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Kungsleden 2013

The Classic King’s Trail (Kungsleden) starts in Hemavan and ends in Abisko, or the other way around. My friend Niklas and I had some time off work and wanted to walk the trail and end it with the event Fjällräven Classic finishing in Abisko mid Augusth. Because of that we walked from Singi to Nikkaluokta back to Kebnekaise Station and when we were at it we decided to take the highest point while going back to Singi. We stood on the top of Kebnekaise around 3 am. Pretty sunrise, tired legs! Along the King’s Trail there are a number of lakes that you have to row over but on a handful of them you can also pay someone to drive you over by boat. We walked the trail in 17 days (550km or 342 miles).

The walk on Kungsleden 2013 with Niklas was really fun. We did loads of distance but we were never in a hurry.  We talked a lot, but it also didn’t feel strange if we were silent for a longer time. A perfect hiking buddy!

We slept indoors a couple of time. As an example we stayed at Saltoluokta Fjällstation. A place I love and always stay at when passing by.

Notes from my field journal

“National Geographic wrote “While it is possible to hike in either direction, it’s best to travel from north to south—that keeps the sun warming your face, no small consideration in the Arctic.” I would say the opposite! You should walk from south to north – most of the other people walk the other way around and this way you probably only row the boats one way instead of three. If you need solar power you can easily attach your panel on the backpack and charge it throughout the day. ”

“We noticed that our boat was leaking today while rowing over a lake, quite exciting.”

“A couple of days ago we had reindeers around our tents while waking up. We sat in our sleeping bags listening to them for a long time while eating breakfast.”

“The mosquitos where killing us and when we found a small cabin we quikly decided to stay there for the night. After what felt like hours of fighting with the mosquitos in the cabin I decided to pitch my inner tent inside the small cabin. Niklas followed my progress for a while and said something like good luck with that.”

“Today we walked through a small village with a shop. The shop was closed! We talked to a resident nearby and he offered us to buy a bag of chips for 20kr and for that we even had a shower too. When we leaved he told us to hide the bag if our path crossed with his kids coming home soon. We ask why and he simply answered that they will be without chips and that it was Friday. We picked up speed and walked out of the village like we were chased.”

“Niklas woke me up at 4am today. He has this very lightweight tent that’s easy to cary but seams to leak when it’s raining. If you ask me its a bad thing! Even if we have different tents and I was perfectly a sleep this awfully  rainy morning we decided to use the day and after 5 minutes we where out on the trail. We found a small cabin free of charge and decided to gather some firewood. We used the reindeer horns on the wall to dry everything up and in the end we sat butt naked playing cards for hours drinking whisky.”

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