Nordbottnen

First day back on trail. Backpack is terribly heavy. A lot of food and warmer clothes and more comfort (new sleeping pad - yay! Fuck Therm-a-Rest). Train was awesome as always. You board, go to sleep and wake up again in the mountains. You get a fresh coffee, have breakfast, climb off and start hiking.

From Undersåker it started with a bit of a road walk, you have to find some lonesome trail that leads up into the mountains. I took that route because I missed to see it on the map last year on my Gröna Bandet and went from Vålådalen to Undersåker all on road. About 30k. That was no fun at all, especially when I realized there was an alternative. And so I wanted to know what I had missed.
It’s a long climb up Välliste getting you somewhat above 900m. That trail up seems to be used by mountain bikers mostly. Nothing too exciting, but I like those birch forests and when they slowly fade out into kalfjäll (tree line).
What follows is a long descent down to Ottsjö with a smaller hill in between (I hate those). Ottsjö has two nice “hotels” and even an ICA. No resupply this time but good to know for the future.
It was early evening already and I needed a place to stay. So I decided to walk the road once again since the alternative trail lead through dense and rather steep forest for about 7k and I wasn’t sure if I’d find a tent spot there. My legs tired and I didn’t want to pitch in the dark either.
After the road I found another local trail next to the lake, followed it until it reaches the trail over to Ottfjället and just a bit up hill I found a nice flat spot.

Just when I was finished pitching the tent I heard steps on the trail and when I looked up I saw it: a huge animal with big, big antlers. It walked slowly past my tent, not taking any notice of me despite me moving when hauling my way too heavy backpack. It kept on walking and disappeared in the forest.
What was it? My brain was fuzzy. A moose? A moose! No wait, a moose looks completely different (ugly) and is much bigger. But what was it then? An elk? No, no elk. And then “of course!” I realized: a reindeer, a male reindeer. But an old one, like really, really old. Which might explain why it either didn’t notice me at all or just couldn’t be bothered anymore. Unfortunately I had no time for a picture but its appearance was magic and majestic. What a nice surprise before going to bed!Read more