battered others and Matt and Christie had finished there say 

Pictures,even sound can not convey how overpowering the sound and sight of this Vuojatadno river was as it thundered and battered its way along...a grand thing to be able to feel hear and witness  

Glad that this one was bridged !

I took the decision that we would take the river crossing and not the bridge near Gisuris so we headed for the low coll you can see just left of centre,in the pic below 

The colours just in the grasses and marshes were so very many different shades of yellow,brown and orange

It was 4-30pm by the time we reached close to the top of this coll and the map read wetter ground ahead,with some good ground to camp on and two long days of traveling,we did not pass it by and made camp 

Early in a longer trip always gives more choice of evening meal,as the trip goes on a good hunger covers this lack of choice as there all tasty meals,to me.......Same as past years i used Basecamp foods as my supplier

Having done this game a long while i have a nice choice of shelters too choose from i took my trusted Trailstar again,been using one since 2011 and love its storm worthiness and simplicity,nothing to break  

The day had been dry not much wind and a temp of 13c too 8c overnight 

Thanks for looking ....Safe travels Peter