Day 2

Day 2; Selånger - Matfors (Lill-Kvällsjön), 21 km.

It was a beautiful hike on the valley floor most of the day with majestic and steep hills around.

I stopped at Gisselåsen where a trail angel couple offered me coffee, sandwiches, and water. They have been keeping a record of everyone hiking the St. Olavsleden since the first season of the trail in 2014. During the first year, there were only 14 thru-hikers. Last year around 350 which is not much either.

I'm the 15th hiker this year and only the 44th hiker from Finland ever. Last year there were no Finnish hikers. In total people from 59 different countries have hiked the trail!

There is a Dutch couple a day or two ahead of me and three Germans are behind me. I'm sure we'll meet somewhere along the trail.

It was a really warm day. The whole week is supposed to be like this. 🥵 Next week it should get slightly colder which I'm looking forward to! 🥶

Found a spot for my tent. Not a good spot by any means as there is a small lake, but the shore is so swampy that I can't access the water. Thankfully I'll have a full 1,5 liters with me still. I'll manage this evening and try to leave early tomorrow. It's about 10 km to a spot where I'm sure I will be able to access water, but I can also try to ask from houses if things go thirsty.🥤

In the evening I had to still change the place for my tent. This tiny lake is inhabited by beavers!

I've never encountered or seen beavers in Finnish nature so I didn't see the signs that the lake is reserved.

But after a while, I started seeing cut-down trees all over the shoreline and understood that the big pile of wood was just not a rubbish dump, but their home! Also, the strange sounds that I heard earlier which made me wonder how huge the bird must be that its wings make that kind of sound was the beavers flapping their tail. Also now that the sun is setting down I could hear them walking in the grass.

As they were here first I had to move away from the shoreline. I don't want to get hit by a falling tree or have to fight them off during the night. 🤣Read more