Sarek National Park 2001, Solitary hike
Ritsem to Akka, the Padjelanta trail to Kisuris and then through Sarek to Saltoluokta

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SATURDAY September 1 (Day 1) Boat to Änonjalme and 9 km (5.6 mile) hike on the Padjelanta trail.

I came with train and bus from Södertälje to the little village Ritsem near Sarek. From there I took the boat over the lake Akkajaure (water storage for a powerplant) to the jetty Änonjalme. After a short brake at the lappish café I followed the Padjelanta trail parallel to the beatiful Akka massif. I started walking about 2pm and despite that I walked 9 km, 5.6 mile, before I pitched camp. It rained now and then during the day, but not much.



SUNDAY September 2 (Day 2) The Padjelanta trail to Sarek border and then parallel to the mountain Kisuris to the opening of the valley Routesvagge (16 km, 9.9 mile)

I folloved the Padjelanta trail 5 km, 3.1 mile, to the point were the three national parks, "Stora sjöfallet", "Padjelanta" and "Sarek" meets. There I turned to the southeast and finaly I was in Sarek again. I followed the river Sjnjuftjutisjåkkå parallel to the mountain Kisuris to the Kisuris Lap cot, an old Lap cot in decay but good enough to enter. After a breake there I started to look for a sutible camp ground. After 1 km, 0.6 mile, I found a beatifull place southeast of the Kisuri Lapp cot in between the two torrents of the river Niakjåkkåtj and pitched camp. It rained now and then during this day to and was quite windy.


MONDAY September 3 (Day 3) The valley Ruotesvagge (16,5 km, 10.3 mile)

I had planned to climb the mountain Niak today but the clouds were so low that I nearly could touch them, so I scipped that.
The valley is beatiful, surrounded by high peaks and big glaciers, unfortunately they were often hidden in the low coulds. There were a couple of river crossings but besides that it was a cuite easy walking. I pitched camp 4 km, 2.5 mile, before the Mikka cabin.



TUESDAY September 4 (Day 4) The valley Ruotesvagge to the Akka cabin (4 km, 2.5 mile)

Since I was only going to walk to the Mikka cabin today I slept late and took it easy! I didn’t start walking until after lunch. After a couple of minutes I came to the only river crossing of the day. It was a quite easy crossing and I was soon on the trail again. Now it was easy walking, on a good trail with only a few swampy parts. Half-way to the Mikka cabin I met the Sarek-nestor, Claes Grundsten, photographer, author and a big Sarek authority. He was leading a photo safari with 10 participants. We talked for a while before we walked away in different directions.
After a short while I got the Mikka cabin in sight and the valley with the river Mikkajåkkå started to open up to the east on the other side of the Smaila river so that one had free sight up over the Mikka glacier and the Sarek peaks, or at least the base of them, the summits were roofed by clouds. When I arrived at the cabin I pitched camp on the meadow just beside the cabin. The Mikka cabin is a locked cabin used only by the Swedish nature conservation agency, but you can use the outhouse. In a little house beside the cabin is the only emergency telephone in Sarek situated.
The rest of the day I relaxed and socialized with other hikers camping there. In the evening, Mikael Lauth, Kent Persson and Erik Johansson, three buddies from Västerås and Norrköping, pitched camp beside my tent. They planned, just as I did, to stay by the Mikka cabin the next day and make a daytrip. We decided to walk together.

WEDNESDAY September 5 (Day 5) A day trip in valley Kuopervagge (8,5 km, 5.6 mile)

Mikael, Kent and I had the same plans for the day, namely to walk a little way in to the valley Kuopervagge. The weather was a bit cloudy but it was light enough for photographing. We chose a quite high trail in to the valley and had a fine view over the valley when we walked. We photographed a lot as you can see.
After a couple of kilometers Mikael and Kent turned back. Me, my selves, had planned to walk at least to the opening of the valley Alkavagges approx. 4 km, 2.5 mile, in to the valley. I continued to the little river running down from the mountain Skarjatjåkkå were I took a lunch break.
After lunch I turned back. I went down to the bottom of the valley and followed the river Kuoperjåkkå down stream. The bog near the falls, were the river falls down in the Rapa valley, was hard and dry and was perfect to walk on. After that I followed the rapa valley to the point were the Smaila river rushes down in the ravine that it has dug in the cliff over the years. I followed the ravine up to the Mikka cabin.
The weather had improved during the day and this was the day with the best weather of the hike. In the evening I was invited to Erik, Mikael and Kent for coffee and single malt whiskey, great!





THURSDAY September 6 (Day 6) From the Akka cabin following the upper Rapa valley and to the Pielavalta plateau and the lake Pierikjaure (9,5 km, 5.9 mile)

The day was quit uneventful. The good weather from yesterday continued and I walked on in the sunlight. The question now was if I should do a detour up on the little mountain Tjågnåris, something that I had planned to do if the conditions was right. It had started to drift in heavy clouds from the Piela plateau, already covering the summit, so I skipped that detour too. Instead I continued to the river Tjognorisjåkåtj, a river that is difficult to cross. Last time I was here I crossed it on a snow bridge. But this year the snow bridge was gone and I had to wade the river.
In the middle of the day it started to rain a little. There goes the good weather. It continued to rain the rest of the day to and fro. After a while I arrived to the Pielavalta, the main plateau in Sarek. I continued in on the plateau to Pierkjaure, the biggest lake on Pielavalta. I decided to pitch camp early someplace by the middle of the lake (this was only day 6 of 11 and I had approx. 40 km, 25 mile, left to Saltoluokta, so I was in no hurry).


FRIDAY September 7 (Day 7) From the Pielavalta plateau over the bridge over the river in Kukkesvagge and to Niento (10,5 km, 6.5 mile)

It was raining all night but stopped for a while in the morning. I packed and succeeded in striking and packing the tent just in time before the pouring rain started again. Today’s trail was full of stone banks and bogs. I didn’t meet anybody during the day but I saw a group some distains behind me.
I chose to shorten today’s path by taking a shortcut though a pass in the mountain crest Vuoinesvaratj instead of going around the little crest. It was quite tough to climb over the crest but I was tiered of all bog in the lowland by the lake so it was worth it.
After the mountain crest I walked to, and over, the bridge in Kukkesvagge. When I was over, and had left Sarek for this time (the border of the park goes in the middle of the river) the trail was good. I started to feel aching of all wind and rain so I aimed for a camping ground near Nientoålke the little mountain offshoot forming the corner of the high plateau and were the trail turn towards the mountain Slugga and Stora Sjöfallet (the big Lake fall). When I arrived at Niento I found a suitable camp ground almost at once. The rain and the strong wind continued so I spent the rest of the day in the tent, thinking about the journey so far and solitary hiking in peculiar. My conclusion was: Solitary hiking is much about enjoying the greatness of the nature on your own, when the weather allows you to be outside, but the inside of a tent is much more pleasant if you have someone to share it with. Good night!

SATURDAY September 8 (Day 8) From Niento to the plateau south of the mountain Käpu (12 km, 7.5 mile)

Today I had to decide which way I should to take down to Saltoluokta. Should I try a new path or should I walk the “common” path, up between the hillocks Käppu and Vuoures. It was very foggy and the sight was limited, I could see nothing of the mountain Slugga and the other peaks. I chose the usual path, despite the strenuous terrain I had struggled thru the last time I was here, since it’s easier to orienteer in areas you have traveled before when it’s foggy.
I walked a bit to the east before I turned right towards the pass way. At one occasion it cleared enough for me to adjust the compass to point at the pass I was going up in. After that the visibility only got worse and periodically the sight was only 100 m, 300 ft. The ground was much wetter then the last time I walked this boulder/swamp/osier bush terrain, which made the swamp areas slushy and my boots completely soaked. The constant beating from the osier bushes on the legs resulted in that the rain (yes it rained, poured down, did I forget to tell you that?) penetrated the rain pants and in to the ordinary pants and soaked them too.
This is the first time I‘ve had to rely completely on the compass, in the mountains, to find my way. Without the compass I’d soon been lost, each time I looked at it I had to adjust my course.
Suddenly the terrain became a bit easier to walk and at the same time I catch sight of three other walkers in front of me a little higher up on the slope. It was the gang that I saw behind me yesterday. I increased the speed and caught up with them. Their names were Lars Axelsson, Anna Carlsson and Mikael Nilsson and they came from Uppsala. I asked if I could accompany them (I was longing for company) and they agreed.
After arriving at the plateau, beside Lake Pietsaure, we crossed a couple of small streams and then we found a relatively dry and flat area suitable for camping. We discussed if we should stay or continue a bit longer, the time was only 4 pm. Finally we decided to stay, it should be no problem to reach Saltoluokta Mountain Station the next day, and who knows maybe the weather will be better tomorrow.

SUNDAY September 9 (Day 9) The last stage, over the plateau and then down to the lake Pietaure and finaly down to Saltoluokta mountain station (13,5 km, 8.4 mile)

After a little break in the morning, it had started to rain again and the visibility was no more than 100 – 150 m, 300 – 450 ft. We followed the compass course that I had set earlier in the morning, towards the little hillock, Rumok, where one uses to leave the high plateau and clime down to the lake.
We didn’t see far in the fog and we thought that we walked too high up towards the mountain Kuotektjåkkå since the terrain was so rocky, so we decided to loose some height. After a while the fog lifted a little and we could see the lake below us. We were wrong earlier when we thought we were too high up and now we were to low instead and furthermore on the wrong side of Rumok. We decided to walk over the hillock instead of around, a bad choice; it was not easy to climb. Finally we came over it and arrived at the ravine, on Rumok’s southeast side, where we were going to climb down. After we climbed down we reached the Lake Pietsaure.
We had a lot of river crossings during the day. They were more difficult than the last time I walked here, after all this rain.
We followed a good trail to the south end of the lake. The beach there didn’t look like it used to! At the place where the river flow into the lake by the Sámi camp the river is usually about 4-5 m, 12-15 ft, wide but now it was at least 30 m, 100 ft, wide. We walked upstream to one of the first bends where it normally is a good place to wade, lower than knee deep. But now the crossing was much deeper than that. The shallowest place we found was thigh deep. Then we followed the trail towards Saltoluokta that goes over the south offshoot of the mountain Lulep Kierkau and arrived to the mountain station at half past five. I checked in and got a nice room to sleep in.
After the last stage, the only dry clothes I had left was a pair of shorts and some underwear and a nearly dry t-shirt, everything else was soaked. Fortunately there is a drying room at the station.
I spent the evening in the Sauna, the best place to end a hike!

MONDAY September 10 (Day 10) Journey home.

In the morning I phoned home. Everything was all right with the family and they were glad to hear from me but a little surprised that I was back from the mountains already. I told them about the bad weather and that I was going to try to change my reservation for the train and start my journey home this evening. Then I called the train company and they were very accommodating and it was no problem to change the reservation.
The rest of the morning I just strolled around talking and socializing with other hikers. I said goodbye to Lars, Anna and Mikael who were going to take the early bus to the civilization.
During the morning the weather had only been fairly good but in the afternoon the weather was perfect so I sat outside the mountain station enjoying the sunshine. I talked to some people just arrived to Saltoluokta the same way that I came the day before. The weather up there was the same as it was yesterday, with rain and fog, an example of how “local” the weather can be in the mountains.
At half past four I shouldered my backpack and walked down to the jetty and took the boat over the lake. Then I took the bus to Gällivare and further the night train to Stockholm.



TUESDAY September 11 (Day 11) Journey home.

Tuesday noon the train arrived at Stockholm Central Station. I disembarked the train and walked down and took the commuter train the last 40 km, 25 miles, home to Södertälje.
The homecoming became a little strange because I was brutally pulled away from the peace you always experience when you have been out in the mountains (despite weather and difficulties) by the terrible terrorist attack in New York, almost at the same time as I came home. It wasn’t exactly the welcome I had hoped for when I returned to the "civilization". I wonder if the world would be a better place if all people had the possibility to hike in the mountains and experience their smallness in proportion to the nature and the possibility to see how beautiful everything can be.

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