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Lapland trekking
  • Antoine Toulmonde
  • Antoine Demanet
  • Maxime Bosquet

Lapland trekking

A 16-day adventure by Antoine, Antoine & Maxime Read more
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  • Trip start
    June 2, 2022
    Lapland trekking

    Arrival + first night lost in the wood

    June 3, 2022 in Sweden ⋅ 🌧 10 °C

    BRU to ARN (2h). We had 6 hours waiting in the airport. We found the perfect place to chill, plan our arrival and share a beer. We learned few word of Swedish with the Yatzi Maxime bought at the airport (the famous dice game) .

    ARN to KRN (1h20 with 1 hour delay) . The plane almost took off without some luggage!

    We arrived in Kiruna around 9 PM, the sun was still high in the sky. We headed to the train station to drop some stuff that wasn't necessary for our first trek.

    Time to hit the road by hitchhiking. Quite lucky to be honest, first car that came took us 50 km further, litteraly in the middle of nowhere.

    It was already 1AM and the only vehicules that were still on the road were the coke trucks that were passing by every 15 minutes.

    We quickly found a good spot close by a lake, in the middle of the forest. Time to go to sleep, we realised that for the coming weeks the sun will never go down. The rain came right after the tents were set up, we were lucky with the timing! :-)    Read more

  • Lapland trekking

    The ride that never came

    June 4, 2022 in Finland ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    After a sunny & rainy night, we woke up at 9AM. As we still had no gas bottle, the breakfast was short & light.
    The day goal was to get to Enentekio in Finland to start our first trek.
    It began really well as the first car we crossed stopped to pick us up and dropped us 25 kms further in Vintangi.
    Next strategic target was Keresuando, 100 kms away from there.
    We became a bit less lucky with the weather and hitchhiking. Fortunately we were hosted by a young Swedish and French couple until the first car we took in the morning came back again! Another 50-km step was made thanks to him :)
    We thought the last 50 kms to get to Keresuando would be easy as it sounds but we suddenly had to review our plan as no ride came (even if we still looked fine at this time!). We didn't have any other option than taking the bus to get to the Finnish border.
    Once we crossed this border we couldn't count on the Finnish hospitality with hitchhiking... and were forced to book a cab as the clock was ticking and our willness to get to Enentekio in the evening was pretty high.
    We eventually arrived at 11PM to establish our camp site next to the taxi-boat which will make us cross the lake to reach the starting point of the trek :)    Read more

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    Starting Hetta to Pallas

    June 4, 2022 in Finland ⋅ 🌧 10 °C

    After a good night of sleep onto the bay where we waited for the boat, the one that would take us to the start of our first trek, we crossed the lake and had our morning lunch next to it.

    So we started the Hetta-Pallas trail with a mitigated weather, but just good enough to trek.

    It started with a pine forest with a rocky floor, we stopped at some places to see some birds ; we saw multiple kinds that were nowhere to find in Belgium, beautiful. We stumbled across two reindeers who didn’t care much for us, so we could contemplate them easily.

    As we started to get higher in altitude, the trees were becoming rare to let place to small vegetation and rocks. Still, we were able to see beautiful birds, and some very closely !

    We finished our first that of walk into a refuge for only ourselves, that is impressively equipped, clean and ready to be used ; we are the first one here this year.

    After seeing wonderful landscapes and animals, we lighted up a campfire to recall all of this and share a lovely dinner with all of us. Tonight we would not need to take our tents out as we will sleep into the refuge!

    Martin, a Czech guy, arrived quite late and spent the night with us. He explained us that he ended up in a stream while trying to cross it 😂 nice guy and he share his cookies. Would recommand 100%.    Read more

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    Second day of trek

    June 5, 2022 in Finland ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    We had a good night of sleep (Jagermeister and Aquavit helped a bit to be honest 😇) before starting our second day.

    After 2 km, we saw once again a bunch of reindeers (20 approximately) not so far away. We were quite impressed by the quick changes of ecosystem on the way.

    We ended up in the middle of the day in a Finnish sauna followed by a nice and cold jump in the lake just next to it.

    The day ended up by a windy and steep path leading to our new nest : a typical lappo hut. We were quite happy to arrive because the wind was super strong and cooled us severely. We shared the night with a cute Erasmus couple that were also fan of bird.    Read more

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    End of Hetta to Pallas's trek

    June 6, 2022 in Finland ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    After a cold night in a Lapo hut, we woke up with a wonderful blue sky and shining sun.
    The goal of the day was to reach Pallas (approx. 15kms) smoothly.
    Even if the wind was cold our body temperature rose up pretty fast as we had to climb the track as soon as we left the refuge.
    Boosted by the sun we hiked at a great rythm and got the time to enjoy a lunch with an impressive view (we were able to see 100kms away). We were totally speechless and hypnotized.
    Upon arrival in Pallas we checked if we got some news from Abisko Turism Center regarding the Kungsleden trail. No answer to our email and call center direclty forwarded our call to an automatic voice mail (in Swedish of course). Unfortunately, we were informed by the Kungsleden Facebook page it was highly not recommended to hike it as the snow cover is still up to few meters.
    We had to change our plan but anyway we should go back to Kiruna to pick the spare stuffs we let in the locker at the train station.
    At the end of the evening the idea was to reach Kiruna by bus as soon as possible and probably take a train to an extremely other kind of a destination... surprise !    Read more

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    Pallasjarvi to Narva

    June 7, 2022 in Sweden ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    Next to the lake, we had to wake up on time to be able to catch the bus ; we couldn’t enjoy the beauty of the place we were at.

    We had to walk 5km to the bus stop that would take us to Jeris, a small village first. We could take a trekking route to Jeris but the legs weren’t there, we still decided to take the bus.

    Arriving in Jeris, we took place next to another beautiful lake to take our lunch, next to a closed hotel facility. We then took the bus to Karesuvanto wherein we took a good nap and refill some groceries on a break in Muonio.

    At Karesuvanto, we crossed the Sweden border to be in Quaresuando. The bus would be in the next morning and it was only 1pm so we decided to hitchhiking again!

    After two hours of waiting and multiple games we had in mind to kill time, a car stopped for us finally. He would take us only 10km ahead, but it was perfect.

    This wonderful person is named Lars Hendrickson « blind blind blind blind » (he said it like this, it was very funny ; he wasn’t seeing well and had strong glasses). We were amazed when we discovered he was a big reindeers breeder, he had around 10.000 reindeers ! The breeding was a family business since decades, maybe more…

    He showed us a place to put our tent in his village, but we asked if we could buy him some reindeer meat ; that was strongly recommended by other people here. He gladly accepted and took us into his house, which was a typical Swedish house that we enjoyed a lot. He was so kind he gave us two pieces of reindeer meat for free!

    Back in the camp (he drove us back there by the way, again), we’ve met some Dutch people that were going into North cap by camping car. We started fishing with no success and started a fire to cook the reindeer meat. There was a common mashed meat and an amazing smoked one that was handmade by Lars himself. Those meats were just amazing, the taste is getting close to roe deer.

    After a little bit of research of a good place to put the tents and after seeing the first fox in Sweden, we putted them not far from the bus stop that would take us the next morning to Kiruna.    Read more

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    The day we lost Antoine and the way

    June 8, 2022 in Sweden ⋅ ⛅ 4 °C

    We aren't usually early birds but today we had to : we had a bus to catch at 6.55 AM to reach Kiruna again.

    After 2 hours, we were back in the city where we first landed. It was quite a strange feeling after the few days we spend in the nature without seeing much people.

    First things to do : finds a place to get a shower as soon as possible (even a moose stinks less than us). Goal easily reached with a bonus : a sauna for ourself! All that for free in a sporthall. We agreed to go back there before taking our flight back :-) (surprisingly we are often on the same wave)

    We had a quick lunch at FIKA café before going back at the train station to pick up the food for the second trek.

    The train ride to Abisko is about 1 hour. When we arrived there, we stepped down the train. Wait... Weren't we 3 at the beginning of the trip?!

    Max and me laughed quite hard knowing that the other Antoine (guess which) stayed in the train! The door closed too soon and he couldn't get out.

    Fortunately, next stop was only 7 km away and for once, another train was going the way back few minutes after.

    We tried to get some information in the tourist information center which wasn't very successful. Nobody can tell us if the whole northern part of Kungsleden is practicable at that time of the year.

    Only solution : find it out by ourselves! We started walking at a great rythme and... almost went back were we started after getting lost. No matter what, we arrived at the first stop (13 theorical km from Abisko) where we meet pupils in a school trip. We wished we could do the same back in the years.

    The landscapes kept us speechless. The path went through snowy mountains, rivers, lakes, desertics areas, marshes... The diversity of those creates a patchwork of amazing ecosystems forming an unbelievable landscape.

    We established our camp next to a swamp. We even heard wolves!!    Read more

  • Lapland trekking

    The day we turned back

    June 9, 2022 in Sweden ⋅ ⛅ 2 °C

    We started the day knowing the possibility that we could come back because of the snow or our injuries.

    We rushed too fast into the track and took a wrong one, which made us take a shortcut to be on track again.

    We started to climb a little bit when Antoine had to stop because of his foot, we discussed about what to do and we decided to continue a little bit and we’ll see after.

    Antoine stopped to take a break and photo-hunt some birds where both of us wanted to see the highest place of the second step of the Kungsleden. We did go without our backpacks. We crossed some people that told us the snow was too high at some point and the path was impracticable, we decided to turn back with no regret because of the beautiful view we had at the time. We saw Antoine that climbed even with its injured foot.

    We ate lunch and turn back on the track, we did go for a long way, the further we could go to be safe the next day. We stopped 5km after the first refuge and established camp here for the night.    Read more

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    The not-fully-full train

    June 10, 2022 in Sweden ⋅ ☀️ 7 °C

    As the previous days, Lapland offered us a wonderful wake up along the river of the Kungsleden. The sun was shining as it has never shined before during our trip.
    Such a pleasant weather to reach back the train station in Abisko and wait for the next train wich will bring us to... the Lulea Archipelagos, our next destination in the South of Lapland!

    We enjoyed an after-trek meal (made of plenty unhealthy pleasures) aside the Lake with a panomaric view on all the snowy moutains around it.

    As everything was going perfectly well something should happen to pepper our story a bit... Indeed: the daily train we planned to book was mentioned as full on the company website!

    After having considered a lot of scenarios before the train arrived to play a little bit on the train conductor (we'd be ashame to tell everything we thought about), he immediately invited us to take a ticket and a seat on the train by explaining a bug in the booking system.

    The 5-hour journey gave us the opportunity to share the junk food and the beers from the lunch.

    We landed off in Lulea at 11PM and ran to the Airbnb we booked, tried to get some information about activities from our host but... nothing really special came up... we'll have to discover the place by ourselves :)    Read more

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    Luleå : discovering the (ghost) city

    June 11, 2022 in Sweden ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    After a good night of sleep in a so called thing "bed", we went to the city to please our hungry bellies.

    We tasted some local specialities : Skaggen Toast and salmon burgers.

    We couldn't find much things to do in the city : it's still the low season (and tbh there is not much to see here). That explained a bit why our host couldn't recommend lot of things. We ended up seeking for a nice dinner to cook in the Airbnb. Max prepared a family tradition, the stoemp aux carottes. Delicious with the Swedish meatballs and sauce (we felt a bit like in an Ikea store).

    After that, we discovered that Max isn't very pleased when losing at cardgames 😂    Read more

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    Archipelagos cruise

    June 12, 2022 in Sweden ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    As our first day in Lulea wasn't a success in terms of cultural entertainment, we decided to book a cruise accross the islands of the Lulea Archipelagos.

    The weather was more than perfect to do so: blue sky, comfortable temperature and sunny seats on the top of the boat :)

    As the number of journeys are limited due to the off-season we couldn't expect to stop, stay or visit one island. We had to stay on the boat and enjoy the view.

    We met Alice, a french geological engineer, who went to Sweden for her thesis for one month. The exchanges of our own experiences here were highly interesting :) The cruise lasted all the afternoon.

    Afterwards, we found what it seemed to be the only animated bar of Lulea: the Bishop Arms. We had the chance to taste some local beers which were perfectly OK. We had to fill our stomacs with something else then alcohol and ordered tasty burgers (just on time: the swedish doesn't after 8pm).
    Despite the "kindness" of the waiters we really enjoyed this belgian-style moment.    Read more

  • Lapland trekking

    Back to the wild

    June 13, 2022 in Sweden ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    After a last warm shower at our airbnb, we took a train back to the direction of Kiruna but jumped out at the Gallivare station.

    As most of the cities we walked through, Gallivare wasn't so pleasant. We quickly moved to a lake next to the city to improve our fishing skills. At first it was worth it as we caught our first fish in less than 5 minutes (too small to keep it). The next hour was more... quiet as we didn't get anything else than a heavy rain on our head.

    To warm us up we decided to hike the Dundret moutain next to Gallivare. Once arrived we were a bit disappointed by the hiking opportunities over there. It wouldn't be as beautiful as we were used to with the former hiking trails.

    A quick research made us discover a locally famous trail called the Kallarstigen (a former 50km-track used to carry material and foods between Gallivare and the village of Porjus).

    As we were reaching the starting point of the track, we met a well known local resident : THE mosquito !!! We still don't know if it is the swampy area or the summertime incoming which made them come but there were plenty of them (and really agressive). This was a wonderful way to test our self-control capabilities... not everyone succeeded 😅

    Despite the mosquitos we were able to rise up our tents to be ready for the next trail of our trip :)    Read more

  • Lapland trekking

    A swampy day

    June 14, 2022 in Sweden ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    We woke up into a not so good weather and still lots of moskitoes. We had a healthy breakfast with muesli and dry milk, a good combo to think of for futures treks.

    So we started this trek of 42km with in mind to go the furthest to be cool the next two days. We quickly discovered that the trek to Porjus will include a lot of swamps. Compare to the Kungsleden, there weren’t a lot of wooden planks to walk over swamps, so we had to walk into it an eventually make a path. It was quite a lot of work but still, we were walking at a good pace !

    It was particular because one way or another, we followed the main road (for cars) and had to cross it twice (and once the next day). But the path was nice into a rich forest and small tracks, when there were not swamps. We were glad to see twice Western Capercaillies … except for the only one who really want to see them, sorry Antoine.

    We also saw what's what left from a reindeer and that makes us remember we were into the territory of big predators such as bears, wolves, wolverines, artics foxes...

    After a good 18km we discovered a small shelter that would protect us against the rain ! We decided to stop here, make a fire to dry our shoes and sleep there…    Read more

  • Lapland trekking

    Last day trekking before Porjus

    June 15, 2022 in Sweden ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    After a windy night and a wet morning, we continued our path trough the swamps and the moskitoes.

    This trek has fewer type of landscape to show, nevertheless it's way less crowded (we haven't met anyone on the path) so way more into the wild.

    And guess what, after seeing some reeinders gently walking away, we saw the ghost of the forest (the one that poo a lot and everywhere but also the one we haven't seen yet). A huge moose, 600m away that spotted us immediately and went back in the wood, not willing to show us how impressive he was.

    After 18 km (6km left before Porjus), we found a cute shelter where we shared our last dehydrated meals.    Read more

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    Rollerstigen : final day

    June 16, 2022 in Sweden ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    We had few kilometers left to finish our last trek and reach Porjus. Once there, we enjoyed a warm meal surrounded by local workers.

    First bus that brought us to Gällivare was driven by a very good chauffeur, the way was quick and smooth. Second one to Kiruna... Well... Not really the same... The driver was laughing and speaking to himself the whole trip. We supposed he had a long and lonely winter that made him a bit crazy! :-) We were glad we arrived alive. We felt a bit like in the magicobus in Harry Potter if you have the reference 😅

    Back there, we enjoyed a sauna followed by a local street food meal : a sub full of reindeer and moose meat. It was amazingly tasty (and fatty tbh).

    We spent the end of the evening in the station packing up our bags and sharing some beers. We slept close-by and don't get fooled by the pictures, it wasn't such a lovely spot.    Read more

    Trip end
    June 17, 2022
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