Showing posts with label Backpacking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Backpacking. Show all posts

8.14.2023

The Last Frontier

Alaska has been on my list for years; it is wild and untamed. It is dark and cold. It is  full of large creatures. It has very few roads. It is literally in the middle of nowhere. Well, I guess supposedly you can see Russia from some parts of the state, but I did not experience that myself. 

What I did experience were adventures, beautiful scenery and some challenging backcountry hikes. Here are some of the highlights from the trip. For context, I flew into Anchorage and planned most of the outings within a few hours drive of the city. I have noted the driving times below.


Denali NP – it is worth taking a bus on the Denali road (you can do an audio tour or just take the normal park bus depending on what you like. We just took the simple one, and you can see lots of animals and possibly Mt. Denali if the weather cooperates, which it did not do ☹). This is 3 hours north of Anchorage by car or you can take the train.  

There are a couple of short hiking options near the visitor’s center or you can get a permit and a (free) bear canister from the building by the bus depot and tromp around the back country (no trails), fording rivers, whacking bushes and fleeing bears, which is what we did (minus the bears). The park road is about 100 miles long and currently it is closed due to a landslide at mile 42 (supposedly to be fixed in 2025), but there are still plenty of hiking zones to choose from. 

Teklanika River

Hatcher Pass – great views and lots of hiking opportunities with different lengths depending on fitness level. This is about 1 hour north of Anchorage by car.  Note: it is a dirt road part of the way, but it is very smooth and we had no issues whatsoever. We also did the Bomber Traverse, a hike starting from the Gold Mint Trailhead and continuing past the Mint hut, the backdoor gap, the Bomber hut and the Snowbird hut (and many glaciers!). This hike is about 25 miles in total, with about 7 or 8 of them off trail, so we ended up doing it in two days. If you want to sleep in the huts, you can join the Mountaineering Club of Alaska (MCA), or you can just camp near the huts (or anywhere) for free. 

Pennyroyal Glacier -- Backdoor Gap -- Bomber Traverse

Seward – port city, gateway to Kenai Fjords and the start of the Iditarod trail; Great place for hiking, eating, and lots of walking along the water. Lowell point walk (about 2 miles each way), Sweet Darlings for ice cream and Firebrand BBQ for their pork belly are a must. We also hiked up the famous Mt. Marathon, which is a 3,000 foot climb in 1.5 miles if you use the official race trail or about 2.5 miles if you go via the hiker route. The views from the top are fabulous! 3 hours south of Anchorage by car.

View from Mt. Marathon

Kenai Fjords NP – The Exit glacier and Harding icefield are beautiful. The Harding Icefield trail is a 4.1 mile each way out and back which is about 3,000 feet of climbing, but the views of the glacier along the way as well as the icefield at the top are stunning. It is well worth the climb, but I suggest you start early as we were the first ones to the top and had the view to ourselves (around 8:30 am) but there were a lot of people heading up when we were headed down. 20 minutes from Seward by car. 

Harding Icefield

Anchorage – you can rent bikes and ride (or walk) along the coastal trail which goes from downtown to Kincade point, about 10 miles each way. It is a very pleasant and flat bike trail along the mud flats. I would recommend Snow City CafĂ© for breakfast/lunch, but be prepared to wait a little while (you can put your name in and walk around while you are waiting or you can grab a mug of coffee and sit outside and enjoy the weather). 

Chugach National Forest – there are so many hikes and so little time, but two that we did that I would recommend are the Lost Lake trail and Crows Pass. The Lost Lake trail is about 20 minutes from Seward and is about 7 miles each way, but it is only about 2,200 feet of gain, so it is uphill but not too strenuous. Again, I suggest starting early, as there were a lot of people on the trail on our way down. The Crows Pass trail is a 21 mile trail each way, but if you start on the south end near Girdwood (about one hour south of Anchorage), you only need to go about 4 or 5 miles before you see all of the good stuff (the Crows Pass cabin, the Raven glacier, great views) and can turn around and go back. After that it is very brushy, so save your energy for something else. Part of this trail follows the famous Ididerod trail too! 

Lost Lake

And just like that, the one week trip was sadly over. 

Have you ever been to Alaska? What was your favorite thing that you did? Have you been to any of the places on my list? 

6.20.2023

Looking Back: Juneteenth Weekend

In the spirit of some of my blogger friends, I will call this Five Things Tuesday, the road trip version! Since I had an extra day off, I drove down to Sequoia National Park for a little bit of backpacking. Here are five things from the long weekend that were interesting or fun! 

Backpacking in Sequoia NP: I had a great time hiking around Sequoia National Park, although once again, I was foiled by snow, downed trees and high river (read: impassable) crossings. However, I never let that bother me too much and I had a fun time exploring, even if I could not do the loop that I had intended. This year has been difficult for hiking plans, as the normal entry to Yosemite is closed due to road damage, the road to Kings Canyon is closed due to road damage and many of the roads in Sequoia are still closed due to snow and/or road damage! It was a rough winter in the Sierra, let me tell you. 

View of Valhalla and Hamilton Falls

Hamilton Lake

Trip to Aldi: Since I was driving down through Fresno, I decided to stop at Aldi (this is the closest one to my house, and is about 200 miles away from me) for a little wander through the aisles. Since I was going to be in the car for a while and I couldn't have food in my car at the park, I did not buy much, but I had a lot of fun checking things out. The weird thing though is that when I arrived, there were only about 6 cars in the parking lot and I feared they were closed but they were open but it was nearly empty! Maybe the Fresnans have not gotten the memo that you can get good things at Aldi on the cheap? It probably did not help that the following stores were all on the same street within about a two mile stretch: Smart and Final, Grocery Outlet, Costco, Albertsons, WinCo. 

Tesla Semi Truck: I saw this on highway 99! I did not know that Tesla made a semi and it was a very strange site; it looks like a toy. I checked later and apparently the Modesto Frito Lay factory is testing them out so that is why I happened upon one. 


Road Trip Snacks: Although I normally try to eat healthy, when I go on a road trip, I give myself a pass to eat what I want! This included corn nuts (guilty pleasure), peanuts (the dry roasted ones with the yummy MSG) and lots of jerky! Actually I also bought some cheese and carrot sticks from Aldi on my way home, so I guess this time the snacks were not really that indulgent! 

Pilot: My Favorite Gas Station: Every time I go on a long road trip on a major highway, my stop of choice is Pilot/Flying J. When I go to Oregon in the summer, they are perfectly spaced out and my routine consists of the same thing every time - get gas (even if I am half full), get ice tea/lemonade combo (Arnold Palmer) refill with lots of ice and use the bathroom. Every. Single. Time. I have had disappointment when stopping at other truck stops and they do not have unsweetened iced team from the fountain drink section (not a bottled one from the cooler) so I just stick to the one that has what I want! 

What did you do this weekend? What are your favorite road trip snacks and/or break stops? 

5.29.2023

Great Divide Trail: Logistics, Gear & Planning

Happy Memorial Day! This weekend kicks off the "official" backpacking season for me each year, so I thought I would finally post about the two week trip that I took to Oh Canada to hike the Great Divide Trail (GDT)! Hopefully you are off enjoying the extra day off of work and the sunshine today (and are reading this post on Tuesday)! 

Healy Pass - Banff NP

Canada's Great Divide Trail is a 1,123 km (702 mile) trail that follows the Great Divide between Kawka Provincial Park in the North to Waterton Lakes National Park in the south. If you are a Continental Divide Trail (CDT) hiker in the US, you can actually just keep going north if you wanted, following the GTD the rest of the way up to Kawka PP.  It flip flops between Alberta and British Columbia and goes through several different national and provincial parks and wilderness areas. 

It is made up of several trails linked together and some are very well maintained (Banff Mountain National Park), some of them are washed out and some of them are nearly non-existent and require route-finding (Don Getty Wildland Provincial Park). Some of the trail goes through places with more access to roads and/or people (Banff, Jasper etc.) bus some places are downright remote. In fact, if you are a NOBO hiker, when you arrive to Kawka, you have to hike out about 75 km (47 mi) on a forest service road to get back to a highway. You can find information about this and a lot more on the GTD website

The Route: I had been hiking in Yolo, Kootenay, Jasper and Banff before and had found the scenery stunning, so in 2018, I decided that I wanted to see more. However, I was not going to be able to cover it all in a two week vacation. I really wanted to see the four parks I mentioned again, but logistically, I felt it was easier to either pick a more southern section, therefore skipping Jasper, or pick a more northern one, therefore missing some of the Provincial Parks I had not been to. 

I decided to do a NOBO section hike of sections B, C and D which would be a 500 km (312 mi) stretch starting in Coleman and ending in Saskatchewan River Crossing. This would mean hiking about 25 miles per day. If needed, I could skip section C and bail out one road crossing before that at Field, which would be 385 km (247 mi) stretch and about 20 miles per day. I would start in Coleman since I could easily get a bus from Calgary, and hope that at the end I would not have to wait around for two days for a bus back. 

I used Gaia to map out my estimated miles per day and then exported the routes to the Offline Maps app. I also bought the GDT app for my phone so I would have a couple of different options for navigation. I won't lie, I did not figure out until two thirds through my trip that it's interactive and people could make notes in the app, which would have been helpful at the beginning, which was more rugged and had more route-finding. 

The Plan/Logistics: To hike the trail, you need to buy a Parks Canada National Pass, which covers entry into all the parks. I bought mine in advance and had it sent to my house. Camping is a little confusing as there are several different organizations and parks you have to deal with regarding passes and permits. You may need to book campsites in advance for many of the national parks and some provincial parks; this pdf list of all of the sites and whether or not they need to be booked was very helpful. When I went, they were not all online, but it looks like more are now; you can find the online booking tool here

I got a flight to Calgary from San Francisco, which after spending nearly 24 hours traveling to my mountain destinations in Europe, felt so short and easy! From Calgary, I took a Greyhound bus to Coleman. There was only one bus per day and it left Calgary around 10:00 pm, arriving in Coleman around 4:00 am. I flew in around 10:00 am, which left me with some time to kill, but I spent it having my last hamburger and beer, and buying fuel and bear spray since I could not fly with either of those. 

A quick note about Canadians and bear spray: I had to purchase bear spray and register it, as it could technically be used as a weapon. I was told that there was a serial number on the can and if I left it at a random trailhead and someone used it as a weapon, I would be liable. Wow. I am not sure what they expect foreigners to do with their (hopefully) unused bear spray. (Note: apparently you can rent it in Banff, but I did not find a place to do so in Calgary). After eating and shopping, I killed time reading and charging my electronics at a coffee shop before boarding my bus to Coleman. 

I arrived at Coleman around 4:00 am and was dropped off at the 7-11 in the dark on the side of the highway. I then had to walk a couple of miles on the highway to get to the trail. It was a bit of an odd start; I was very happy when I veered off the highway and onto the trail, although then you walk on ATV roads for the next maybe 20 or 30 miles, so it was not exactly what I had expected.

Once I had finished, I took a series of local busses and the Greyhound back to Calgary. The bus system in Canada was just okay; it definitely was not as good as the transport in Europe, and is probably more on par with some of the options in the US. For example, both the bus to Coleman and the one back to Calgary were just once a day and they were at very strange times. Also, as it is in the US, there were some interesting characters riding the bus, whereas in Europe everyone rides the bus, not just the people who do not have a car. 

The Big Three: I took my Big Agnes Fishhook UL1 Tent (one man - 47 oz.) on this trip. I used the Hyperlite 2400 Southwest Backpack (28.6 oz.) and Western Mountaineering Ultralite 20 degree sleeping bag (29 oz.). For my sleeping pad I had the Therm-a-Rest NeoAir Xlite short size (8 oz.) that had popped on my Kungsleden trip. I patched it up with the kit that comes with it, but it still slowly deflated throughout the night, so I was constantly blowing it up. My big three weighed about 7 pounds.

Base Pack Weight: My base pack weight was about 18 pounds, excluding clothing worn and including an extra dry and clean outfit for after the trail. You can see my LighterPack list for this trip here

Clothing: For weather, this trip ran the gamut. I experienced the following: baking in the sun, below freezing temperatures, snow and rain. I brought my normal list of layers: REI button down shirt, short sleeved shirt, Mountain Hardware ghost whisperer puffy jacket, Montbell rain jacket & REI rain pants. I also brought a buff, a windbreaker, gloves, beanie and tights just in case, and I used them all! I don't want to have a spoiler alert for my trip report, but after this trip, I did a lot of research about snow camping and waterproof gear.  

Food: After my Kungsleden trip, I decided that when I am hiking long days, I prefer to have a hot meal in the morning and am fine with a cold one in the evening. This saves on gas and time. However, I do love a warm cup of coffee, especially when it's cold. My plan was to have coffee and dinner for breakfast, which consisted of beans and rice, ramen and a couscous medley. For dinner, I would have cold muesli with fruit and powdered milk. This also allowed me to eat dinner easily on the go as well as not eating in my camp at night due to the presence of bears. 

I carried all of my food in two drybags, which I hung each night. However, this is more easily said than done, as some forests were made of only pine trees which did not have limbs long enough or high enough to hang a bag from. There were some nights that I had to hang the food as high as I could in two separate spots 100 feet away from my camp and pray for the best. 

Water: This was the bane of my existence. I carried the Sawyer mini and the 1 liter squeeze bag that comes with it as well as a one liter clean water container. Finding water was no issue at all, and I did not really need to carry more than a liter or so at a time most of the time. However, I popped the squeeze bag somewhere around day 4 or 5 and duct taped it up, but it required a bit of jerry rigging to make it work. Aside from that, filtering is my least favorite thing to do and I felt that I was constantly filtering on this trip. Spoiler alert, I have since fixed this problem with two magical items, the CNOC squeeze bag and gravity filtering! 

Total Pack Weight: Including two liters of water, about 20 pounds (13 days worth) of food, a medium fuel container and bear spray, my pack weighed about 40 pounds. Let me tell you, I was happy to eat my way toward a lighter pack on this trip! 

The Verdict: As I mentioned above, after this trip I dialed in my water filtration system a lot, which has made me a much happier camper. I also invested in some wet/cold weather items, as I got pretty wet and cold in good ol' Canada. Other than that, I was very happy with my set up. I definitely want to go back and hike more sections of this trail and maybe even revisit a few places, such as Mt. Assiniboine, which was very foggy on the day that I was there. I would say that my pack is quickly becoming my favorite piece of gear as it is lightweight, comfortable and mostly waterproof! 

More Information: GDT website

If you have any questions, let me know! Otherwise, happy hiking! 

Have you ever been to Canada? Have you ever ridden the Greyhound (or other long distance transport) in the US or Canada (and what did you think)? What did you do for the long weekend this weekend? 

1.16.2023

Slovenian Mountain Trail: Logistics, Gear and Planning

Slovenia is a country that I wanted to go to for a long time. There were a few times where I tried to tack it onto the end of a trip to Austria or Italy or Slovakia, but I felt like it would not do it justice for it to only go there for a few days at the end of a different trip. So in September of 2022 I dedicated an entire two weeks to this little jewel of a country. I won’t go into it in too much detail, but the country has a lot to offer, including mountains, cities, beaches, wine and food! 

However, my main focus was to spend some time hiking the oldest long-distance trail in Europe, the Slovenian Mountain Trail (SMT), otherwise known as the SPP-1, the Slovenska Planinska Pot or the Transversala. It is a ~600 km (375 mile) trail from Maribor in the east to Ankaran on the west coast. It goes through several ranges of the Alps, including the Pohorje, the Julian Alps, the Karawanks, and the Kamnik-Savinja Alps. It also goes right past (and to if you like) the highest point in Slovenia, Mount Triglav, which sits at 2,863 meters (9,395 feet). 

The Plan/Logistics: Getting to Slovenia is not hard, but there are no direct flights to Ljubljana, and even if you do have a layover, flying into Slovenia’s tiny capital is not cheap. I ended up deciding to fly to Vienna, where I took a three-hour Flixbus to Graz Austria and then two trains to Maribor to start my trip. You also have the option of taking a five-hour bus directly from Vienna to Maribor. My original plan was to get to Maribor early in the morning and start hiking right away, but due to some travel issues, I arrived there around 5:00 pm, so I stayed one night in Maribor instead. This gave me the chance to buy fuel, which I was planning on either buying in the morning or doing without for the first few days, so that was a silver lining of starting a day later. 

There is no camping allowed in Slovenia; this hike consists of hut-to-hut travel and there are a total of about 60 huts along the way. They suggest that the huts be booked in advance, but most of them do not have online booking and you must call to make a reservation. I suggest becoming a member of the Alpine Club, which costs about $30.00 and gets you 30% - 50% off of hut costs, which is a savings of about $9.00 - $13.00 per hut. Figuring out which hut to stay at each night was actually not as easy to plan as you may think. I could not find one single website in English where you can see how far it was between huts or how much time it would take to get from one to the other. There was a GPX Track on the main Slovenian Alpine Club webpage, and I ended up using that and Gaia to figure out how much mileage and elevation gain was between each hut. I then exported this data to Offline Maps where I could use it to determine my route each day. 

I also came up with a possible daily plan, but I wanted the flexibility of being able to go further if I was feeling good, or to stop if I was not feeling well or if it was raining. So even though I mapped out all of the huts and data for them, I did not make a single reservation in advance. I wanted to go approximately 20-25 miles per day, but was aware that some days may be a little easier than others, so this would need to be flexible. 

The Route: The plan was to go from Maribor to wherever I ended up on day twelve. I knew I wanted to make a stop in Bled for a couple of days, so would get off the trail and take a bus there and back, but other than that, I was not set on getting a certain distance, as I have learned from past trips that things don’t always go as planned. I would know more once I was on the trail, but did not want to pin myself down to one specific plan. I also knew that I wanted a couple of days at the end to visit either the coast or Ljubljana or both. Therefore, my rough plan was to end up somewhere in the Bohinj region where I could hike out and get a bus back to Ljubljana. 

I ended up doing the following. You can find the CalTopo route here.

Day 1: Saturday 09/03/22. From Maribor to KoÄŤa na Pesku. Time Elapsed: 10:47. Moving time: 08:14. Miles Hiked: 22.86. Elevation gained: 5,896 feet. Elevation lost: 2,331 feet. 

Day 2: Sunday 09/04/22. From KoÄŤa na Pesku to Slovenj Gradec. Time Elapsed: 09:19. Moving time: 06:32. Miles Hiked: 19.85. Elevation gained: 3,031 feet. Elevation lost: 6,166 feet. 

Day 3: Monday 09/05/22. From Slovenj Gradec to Dom na Smrekovku. Time Elapsed: 09:28. Moving time: 07:17. Miles Hiked: 21.25. Elevation gained: 6,070 feet. Elevation lost: 2,935 feet. 

Day 4: Tuesday 09/06/22. From Dom na Smrekovku to Luce. Time Elapsed: 07:11. Moving time: 05:02. Miles Hiked: 14.59. Elevation gained: 2,674 feet. Elevation lost: 5,355 feet. 

Day 5: Wednesday 09/07/22. From Robanov Kot to Sedlu. Time Elapsed: 08:53. Moving time: 04:01. Miles Hiked: 10.20. Elevation gained: 6,703 feet. Elevation lost: 2,604 feet. 

Day 6: Thursday 09/08/22. From Sedlu to Jesezsko. Time Elapsed: 06:34. Moving time: 03:25. Miles Hiked: 11.38. Elevation gained: 2,562 feet. Elevation lost: 5,231 feet. 

Day 7: Friday 09/09/22. Rest day in Bled.

Day 8: Saturday 09/10/22. From Bled to AljaĹľev Dom. Time Elapsed: 05:58. Moving time: 05:17. Miles Hiked: 17.89. Elevation gained: 2,379 feet. Elevation lost: 895 feet. 

Day 9: Sunday 09/11/22. From AljaĹľev Dom to Triglavski dom na Kredarici. Time Elapsed: 06:42. Moving time: 06:39. Miles Hiked: 08.12. Elevation gained: 6,345 feet. Elevation lost: 1,468 feet. 

Day 10: Monday 09/12/22. From Triglavski dom na Kredarici to Stara FuĹľina. Time Elapsed: 08:20. Moving time: 04:07. Miles Hiked: 13.82. Elevation gained: 1,493 feet. Elevation lost: 7,863 feet. 

Day 11: Tuesday 09/13/22. From Stara FuĹľina to Black Lake. Time Elapsed: 06:28. Moving time: 04:49. Miles Hiked: 14.05. Elevation gained: 3,081 feet. Elevation lost: 2,931 feet.

The Big Three: Since I would be staying in huts, where I would not need a tent, and was not allowed to camp, I left my tent behind. However, I did still carry my Western Mountaineering Ultralite 20 degree sleeping bag (29 oz.) and the Therm-a-Rest NeoAir Xlite regular size (12 oz.), since I thought that maybe if I got stuck between huts, as an emergency I may need to cowboy camp. I also used my trusty Hyperlite 2400 Southwest Backpack (28.6 oz.) and carried my Cocoon silk liner, since you are required to bring “linen” to the huts. My big "three" weighed about 4.9 pounds. 

Base Pack Weight: Since I did not have my tent, my base weight was only about 15 lbs. I still carried pretty much the same basic things that I always carry, even though I would be in civilization more than I normally am. 

Clothing: September is always iffy weatherwise, so I carried my normal fall gear, which consists of a puffy and rain jacket, rain pants, gloves and a beanie for warmth. However, I did not carry my winter gear, any heavy-duty weather gear or traction. This ended up being perfect, as it did rain quite a bit but was never below freezing. 

Food: Ah, this was a controversial topic. As I would be staying in huts, I could have eaten all my meals at their restaurants. However, I did not want to spend all my money on food, plus I like having the option to eat when I want and not have to wait until I get to the next hut. Therefore I carried enough food for all meals for 10 days and planned on supplementing with hut food for a few of my meals. I brought my normal lineup of bars, nuts and meat sticks for snacks, coffee and oatmeal for breakfast, and rice and beans and soups for dinner. I discovered my new favorite store-bought combo: Bear River potato soup with Knorr Mexican rice sides. Delicious! 

Water: I used my new BeFree 1 liter filter bottle and carried an extra Platypus 1 liter bottle with a 2-liter Platypus for extreme emergencies/backup. There were plenty of options to get water on the trail or at the huts, so this worked out perfectly. I never had to carry more than two liters at a time and most of the time I probably could have made do with only one.  

Total Pack Weight: Including two liters of water, ten days of food and one fuel cannister, my pack weighed a pretty heavy 37 lbs. My pack list for this trip can be found here

The Verdict: I did not use my sleeping bag and pad at all; I could have left them at home. I also did not eat all of my food; I ended up being in towns more than expected and had the opportunity to buy fresh groceries (fruit, cheese and bread etc.) and could have probably brought about half or two thirds of what I brought and would have still been fine. As I mentioned above, I could have brought no food at all and still made do, but I do think that a combo of hut food, store-bought food and food brought from home is the best option. 

I could have done more miles on several of the days, but I had a few things going against me; one, I was not sure how the terrain would be so was hesitant to commit to a high mileage day if it was going to be especially difficult. Two, some of the huts were spaced just the wrong distance apart, causing me to choose a too short day or a too long day. Most of the time, I chose option one but this meant that some days were only 10 miles. Lastly, some of the more popular huts were sold out on many of the days so I had to reserve them in advance and then commit to actually staying there even though I could have gone further. I am not really a fan of not being able to camp where and when you want as I often find that you have to either cut your day short or go further than you would like in order to make it work. 

The other thing that I did not take as seriously as I should have was how long the downhills would take me. Normally, if the trail goes downhill, I would assume I could do maybe three miles per hour instead of two, but some of the descents were very steep and/or they were on the side of a mountain and the climb down was treacherous. Therefore, I was a lot slower on the downhills than I expected. For example, one 13-mile day had 1,500 feet of ascent and almost 8,000 feet of descent, and it ended up taking about 8 hours! 

More Information: Flixbus long distance bus. Slovenian Alpine Club. Download the entire trail (with huts) GPX Track. Gaia mapping app. Rome2Rio travel planning and booking. Booking.com for well priced guest houses. 

Stay tuned for the Trip Report!

Have you been backpacking in a foreign country? Or just traveling in general? If so, what was your favorite part of your journey? 

11.23.2022

Emigrant Wilderness: Logistics, Gear & Planning

At the end of last month, my friend Dr. G (trail name Bugsy) and I decided to try to get one more trip to the Sierra before the snow flurries started to fly. And boy did we get lucky, as it started snowing the Tuesday after we got back and there have been several storms since.

The Emigrant Wilderness is a pretty small wilderness and is only about 25 miles long and 15 miles wide. However, don't let the size fool you! It is full of granite outcroppings and glacier scoured landscapes. It is also a great place to cut your teeth on cross country travel, as it is not too brushy in most places, so your "bushwhacking" is more like rock climbing than anything else.


The Plan/Logistics: When it had not snowed yet and Bugsy and I realized that we both had the weekend free, we kind of made a last minute decision to take a couple of days and get out one last time. Therefore, this was not the most well thought out or the most complicated plan; Emigrant Wilderness is about 2.5 hours away from the Bay Area if there is no traffic, so we decide that instead of sitting in the horror that is Friday traffic, we would start bright and early on Saturday. We left around 5 am and after two coffee/bathroom stops and a stop to get the (self issued) permit, we were on the trail by 7:50 am. Please note that if the ranger station is open (8:30 am - 4 pm on Saturday, 9 am - 4 pm all other days), you will have to get a permit from the ranger. They do not issue permits online. Permit info here.

The Route: we had a few options, but one of the things I wanted to try was a cross country route between Buck Creek and Huckleberry Lake, so we decided to give it a shot. I mapped it out on Gaia, but of course if there is no trail, you have to just estimate where you will go and it ended up being about 4 more miles than we had expected. That made what was planned to be about a 35 mile loop into about a 39 mile loop. Oops! We started from the Crabtree Trailhead, which is about 8 miles outside of Pinecrest Lake, and did a counter clockwise "loop" towards Huckleberry Lake. We ended up camping at Cherry Creek instead.

The Big Three: I have been using the same big three for a while and am loving them (Big Agnes Tiger Wall UL2 (46 oz. with footprint), Western Mountaineering Ultralite 20 degree sleeping bag (29 oz.), Hyperlite 2400 Southwest Backpack (28.6 oz.), and the Therm-a-Rest NeoAir Xlite regular size (12 oz.). However, on this trip, Bugsy brought his tent because it has a bigger floor plan than mine (Big Agnes Copper Spur 2), so my big three was only two! I also carried a silk liner, since we had gotten reports that it could get down into the mid twenties at night and my sleeping bag is not warm under about 30 degrees, despite the 20 degree rating. My big "two" weighed about 4.5 pounds.

Base Pack Weight: I did not weigh my base pack for the trip, but based on my LighterPack list and experience from other trips, I would say it was about 17 lbs.

Clothing: I brought everything from my normal list and did not bring any of the heavier winter gear or traction. My normal kit includes a beanie, gloves, extra socks & underwear, rain jacket and pants and a puffy, and the forecast was clear skies, so I did not feel that I would need the extra heavy gear for this trip. However, I did bring an older REI rain jacket rather than my ultralight Montbell, so I probably added a pound of extra weight by carrying that.

Food: This was a huge difference from our normal trips. Firstly, we usually share dinner duties; if we are going for 6 days, we will each make and carry three meals for two people. However, this time we each did our own thing since we didn't have to skimp to save weight. We brought lots of heavy stuff! For dinner, I brought noodles, salmon packets, fresh mushrooms, hard boiled eggs and miso paste. For snacks I brought a whole salami, cheese, cucumbers, nuts and blueberries! For breakfast I had hard boiled eggs and coffee. Not only could we afford to carry heavier food, but I didn't mind if I didn't use it, and we had built in refrigeration so we could carry whatever we wanted. It was divine.

Water: I used my new BeFree 1 liter filter bottle and carried an extra Platypus 1 liter bottle with a 2 liter Platypus for extreme emergencies/backup. I am glad I had the backup bottles as we went through some really dry stretches and crossed dry creeks that I had never seen dry before. However, we did camp near a lake so we really did not need to carry more than 1 - 2 liters at a time in the end.

Total Pack Weight: Including two liters of water, the bear can, one day of food and one fuel cannister (and the heavy rain jacket!), my pack weighed 25 lbs.

The Verdict: I really liked just going for one overnight as it really provides a lot of flexibility with food, which tends to be one of my most heavy items. It also is a great chance to test out items that you would not normally want to lug around for a week.  I could have lived without my rain pants and I am very glad that I added the silk liner, as I slept warm but not so warm that I would have been happy without it.

More Information: You can find information about the wilderness at the Stanislaus National Forest website. Stay tuned for the Trip Report!

For fun...here is what the same area looks like now! 

Highway 108 (source)

Have you been to the Emigrant Wilderness? What is your one backpacking item you cannot live without?

3.17.2022

Kungsleden (The King's Trail): Logistics, Gear and Planning

Kungsleden Trail, Sweden -- September 4 - 14, 2017
12 day hike -- 275 miles
Trip Report can be found here
Some of my favorite gear can be found here.

The Plan: How did I pick this trip? I did some research based on shorter long distance hikes. I wanted to go internationally, and needed it to be warm enough in the month of September for a two week trip. Obviously there are a ton of different websites and opinions, but many of the ones I found had the Kungsleden as one of the good ones. I wanted to be able to "wild camp," aka not have to stay in a designated camping area or hut. Surprisingly to me, since we can do this pretty much everywhere in California (and Canada and many of the other US states), Europe generally does not allow this. 

I also needed something that I could do in about 14 days. Most reports of the Kungsleden said it would take about a month. However, since the trail was about 450 km or 275 miles, I figured I could do it in less than that. I am comfortable hiking 20 - 30 miles per day and figured that if I hiked 20 miles for 14 days, or 23 miles for 12 days, I could get it done in time. The cherry on top was this woman's trip report, which showed that she had easily done it in 13 days. If she can do it, I can do it, I thought. What I did not factor in was that my original flight from the US to Sweden got canceled which pushed everything back one day. I also did not fully grasp the time that would be needed for the many lake crossings. 

The Logistics: Getting to/from the Stockholm airport to my hotel was fairly easy; I took a bus from the airport to downtown and then walked from the bus stop to my hotel, which took about five minutes. 

The logistics surrounding the hike were a little tough, as I had to fly to Stockholm and then take a puddle jumper flight from there to Kiruna, which only left once per day around noon. From there, I had to take a bus from the airport to downtown Kiruna, where I picked up a longer distance bus to Abisko, where the trail started. Alternatively, I believe there was a train that went from downtown Kiruna to Abisko, but that was a little later or longer than the bus; I cannot remember exactly. 

Since I was flying, I could not bring fuel on the plane. There have been other reports that you cannot bring trekking poles or tent poles and you definitely cannot carry a knife, so I checked my bag and carried on a small duffel with a few toiletries and my book which I planned to leave at my hotel in Stockholm. I wore an outfit on the plane that I did not plan on taking hiking with me and I also left in my hotel. That meant that I had to stay in the same hotel on the way in and out and also decreased my hiking time a little bit, but I did not want to carry all of my stuff with me while hiking; I thought it was worth having a dry, comfortable, non hiking outfit (and book etc.) for afterward. 

Once in Abisko, it was required that everyone obtain a permit. There were not quotas for the permit, but you do have to pay for it and there is a little store that you have to go to near the trailhead to get it. I also bought fuel at this store and weighed my full bag before setting off. 

After I was done, from the southern terminus of Hemavan, I could fly, or I would have to take a local bus to Umea, which is on the Eastern coast and has overnight busses back to Stockholm, which took about 12 hours. Not knowing exactly how long the total hike would take, I did not want to book this leg in advance,. I knew the logistics of the bus travel at the end could add a couple of days, so my plan was to try to hike a little bit faster than 20 miles per day just in case. Also knowing that the flight at the end was also only once per day and that there was a chance I would miss it, I wanted to give myself extra time for that as well. 

Since I ended getting off trail a little early, I ended up having to take a bus from Ammarnäs to Sorsele and then another to Lycksele and then yet another to Umea. Once in Umea, I had to wait for the overnight bus, which left around 11 pm. I did not realize that most people reserve their seat and so when I got on the bus the conductor said it was full and I almost cried. Luckily he found one spot for me, but I may have had to wait until the next day if there was not a seat. Alternatively there were flights and trains, but I was at the bus station so it would have been a little extra travel to do that instead. This bus dropped me in the same downtown bus station that I had gone into from the airport originally, so I could just walk to my hotel. 

As I mentioned in my trip report, the trail did have huts that you could stay in for part of the time. The trail was split into thirds with the north third being more developed with huts and the middle third being very rugged and the southern third being a little more developed again, but more rustic than the north, which is the most popular area. However, I brought my tent and sleeping bag and planned to use them the entire time. I also brought all of my own food, although there were reports that you could buy some things at the huts. However, since I was also going a little late in the season, I had read that some of the huts could already be closed down for the winter. I did not notice this for the northern third, but it could have been the case on the southern third. 

The Route: I knew that this trail was very well marked and also there were not really any "mountain passes" like I was used to, so you can see for miles where you are going at times. I used a mixture of Gaia GPS app and Offline Maps app for maps. Usually I plan my route with Gaia when I am in service and then export it to Offline Maps. As long as you save the map area that you are going to be in, you can use this any time, anywhere. It has topography, roads and trails on it and it has been very handy over the years. 

The Big Three: I brought the following: Big Agnes Fishhook UL1 Tent (47 oz.) (no longer available; I now use the Big Agnes Tiger Wall UL2), Western Mountaineering Ultralite 20 degree sleeping bag (29 oz.)Hyperlite 2400 Southwest Backpack (28.6 oz.), and the Therm-a-Rest NeoAir Xlite Small size (8 oz.). Total weight of my big three: 112 oz. or about 7 lbs. 

The Clothing: I used my basic late fall/winter hiking kit, which consists of the following clothing: Capri pants, rain pants, short sleeved running shirt, long sleeved running shirt, rain jacket, puffy jacket, Saucony running shoes, two pairs of socks, hat, sports bra, two pairs of underwear, buff and flip flops for camp. I also carried the following dry outfit, which I planned on not wearing until the hike was over: Northface tights, socks, underwear, long sleeve shirt. 

The Other Stuff: For electronics, I carried my phone, a waterproof Panasonic camera, Ankur 20 milliamp charger, charging cords, Garmin watch, kindle and headlamp. I also had to bring toiletries, kitchen items (pot, pan, spoon, bowl, fuel, matches etc.), first aid, dry bags and other utility items (knife, rope, compass, trash bag, whistle etc.). 

Base Pack Weight: 18 pounds. 

The Food: I packed 12 days worth of food in total. I had all of my food already packed before I left home, as I did not want to worry about trying to resupply. I could always buy something extra if I wanted but I did not want to rely on that. I did not put my food in a bear canister and I did not plan to hang it. From what I read, there are bears in Sweden but encounters with them are very rare.  

My meals were fairly basic: I brought muesli with dried fruit and powdered milk for breakfast, which I planned to eat cold as I did not plan on resupplying my fuel and did not want to waste it. I was going to have coffee in the morning as well and was debating between hot and cold coffee. For lunch/snacks, I had a variety of things: yogurt covered pretzels, cheeze-its, peanuts, wasabi rice snacks, gummy snacks, peanut butter, trail mix, chocolate and protein bars. For dinner, I had Knorr pasta sides and beans and rice (this was and still is one of my standby meals). I did find a few days into the hike that I preferred my hot meal in the morning, so I started eating my dinner for breakfast and then having my muesli in the evening instead. 

I planned all of my calories before leaving and tried to plan for about 3500 per day. 


The H2O: I decided not to filter water and so only brought a one liter soft flask. I know this may be controversial, but from what I read it was not necessary. On one hand, it felt a little bit like going braless in public, but damn, it is so nice not to have to rely on filtering water all the time. It was freeing and meant that I only carried about a liter of water at a time, if that. 

Total Pack Weight: 37 pounds; the fuel and 12 days of food added basically 20 pounds to my load, which comes out to about a pound and a half of food per day. Luckily I didn't have to carry too much water! 

The Verdict: I am still loving my new gear, which I bought in early 2017 and used for the Wind River High Route. I carried about 10 more pounds than I did for the Wind River trip due to carrying the tent and a lot more food, but the pack still felt good. My sleeping bag kept me warm the whole time; obviously having a hole in my sleeping pad was not ideal. I definitely need a new system for all day rain as being wet and cold all day and sometimes through the night was not fun at all. 

A couple of things I would probably leave behind: My rain pants have seen their last days. These were ones I think I bought in the Philippines or Malaysia before hiking Mt. Kinabalu and they are a prime example of getting what you pay for. I need to invest in some that will actually keep me dry. I also brought a variety of snacks so that I would not get bored with my food, but I think I will just pick one or two of my favorites and/or the highest calorie ones and bring only a couple of choices next time. I definitely will not be including the melted blog of yogurt covered pretzel or the cheeze-it dust on this list. I also need to consider the shape of the items as some of them take up a lot room, so even if they are calorie dense, it is not as compact. 

A couple of things I might bring more of: I do like having hot coffee in the morning, if only as something to wrap my hands around before getting out of the tent into the cold, but I am not sure that I really need a hot meal. I think I could just bring more cold meals and save the time and effort of cooking. However, I think it is weather dependent, as I really do like a hot meal when it's really cold. I also do bring duct tape and a patch kit with me, but may need to invest in a few more repair items for the next trip. 

A couple of things I could not live without: See above! If I had not had duct tape with me, I would have had to sleep pretty much right on the ground after my sleeping pad got a hole. This was a lifesaver. It is easy enough to wrap around a trekking pole or a pencil and not even notice that you are carrying it and it sure comes in handy in a pinch! I also wore my rain pants 90% of the time on this hike. Although they are definitely not water proof, they did really help to keep the wind off of my legs and were priceless as an extra lightweight layer. Lastly, it was worth carrying the one dry change of clothes, despite the weight. After I got off trail, I had to take a series of buses to Stockholm (roughly a 24 hour trip from the end of the trail) and I would have been miserable in my wet hiking clothes. 

Are you a planner or do you just like to get up and go? What is one thing you could not live without when you travel? 

3.05.2022

Kungsleden (The King's Trail): Trip Report



When
: September 4 - 14 2017
Who: Just me!
Total Distance: 225 miles
Food: Muesli, various snacks, Knorr sides, beans & rice.
Notes re food: Decided to eat hot meal in morning, cold meal in afternoon. 
Issues: Boats. 
Feelings/thoughts/Misc.: Lots of light! Lots of rain and bogs. 
Favorite part: Open terrain, wild blueberries, reindeer. 
Base / total weight: 18 lbs. / 37 lbs.

Day 1: Monday, September 4th 2017 / 10 miles / 10/275 total / 3.5 hours / 1,635 feet gained / Northern Terminus: headed south from Abisko to approx. 3 km past Abiskojuare. (Strava route)

To get to the start of the trail, I had quite a journey. My original flight from SFO to Stockholm was cancelled because they could not get the air conditioning working and the temperatures in San Francisco that day were about 100 degrees. My flight was supposed to be at around 7 pm and after sitting in the airport for hours and the flight being delayed several times, they finally canceled it. I ran to the check in area and rebooked my flight for the next day and got to stay in the wonderful and beautiful Santa Clara right near the 49ers stadium. Then I took a flight the next day, where I stayed one night in Stockholm. Since my bag had sat on the runway for 24 hours, a lot of my snacks were basically a melted brick. Luckily, I steer clear of chocolatey items for just that reason, but note to self, save the yogurt covered pretzels for trips where there are no flights involved. 

On day one, I had a wonderful European breakfast. This usually consists of different breads and then a selection of meats and cheeses. This hotel had that plus muesli, cottage cheese, yogurt, fresh fruit, pastries, pickles, pickled fishes, seeds, nuts, cereals, eggs and plenty of coffee. I did a “camel up” with food and then left a bag at the hotel, and flew to Kiruna, where I took a bus to the downtown area where I had some time to kill so I went to the grocery store, hung out and read and then took another bus to Abisko, where I arrived around 4 pm. I then had to buy cooking fuel, as I could not bring it with me on the plane, and a permit to hike the trail. I weighed my bag and it was 17 kilos (~37 lbs.) with everything in it, including the fuel, water and 12 days of food.

I started around 4:30 pm, and I passed a lot of people at the beginning, as the bus and train both arrived around the same time. It's amazing how big their packs are, and how clunky their boots! They must have way over 40 pounds in their packs. I wonder if they plan to stay in huts, and I wonder how many days they are planning to be out here. They seemed to be in it for the long haul. I wonder if they are planning a resupply anywhere. So many things to ponder! 

As I walked along, the trail was very well groomed and it was mostly flat. There were some areas with trees, which looked kind of like small birch trees or the like, and but a lot of it was open and had scrubbier brush and bushes. Also, most of the path was hard and packed, but there were some areas that went through wet or marshy meadows that usually had a boardwalk built to walk on. I had read that the trail was basically split into thirds, with the first third (where I was) being the most poplar with well-groomed trails and nice huts, where the second third was a bit of the wild-wild-west and you must have a tent and the trail was not as good. The third third was the second most developed. Right now, the trail looks pretty good! Also, today I saw plenty of water sources and even little toilets built next to the trail! This is first class hiking! 

The great part was that I got to see the sunset and the magic hour and it's Fall here. You can feel it in the air. Although it was warm at the start, 18° C (64° F), you could still feel that underlying chill. Also, the Fall colors are here and they're fabulous! I kept going and passed Abiskojuare, where there is a hut, and I am assuming many people who I had just hiked past were likely spend the night here. I went up a small hill for about three more miles and around 8 pm, I set up my tent on a windy flat spot and got right in it to escape the mosquitoes. I sat in my tent and had cold meusli for dinner. I hope the bears are scared of me because I have my entire bag inside the tent, food and all. This would never fly in the Sierras! As I lay in my tent and the clock struck 9 pm, it was still light out. I was really hoping to see the Northern Lights and was thinking that hopefully when I got up to pee in the middle of the night, as I generally do, it would be dark enough to see them. However, I did get up to pee but did not see anything this night. 

Day 2: Tuesday, September 5th 2017 / 29 miles / 39/275 total / 11 hours / 3,052 feet gained / From 3 km outside of Abiskojuare to Salka. (Strava route)

Lake Alesjuare

Today was a long day and the entire day was windy. I never took my rain jacket off! However, it was a beautiful clear day and the views were fabulous! For a long time I had a view in front of me of a nice snowy mountain range. The tallest mountain in Sweden (Kebnekaise, 6,909 ft.) is not far from here, and is part of the reason that this section of the trail is so popular. There are a couple of different routes to the top; one is about 6 miles; the other is about 11 miles, so it is a popular destination for Swedes and foreigners alike. I had decided that in the interest of time and in an effort to try to complete the entire trail, I would skip the mountain this time, as it was a bit of a side trip and I would have to cut out something else in order to fit it in. 

I passed my first lake that has transport, although you can walk along it instead. I also saw my first Sami village. The Samis are the native Swedish people, who hunt and fish but are generally known for their reindeer herding. I did not see any reindeer, but there was a cluster of Sami huts near the trail. The sign next to the lake said that until August 31st, there were four boat transfers on the lake (Alesjuare) per day. However, in the off season, you must call someone to come and get you and there must be at least 6 passengers. Luckily I could walk along the side of lake Alesjuare, but there were other lakes coming up that I would not be able to walk along. This could be my downfall. 

Just a quick explanation of the boat system: for each lake there should be three boats. If you come to the side and there are two boats, you can take one across and leave it on the other side. If you arrive and there is only one boat, you have to row the one boat across and bring another back to the first side and then row back again, so as to not leave the person arriving next with no boat. My hope at the start of this trip was that I would never arrive at a launch where there was only one boat. We shall see if my dreams come true. 

There were many more of the wooden planks over the trail, as this section was a lot of chaparral type scrub brush. However, the path underneath seemed dry enough so I wondered if this part of the trail got moist later in the year.  Whatever the reason, it was nice, as some of the trail sections before had been rocky. Not too much so, but enough that it was nice to have a smoother pathway. The mountains here are not super tall and most of what I am walking on is fairly flat. It is definitely not the Sierras, where you are always going up or down. This is a very gradual up or down when it is either, but it is mostly flattish. The views are great though, with wide open spaces and snowy mountains in the distance. It’s like you never climb up and over them, just in between them. 

There are these red painted rocks along the side of the trail and sometimes I mistake them for humans, if they are far enough away. I have seen a lot of humans too, but it is funny what the mind does when you are staring off into the distance all day. Parts of the trail are very rocky and they don’t have the wooden planks and they kind of hurt my feet. It’s interesting how varied it is! 

I spent a lot of time with my head down against the wind, thinking about stuff. I'd like to think I've got it all figured out, but I don't think that's the case. I called it a day near Salka, where there was a hut with a few tents pitched outside. I did not want to stay near the hut so I kept going a little longer and finally threw in the towel just short of 30 miles because the wind was horrible and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to find a good place to camp. In the end, I found a not so flat spot that is a teensy bit sheltered from the wind so I decided to go for it. It was a bit rocky, but with my pad, I figured it would not be too bad. It was so cold and windy that I cooked inside the tent. Also, I believe the forecast was calling for possible snow. What a change from yesterday! Just in case, I brought all of my things up and under the vestibule or into the tent to keep them warm and dry. Also, on a good note, my shoes are not wet yet!! 39 total miles down; 236 to go. 10 days and who knows how many boat rides to go!! 

At some point in the middle of the night, my sleeping pad deflated. The ground under me was very cold but as it was dark and it was the middle of the night, I figured I would deal with it the next day. 

Day 3: Wednesday, September 6th 2017 / 20 miles / 59/275 total / 8.75 hours / 1,356 feet gain / From Salka to Teusajaure (Strava route)

Long row ahead

Last night was another windy night. It seems to die down around 2 am for a little while, then it picked back up around 4 or 5, which is when I finally got up. However, last night I popped my air mattress and basically slept in the cold ground. Fun! I spent a long time tossing and turning and ended up with a couple of cold hips. However, it was okay, as the ground was peat or the like, so it was a little soft at least. I made breakfast in the tent, as I had done with dinner the night before, and I went to go outside and realized my shoes were frozen, as was the tent! It was pretty chilly. 

I got started right away and it was a cold but very beautiful day. The scenery was once again fabulous and it even changed from above the tree line with a more Alpine feel to birch forests and beautiful fall colors. The sun was rising over the mountains as I walked along and the sky was pink and there were little clouds in the sky; it was very nice. The boardwalk walkways were covered in frost and it took a while for the sun to come up over the mountains, so it was cold. I wore my waterproof/wind pants over my shorts and my rain jacket over my long-sleeved shirt. As long as I was moving, it was fine but the wind had a good chill to it! Once again, I walked in a valley in between two ranges of mountains and the terrain was much the same as before; it is kind of a peaty ground cover a lot of the time and has very small bushes or shrubs. There is already (or still) snow on the mountains around me. 

As I walked along, at some point I realized that some of the small shrubs I was walking next to had berries and that they were blueberries! I spent a lot of time after that picking and eating them. Although they are smaller than normal store-bought blueberries, they have a lot of flavor! I probably would have walked a lot faster had it not been for the berries. There is also a ton of water here. That is one thing I do not have to worry about, and I am only carrying about 0.75 liters at a time, as there is always a chance to fill up. Also, I am not filtering water so it saves so much time and does not require as much thought or planning as it normally would.

I am still seeing some people on the trail, but not too many, and as we pass, we generally say hej (pronounced “hey”), which is Swedish for “hi.” It is funny, as in the US if someone says hey to you it seems a little bit familiar, but here it is normal; however, it seems like everyone knows you already! Hey! I got to my first shelter today. They have a few shelters along the Kungsleden, in case of emergency, or you can reserve some of them. They usually have a bench or two and a stove and that is pretty much it!

I definitely had a bonk moment around mile 17 where I just wanted the day to be over. Well, someone must have heard me because when I got to my first rowboat crossing, it was so windy, there was no way I was going to try to row across. I would have to pay someone to take a motorboat across the lake. However, even though I had arrived around 2:30, the next boat was not until 4, so I waited. But then, the driver said the lake was too choppy and that he could not do the 4 pm run after all. I waited with 3 German dudes from Hamburg, not associated, until a possible 7 pm boat. This time our wait paid off and we arrived safely to the other side. I camped right above where the boat dropped us off; the three German dudes were going to hike a bit and then find a place to camp, but I was ready to be done. There were a lot of bugs, and it was already pretty late, so I got right into my tent and went to bed. 

Day 4: Thursday, September 7th 2017 / 22 miles + one bus + one boat / 81/275 total miles / 9.5 hours / 3,060 feet gained / Teusajaure to just past lake GĂĄbddĂĄjávrre (Strava route part 1Strava route part 2Strava route part 3)

I started hiking early; I have been starting around 5 am most mornings. It was chilly, but I was hiking uphill at first, so I did not have too much trouble with the cold. However, there was frost all over the blueberries! After a few miles, I ran back into the German guys, who were just breaking camp. I hiked with them for the next few miles, or at least when I got to lake Akkajaure; it was a big one! Before that though, we saw a bunch of reindeer which was pretty cool. We had a nice hike and chat before getting to the lake. Everyone I talk to looks at me funny when I say I'm trying to get to Hemavan in the next 8 days. I did the math again and I still have to hike about 28 miles per day to stay on track, which I haven't been doing!!!  Hopefully after this lake I'll have a couple of nice long stretches and will be able to get some real miles in. It's supposed to rain tomorrow so that could definitely put a damper on things!

Once we got to the lake, we had to wait for a bus, which only comes once per day (luckily, we were there before it arrived!) and then went for about 18 miles along the side of the lake before stopping for 40 minutes at a tourist shop. I guess the other people here are a little more relaxed than I am, but I am ready to get going! 

The bus then went to a dock where I had to take a boat to get to the other side of the next lake (GĂĄbddĂĄjávrre; say that five times fast!). On the other side was a nice resort, which, if I was taking my time, I would have loved to stay at and have a nice warm room and a big breakfast the next day. Alas, I had only hiked about 9 miles that day and I was already falling behind! I did use the real toilet before I left though; what luxury! I headed up the hill right away, saying goodbye to my friends from the bus. I walked about 12 more miles and got to a lake called Sitojuare, and went to the rowboat area to find that there was only one boat. This lake was about 5 km long and with only one boat, that would mean that I had to row it across, get another boat, row it and myself back and then row back again, a total of 15 km of rowing! I was not really in shape for that, plus it was getting late in the day. 

Luckily but expensively a lady was giving motorboat rides across. However, she was not leaving until she had a full boat (this is very common; there is not a schedule; they just wait for a full boat) and I waited on the shore in a swarm of mosquitos for other people to show up. She finally took us across in the late evening right before it started to get dark and I hiked for about a half a mile just to get away from the dock before I set up camp in the shrubbery. Tomorrow there will be another lake in the morning where I hope there are two rowboats, as the motorboat only comes at 9 am and 5:30 pm. 

Day 5: Friday, September 8th 2017 / 28(+) miles / 109/275 total miles / 13 hours / 2,400 feet gained / Just past lake GĂĄbddĂĄjávrre to Kvikkjokk. (Strava route part 1Strava route part 2)

Wild Swedish blueberries

I woke to cloudy skies, which made for a nice sunrise, but was not a good indication of what was to come. I had camped not far from the trail the night before, after having arrived late on the boat. After having breakfast, I got up and hiked the 5 or 6 miles to the next lake. This one was about 2.5 km across. I started early because I knew that there was a 9:00 or 5:30 motorboat so if there was only one rowboat, I wanted to have options. It turned out there was only one rowboat. I arrived there around 7:45 so I decided it would probably take me about 1/2 hour each way, which would be about 1.5 hours, so I may well wait for the motorboat that left at 9:00 am. Luckily, I was one of the first people at the boat launch, so I sat and read my book while waiting for the motorboat to arrive to take us across. 

I got to the other side around 9:15 and started hiking. The plan was to get to Kvikkjokk, which was about 40 km / 24 miles away. It was still very cold and I hiked with both my puffy jacket and rain jacket on, in addition to my buff and rain pants. Things went well until about mile 9 or 10 when I hit a wall hard. The trail was very rocky in this section and my feet hurt. There were tons of rocks which each were poking into my feet and making it worse. I was falling asleep while walking and I kept thinking that maybe I would just hike less miles per day and stop at Ammanaise (79 km before the end). I also arrived into the Sarek region, which would be a lot less inhabited or traveled than the last section. As I mentioned, the first third was the most popular third and had huts and things like that. I was entering the second third, which was known for being remote and for not having a lot of people and definitely no huts etc. One warning said, “there are no marked trails or huts to spend the night in.” No marked trails!? Ha. I was also going to not be close to any roads for the next while. 

I crossed the 100-mile mark and although I was eating regularly, I was a tired and I eventually decided that I was maybe not getting enough calories. So I sat down and had a muesli out of the bag with no spoon (not a pretty sight). This is about 700 calories worth of food versus the normal 100-200 I would eat per hour in snacks. It helped a lot. That was probably around 4 pm and I finally arrived at Kvikjokk around 7:30 pm. I arranged my boat ride for the next day with Bjorn the boat man, who asked me how far was I going, what was I wearing, did I know it was going to rain the next two days, did I have waterproof gear...etc. and then he showed me the map to Jokvik and where the shelters are. He also said 8:30 is the earliest he would be willing to ferry me across unless I wanted to pay extra! I said 8:30 is fine. 

I left there and went to pitch my tent under the trees, where it rained on me all night. 

Day 6: Saturday, September 9th 2017 / 27.25 miles + 3 mile boat ride / 136/275 miles total / 11.5 hours / 3,903 feet gained / Kvikkjokk to a teepee in the middle of nowhere. (Strava route part 1Strava route part 2)

The first thing I did was...sleep in! I didn't have to meet Bjorn until 8:30 so I reorganized my stuff, counted my calories, charged my items, repacked my bag etc. Besides the tent was wet from the rain so I was in no hurry to pack up. I even had breakfast in bed, which is something that I would never do in California, due to issues with bears and critters. Although I do believe there are bears and critters in Sweden, I could not be bothered to get out of the tent in the rain to make breakfast. Also, before I knew it, it was time to go! There was one lodge in Kvikjokk, and it had a real bathroom, which I took advantage of before meeting Bjorn to go to the boat. 

Bjorn was a wealth of knowledge. He is 10th generation from Kvikjokk. The area has been a mining area since the 1600s, I think he said. He took me across the Delta and gave me the lowdown on everything from the area, such as the fact that under the Delta there is methane gas, which Putin would like to have control over. He also said that there were two Slovenians ahead of me that he had taken across yesterday. He said he doesn't have kids and that the closest school is 120 km away and only 10 people live in Kvikjokk. Its industry used to be silver mining, then ore, but now was mostly tourism. There actually is a road that leads to the town but when I looked at the map, it was pretty darn remote! The boat ride was about five kilometers long and took about an hour. 

On the other side of the lake, there was an emergency shelter and a bathroom. This is pretty common, as I've seen this on each lake. In this one though, Bjorn had a two-way phone which you could use to call him with once you arrived. He gave me his website address and email and showed me a photo of his potato plants and we parted ways. He once again reminded me that it was going to rain for two days. He told me about a Sami teepee which could be used for an emergency shelter if needed. 

As I waved goodbye to Bjorn and set off up the hill from the delta, it started raining. The first few miles were through the forest and were really beautiful. However, it was quite rainy and foggy so the views weren't great. Next, there were big marshes with striking yellow grasses and little ponds. Next was what I think may be called the skierf, but is essentially exposed tundra with rocks and small scrubby bushes, usually blueberries and a type of small juniper looking plant. It's a bit dangerous as the juniper plant also has blue colored berries. However, that does not stop me from picking the blueberries; just don’t eat the juniper berries! When I got to this section, the rain had become hail/rain and the wind was strong at my back. It was cold, and walking through the scrubby bushes got my pants wet to the knees, while the wind blew the rain hard against my back. Basically there was no way to stay dry, no matter which way you were facing. 

I was in a great mood though. Funny, some days I really think about a lot of things, I write letters in my head to people, I think about what I should do when I get home, etc., but today I just walked, and thought about the Slovenians. I kept wondering how far they would get. I ran into an English girl who was headed north and she said she had met them in an emergency shelter that was 12 miles from the lake. I kept wondering if they would make it to the teepee which was 42 km from the lake because I was thinking that if was really wet and stormy, I may try to stay in the teepee. I kept doing math in my head and would guess where our paths would cross and what I would say to them when/if they did.

Other than that, I don't think I did my normal letter writing thinking process. I just walked with my head down against the wind and rain and watched where I stepped. The terrain was much more forgiving, with dirt paths and not as many rocks. However, it was very boggy and wet and my feet were soaked within minutes of starting out. Then once the rain started beating my back a lot, probably a few hours in, I could feel my capris and underwear start to get wet. I was trying to figure out the logistics of setting up the tent in the rain without everything getting wet and it was feeling a bit grim. I kept thinking that this teepee was going to be my salvation. 

I did pass the shelter that the English girl had told me about and I stopped there for a minute to get out of the wet, but I knew that I could not stay and that it would do no good anyway, as I would get wet again as soon as I went back outside. I wanted to press on to get as far as I could tonight and hopefully to the teepee! 

I passed the Slovenians around km 40. They were already in their tent. I wanted to try to get to the teepee before dark, but since I started late, around 9:30 maybe, getting to 42 km would take me at least 10 hours (@ 2.5 mi/hour). After I passed them with a quick wave, I kept walking and then it started to get dark and for a while I was not even sure I would be able to find the teepee in the dark. I had to stop to get out my headlamp and when I opened my bag, it was hard not to get the contents wet. I was in a bit of a funk at that point, as I was soaked and now my stuff was going to be soaked. 

After hiking for what seemed like forever, I finally found the teepee. I'm pretty sure it was a little farther than the 42 km stated, as I didn't arrive until maybe 8:45 or 9 and it was fully dark already. It was not what I was expecting at all. I guess after seeing some of the emergency shelters, I thought that the teepee would be made of wood and would be dry and clean inside. Instead, it was a mound of dirt and twigs with a dirt floor and a fire in the middle of it, kind of like what I imagine the Native Americans used. Also, when I opened the door, the fire was slightly burning (and smoking) and there was a person inside sleeping! At first that made me wonder if I should go back out in the rain and set up my tent, but then I decided just to try to make friends.

The person turned out to be a Dutch man (Hank) who was doing a NOBO trip from Hemevan; he happily shared the space and was quite nice. However, the roof make of twigs was not waterproof and it was a bit leaky and I slept right on the ground but at least I could hang up my clothes. I took off most of my clothes and huddled in my sleeping bag on top of my tarp, but I could hear a dripping (and feel it) near me and I knew that my sleeping bag was going to be wet the next day. I took off my pants and underwear in a hope to dry them, but I think the hanging clothes may have gotten caught in the dripping cross fire too. Due to listening to the dripping and worrying about being wet, I got the worst night’s sleep! I probably should have just set up my tent and then I could have properly undressed and prepped everything, but instead I went to bed half wet and freezing cold. 

Day 7: Sunday, September 10th 2017 / 13 miles / 149/275 miles total / 6 hours / 900 feet gained / A teepee in the middle of nowhere to Vuonatjviken. (Strava route)

The teepee

I got up, talked to Hank while having breakfast, and sent him on his way. After that I lit a fire in the teepee to try to dry my clothes, which helped a little but mostly made them stink like wood smoke. I got back on the road and within minutes, I was completely soaked again. I started off on the tundra again with high winds and rain/hail and was immediately cold and wet. I knew it was going to be a long day. My gloves (and therefore hands) were already wet and cold and I walked downhill and sometimes even ran to try to keep warm. I arrived at Vuonatjviken, where I would have to take a boat across, around noon. The lady said the next boat would maybe be at 3 pm, but to check at 2:30. I asked if there was a dry place to wait and she said no, but they have cabins for rent. I said no thanks, so she said I could wait on one of the porches. It was wet and cold and I was soaked through and after sitting on the porch for a few mins, finally I decided to just get a cabin and take the next morning’s boat. This would make for a few long days of hiking, or maybe an early exit, but I figured it was worth drying out and getting warm and waiting out the storm a little.

I got a cabin and spread all my stuff out to dry and ate a nice warm meal and had an extra coffee, even though it would mean I would have to go without later. Then I went for a shower, which was not in my cabin but in a separate room. This room also had a boot drying station which was like a big inverse vacuum that blows hot air inside your boots. I put my sneakers on it but they were not dry by the time my shower was done. However, they were not as wet as before! As I was leaving the shower room to go back to the cabin, I encountered a girl who asked if I would be willing to share my cabin with her and I said sure. She turned out to be a German girl named Pauline, and we had a nice time chatting about gear and hiking and this and that. Before we knew it our clothes were dry. Also, the Slovenians caught up to us! They came and knocked on our door and asked if they could hang some of their wet things in our cabin, as they were going to camp outside on the grounds of the property. We said yes of course. So I guess the 2:30 pm boat ride never happened! I am glad I got a place to stay after all.

I talked to the landlord and they said the first boat the next day would be at 10:30 am, so once again, I had to recalculate my mileage, as these boat rides were causing delays that I had not been aware of. My calculations were as follows: With the next day's late boat ride, I would likely only be able to get in 20-25 miles and would then probably have three very long (34 mile) days to Hemavan. There is one rowboat crossing left and then it's smooth sailing. Barring a big storm or something bad happening, I was still hoping that I could make it all the way.  

Day 8: Monday, September 11th 2017 / 21 miles + 0.80 mile row / 171 / 275 miles / 8.75 hours + 40 min row / 2,700 feet gained / Vuonatjviken to just past Luvtavrre. (Strava route part 1, Strava route part 2)

Unfortunately, this was a short day due to the 10:00 am boat ride. The cabin owners brought me, Pauline, the Slovakians and one other girl with a huge pack (everyone has such a huge pack!) to the other side and at about 10:30 am I set off ahead of the others pretty quickly. About 7 miles later, I got to a lake where there was a rowboat crossing. 

 At this crossing, not only was there only one boat on my side but only one on the other side too, so that everyone would have to row! It took me about an hour to untie the boat, empty the water, push it down the ramp and then row across, do the same to the other boat, and then row back across again. Just as I was leaving the first side again, Pauline came along, so I rowed back and she did the final row of the day. First of all, she is a way better rower than I am. In fact, I am so dumb that I rowed backwards at first, but luckily nobody was there to see me! After I realized that it seemed way more difficult than in should be, I remembered that I should be facing backwards instead of forwards like I was sitting and then it was much easier. However, I am still a T-Rex with tiny arms and it was still hard! Pauline just breezed right across the maybe 500 or 600 meter stretch. 

After that, I went about 14 more miles before it started to get dark so I had to find a place to rest. Luckily today there were only in and off showers so I did have time to dry before getting into my tent. However, by the time I decided to stop, it was dark and there were no flat spots so I camped on a mossy knoll and got the tent up just before the heavy rain began again. Did I also mention that the trail has been very boggy lately? Also due to the rain, all the bushes are wet and when you walk through them you get soaked! I am basically wet from the ground up even when it is not raining. 

This was my best night's sleep on the trail. It was not very cold and I could keep my head out the whole time, plus the mossy knoll was cushioned. However, I did not realize that the wet moss would eventually soak through! Before going to sleep, I had a hot dinner as a nice treat and was planning to have a hot breakfast the next day as well (I had been doing only one hot meal per day) as my plan for day 9 was to go from 6 am - 8 pm so that I could try to still make it to the end.

Day 9: Tuesday, September 12th 2017 / 28 miles / 199 / 275 miles / 11 hours / 2,300 feet gained / Just past Luvtavrre to a wet bog near Lisvuojavrrie. (Strava route)

When I got up it was raining and the inside of my tent was wet. Apparently although the moss is soft, when it rains, water pools under the lowest spot, aka under me. When I got up there was a puddle underneath me. Luckily my sleeping bag was only a little wet, but my pad was wet as was the inside of the tent.  I packed up the wet tent and tried to keep my sleeping bag dry. I started off at 6 am and it poured down rain all day. And was windy and cold the entire time. Most of this day's stretch was above the tree line so was totally exposed. In addition, it was boggy as hell and there was pooled and running water everywhere. In addition, the rain was being blown into my face, so basically I marched, head down, as I got more and more wet. 

There is something very disheartening about tromping along in a pouring rain. Firstly, I did not take any/many photos, as getting the camera out goes a little something like this: let’s pretend that your lower layer, your fleece for example, is currently dry. Over that is your rain jacket, which is wet on the outside. You are wearing wet gloves, so your hands are freezing. Now, you need to get your camera out from an inside pocket. You lift up your rain jacket, take off your glove and reach into the pocket to get your camera. In the meantime, your fleece is getting rained on. You get the camera out, take a photo as the camera gets wet, put it back, also getting your fleece a little bit wetter in the process and keep walking. Each time you do this, your fleece and other dry layers get just a little bit wetter. Secondly, the same story is true for food. You have to take off your glove(s), get the food out from wherever it is hiding, eat it, put it back. Sometimes it is just easier to tromp along without eating or drinking or taking photos or doing anything fun! Then you start to be colder and hungrier and you are thinking that you came here for the scenery but you are not even looking at it or taking photos of it so what is the point! Of course, being all alone means that there is nobody or nothing to distract you from these thoughts, so they go over and over in your head as you walk along in the cold rain. 

Finally, around hour 9, I started thinking that I had not seen a sufficient spot to put my tent in hours. The land was sloped and boggy with lots of standing water. By now even my pants and underwear were soaked and I started to get worried as I knew the inside of my tent was wet as well. Around the 11-hour mark, I decided to throw in the towel. As soon as I decided that and found a slightly not as wet spot and decided to pitch my tent, the rain and wind picked up in full force. I was a pathetic sight, trying to pitch my tent in the wind and freezing rain with frozen stiff fingers. Once pitched, the inside was even wetter, so I took off all of my clothes except my t-shirt and bra which were not as wet as everything else, wiped down the inside of the tent with my long-sleeved shirt, put a piece of plastic on the tent floor, blew up my not too wet thank goodness air mattress, put on my (only dry item) puffy jacket and climbed nakedish and quite freezing into my sleeping bag. I probably lay there shivering for at least an hour before my feet even started to thaw, and the wind and rain threatened to beat down my tent (luckily, I have learned the hard way the benefits of staking). At that point I grabbed a snack which I ate while lying sideways with the covers over my head and praying that I would not have to go outside to pee. Have I mentioned that my air mattress doesn't stay inflated? This was not the best night's sleep I have ever had.

Day 10: Wednesday, September 13th 2017 / 11 miles / 210/275 miles / 4 hours / 260 feet gained / A wet bog near Lisvuojavrrie to Ammarnäs. (Strava route)

**Side note --> my Garmin is shortchanging me. I got to Ammarnäs, which means I should have 79 km or ~ 50 miles left, therefore completing 225 / 275 miles, not the 210 that I have added up so far. 

I woke up on day 10, if you can call it waking up, since I felt like I never slept, to the sound of... you guessed it, wind and rain!! Woohoo. I made a hot breakfast while sitting in my dryish sleeping bag with my puffy on and dawdled a bit, hoping that it would abate a little and that my wet clothes from yesterday would magically dry before I got started. No such luck. Finally, I just ripped off the band-aid, got out of the warm sleeping bag and put back on my wet (very, very wet) clothes and took down the tent, again in the blustering rain and wind. I swear it picked up just in time for me! Now the inside of my tent was hopelessly wet. I started walking, as that's really all I could do. However, the rain and wind came down in torrents. I was getting sick of it and really was not looking forward to another night in a wet tent or another day with all wet clothes. It took me a while, but after a lot of pondering I decided to do a weather forecast check in Ammarnäs, and then possibly quit there if it was forecasted to rain for the next two days. It wasn't an easy decision though, as I was currently on track to finish, and with no really long day even! 

I got into town and the weather forecast was rain for the next two days. So I got the bus schedule and decided to call it. I changed into dry clothes for the first time in a while, my only outfit being leggings and flip flops, had a coffee at the market and waited for the 12:30 bus. The guys at the market were very helpful with looking up times for trains etc. for me and even let me have the coffee for free! Before I knew it I was in UmeĂĄ waiting for the overnight bus to Stockholm. I went to the grocery store there and got lots of lunch meats and cheeses (oh fresh food! Yay) and then went to the bus station and went for a beer at the bar. Then I got an overnight bus to Stockholm, luckily snagged the last seat even without a reservation and sat next to a really nice, clean-smelling lady (I cannot say the same for myself; she must have been gagging at my smell). I arrived in Stockholm around 7 am and went back to the hotel that I had stayed at and they would not let me check in early. I walked around town and went and got a coffee and a couple of pastries and read my book before I could finally check in and shower! Side note: my feet were so swollen. When I got on the bus to Stockholm, they were fine, but when I tried to get off, it was hard to walk down the stairs. That day, they looked like two large sausages, but they did start to get better after 24 hours off of my feet.

For the next two days, it rained most of the time. I washed all of my stuff in the shower, went for exploratory runs, ate the rest of my food and read my book in my room. I went downstairs each day for breakfast and ate one of everything! Otherwise, I had a great time relaxing and wrapping up my trip in a different way than I had anticipated!

Fun fact: Did you know that Sweden has over 97,500 lakes larger than 2 acres!? In the US, although Minnesota is dubbed the land of 10,000 lakes, it is actually Alaska that has the most, with about 3,197 officially named natural lakes and 3 million unnamed natural lakes. BUT, Minnesota has the most named lakes with about 15,291 natural lakes, 11,824 of which are greater than 10 acres. 

Have you ever camped in the rain? What tips do you have to keeping the inside of your tent etcetera dry? Have you ever rowed a rowboat?

You can find a links to some of my favorite hiking items here