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Nordkalottleden 2021Nordkalottleden 2021
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  • PositivDenkenNordkalottleden 2021
    Day 1

    From Älta till Alta

    August 16, 2021 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    Never been that far North.

  • PositivDenkenNordkalottleden 2021
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    1
    Day 1

    First camp

    August 16, 2021 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

    Arrived at Kautokeino in the evening. Sun was shining warm. Best start you could wish for. A few kilometers into the trail I made friends with a Dutch guy that I had seen on the bus already and now we’re camped together something like 10km down the trail. So far it was wet and boggy, mosquitoes were nasty but not too many. Got cold quickly as soon as the sun lowers. Glad I have my new, warm sleeping bag.Read more

  • PositivDenkenNordkalottleden 2021
    2
    Day 2

    Rivkkoš, 30km

    August 17, 2021 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    I hike together with Bas from the Netherlands. He’s clearly faster than me and probably is annoyed of the waiting already. Mix of sparse birch forests (cute) and then later kalfäll. Quite some ups and downs. I’m sweating a lot, it’s exhausting. Sun was shining all day. Ended up with heat exhaustion and dehydration despite drinking a lot. Salty crackers to the rescue! Beatuiful camp by small lake still in the mountains just after Rivkkoš at the border to Reisa national park. Amazing view over parts of Reisajaure.Read more

  • PositivDenkenNordkalottleden 2021
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    Day 3

    On the way to Reisa valley, 28km

    August 18, 2021 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    Wanted to take it slow since everything hurts. Slept 11 hours. Still woke up early. Amazing morning in the sun. Bas says goodbye. I was slowing him down too much and he’s in a hurry. Good for me. So I can keep my own pace. Felt rushed. Just after Reisajaure met Antonia from Tyrol who wants to walk with me. Soon it becomes obvious she’s also in a rush. Landscape changes from march lands to kallfjäll. Soon the rain starts and while Antonia first complained about sweating under her rain jacket she quickly got cold and just wanted to make it to the next cabin. So we said goodbye. My feet and legs hurt and knees start to complain too. Every step is a burden. But I still have to make it through the mountains to the next valley since a storm is drawing in and didn’t want to camp in the open. Found nice spot but still winds kept me awake for a long time. Learned later that I forgot to tighten my inner tent and that’s what caused those problems. Welp!Read more

  • PositivDenkenNordkalottleden 2021
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    Day 4

    Reisadalen, part 1, 22km

    August 19, 2021 in Norway ⋅ 🌧 10 °C

    Slept 12 hours. At some point winds must have stopped. It was raining all night. Lots of condensation on my sleeping bag. But rain has mostly stoped now so I start quite early.

    Descend into Reisadalen was a nightmare. But Imoforsen amazing. The climb down was horrible thanks to all the wet rocks. The valley is gorgeous. Break at Nedreforsstua. Another coffee. Yum. And that good bread I brought. Some more kilometers it starts raining again. I stop at a cute cabin. Take a shit and get the stove going. Thankfully I found a knife by the lake we camped at day two. The trail provides I guess. For stupid reasons I left mine at home and wouldn’t have been able to make a fire now.

    It’s raining cats and dog for the rest of the day. The trail is the worst shit. Completely overgrown, so often just few centimeters to walk on or you slide into the river. No more shelters the last 20km. I call it bullshit!

    Camped next to a presumably empty cabin. The moment I closed my eyes someone came and started chopping wood from the wet log stash next to my tent. Thanks. And I wonder how that turned out. Later some more people arrived even with a child. Used ear plugs and could sleep well.    Read more

  • PositivDenkenNordkalottleden 2021
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    Day 5

    Reisadalen part 2, 23km

    August 20, 2021 in Norway ⋅ 🌧 6 °C

    Made my way out of the Reisa valley. It was demanding to say the least. The opposite of what I had expected. It’s an amazing valley with vegetation you just wouldn’t expect up there. And the trail let’s you feel it. One way or the other. There are boats going and most people seem to stick to this alternative to explore this valley.
    After Raisa there’s a steep climb waiting. Back into the fjälls! I’m exhausted. But I also feel how things dry up. My clothes aren’t wet nor damp anymore. Just my feet.
    I’m too tired and pitch my tent early next to some lakes as soon as the worst climbs are behind me.

    Went for #2 the second time that day (what a relief!) and since I’m about to run out of toilet paper I decided to try that trail bidet for the first time. And what shall I say? It was a success. It’s an amazing feeling of freshness and cleanliness. Just be sure to not make the same mistake as I did and use it while you’re still sitting over your own poop…

    My sleeping bag is wet and lost lots of its loft. I pamper it a lot. There a sudden *popp* catches my attention. What was that? Little later another. And another. Turns out my sleeping bag started to disintegrate. The chambers at the foot end delaminated. Well that sucks. That sucks a hell lot. Thanks Therm-a-Rest! I turned it around and used the now pillow shaped foot end as my pillow and was able to sleep like that.    Read more

  • PositivDenkenNordkalottleden 2021
    1
    Day 6

    Somajauri, Pitsusjärvi

    August 21, 2021 in Finland ⋅ ☁️ 5 °C

    Rained all night on and off. Still a lot of fog. My sleeping bag looks a lot better but again got lots of condensation by the foot end and so it’s wet there again. Another *popp* in the morning told me I’ll not make it to Kilpisjärvi with this strategy sleeping pad wise. What am I gonna do?

    Walking the plateau towards Somajauri was a blast. Stunning sceneries and so easy walking. Felt like flying. After Kopmajoki in Finland things got more real again. Steep climbs and tons of rocks and gravel. Finland is one hour ahead. I crossed a time zone! Also the trail is better marked. Went all the way to Pitsusjärvi just to learn it’s a very popular and busy area.

    Talked to several people on trail, they were all very curious about my tiny backpack. They just can’t believe it, since they all have these super overpacked monsters on their back. A bit different to Sweden. In Sweden most people have heard about Ultralight already and filed it as „reckless, soon a case for SAR“ and then look the other way. Just as they do with all problems in society.

    Was not easy to find a place to pitch my tent. Needed some scouting but ended up with a spot that I was quite happy with.

    I assume people come here to climb and admire Halti, Finland’s tallest mountain. Had plans to climb it too but my legs say no and the broken sleeping pad doesn’t boost my confidence either. Tried to sleep without, just on my Thinlite as the true minimalists do, but couldn’t get a good sleep. Too hard. There is no soft ground anywhere. Ended up inflating the broken one just to hear another *popp* and somehow managed to sleep anyway one way or the other.    Read more

  • PositivDenkenNordkalottleden 2021
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    Day 7

    Saarijärvi, 28km

    August 22, 2021 in Finland ⋅ ☁️ 4 °C

    Made it all the way to Saarijärvi. Toughest part was the river crossing where the bridge has been destroyed. It’s a long stretch with large boulders submerged under water and slippery like hell. You don’t want to slip there. Getting real wet would be the least of your problems. It’s not because of the water but you might get your leg stuck deep down between the rocks. Ugly to just think about it.

    After this otherwise beautiful valley with those sparse birch trees that I love so much you start a real long climb which has a huge basin in between that almost looks like desert. Almost nothing grows there, no higher than a few centimeters. Conditions are rough up there and just to underline it started to snow.

    In contrast to that the valleys are filled with scree and boulders you have to climb or hop over. Exhausting.

    Met a nice Finish couple that were super interested in my tiny backpack and couldn’t believe how this is possible to still have a tent and everything.

    This stretch is crowded with people on their pilgrimage to Halti. They start their 40km journey from Kilpisjärvi, stop every 10km at one of the cabins and after climbing Halti do everything in reverse. This while carrying gigantic backpacks. Rain covers make them look even bigger. And you can spot them from the very distance wobbling from one foot to the other. I have a hard time imagining how they all master this tricky river crossing. I’m impressed.    Read more

  • PositivDenkenNordkalottleden 2021
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    1
    Day 8

    Kilpisjärvi! 12km

    August 23, 2021 in Finland ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C

    Kilpisjärvi, where I want to resupply and take a zero. Bas is waiting to go for lunch (all you can eat pizza buffet!!!) but first I need a place to stay. Easier said than done. All beds and rooms at hostels and guesthouses are booked. Hard to believe but it is what it is. So I bite the bullet and rent a whole cabin just for myself. Expensive but now I have my own kitchen and most of all my own sauna. How amazing is this?

    We ate pizza, heaps! Then I started with my chores, go for groceries, wash my clothes, charge stuff, dry stuff, hang stuff, clean stuff, repair stuff. Then the same procedure with my own body. You know the drill. In the evening Bas comes by, we enjoy some beers in front of the fire place, have dinner and say good bye. He’ll be in Stockholm by end of September and then we go for more beers.    Read more

  • PositivDenkenNordkalottleden 2021
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    Day 9

    Treriksröset, Back to CEST

    August 24, 2021 in Sweden ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C

    Had a zero yesterday. Now my backpack is heavy again. Not much of a joy. The stretch to the Northern part of Kilpisjärvi is tiresome. Tiresome just like pretty much everything this day. There’s a huge camping there, might have been nice to stay there. At least a lot cheaper. But then there’s no supermarket.
    The trail continues, back up to the foot of Saana again just to drop back down to the road. A small parking filled with cars. That’s where people set out for Treriksröset if they don’t take the boat. You enter a beautiful nature reserve. But it’s quite steep and up, up, up for a long time. There’s a lot of reminiscent war history around. Mostly bunkers and shelters of the Germans when they expected the Soviet Army. You can still smell the fear. But no battles happened at that place.
    The trail to Treriksröset seems endless. For a long time you follow the steep walls of a mountain. It’s exhausting. At least if you just resupplied.
    Treriksröset itself is even less impressive as I thought. Lots of people doing silly things and taking pictures.
    Now I had to decide. Follow the GPS track into Norway for a more scenic route through a deep canyon or do the real thing and keep following Nordkalottleden? My cold fingers and the sight of numerous glaciers over in Norway made me pick the Swedish side. It just looked cozier and warmer.
    I think it was the right choice.
    Wanted to make another 10km after Treriksröset but after climbing another 4km back up into the mountains I felt like „noooo“, found a perfect spot just before the terrain looked like it could get too rocky to easily find something so I settled down.    Read more

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