Recently, I haven’t made any new trips that have been long enough to write about, but I miss writing. So I want to try to write about the short weekend trips to the Swedish mountains I have been doing lately. I have been thinking about whether I should start making videos about my hikes and publish them on youtube or as reels. I made some test footage and tried to edit it, but I didn’t like it. There are so many videos going online every second, and it’s impossible to follow them all at the same pace. Also, making videos during hikes, it’s not easy and it makes me stress about it unnecessarily. So I decided to stick with “writing”, it’s a more enjoyable process and less stressful for me. The content will probably not be as attractive as the video, but at least it’s on my web page, and I don’t need to compete with crazy video productions. Enough of my personal thoughts, let’s get back to hiking and nature.
Last summer, I started hiking a bit more since I moved to Jokkmokk, which is located within one and a half hour drive to multiple national parks. Since summer in north Sweden, especially above the arctic circle where Jokkmokk is located, is very short no weekend should be wasted.
This weekend, I went to Stora Sjöfallet National Park with a plan to climb a nearby peak called Lulep Gierkav, visit an ancient Sami village in the valley, explore the valley, and return by boat the next day. The forecast looked good, with some clouds and sun, which was perfect for photography.
Saturday came, and I headed to Kebnats, where the pier was for a boat transfer to Saltoluokta. Upon arriving, it was cloudy, and it “smelled” of rain. From the dock, on a sunny day, it was easy to see the peak of Lulep Gierkav, but the whole mountain was covered in clouds that day. I knew right away that I would need to change my plans.
The boat arrived from the other side of the lake Langas, and two other hikers and I were on our way to Saltoluokta. It started to rain right after arriving and lasted for the next two hours. A combination of rain and a waterproof jacket with a 20kg backpack on the back doesn’t work well when you need to gain some height. The first part of the trail follows the very popular Kungsleden, after which the trail gets separated above the tree line. Once above the tree line, the scenery changed drastically. Open fields with rocks and only a few trees surrounded me, but the rain still fell, and the clouds blocked the sun.
After a while, I reached the cross section of the trail to the Gierkav, which was still covered in clouds. There I decided to skip it for today and instead visit the Sami village and try to climb Gierkav the next day. The clouds were still covering the top, and hiking to the top wouldn’t make sense since I couldn’t see any of the beautiful surroundings. Taking photos would be impossible, and the whole point of the trip was to take photos.
The walk to the Sami village was easy, with only a few wet parts where small creeks crossed the trail. In the village, there is a small family-owned restaurant where local food is served. I decided to take cold smoked Arctic char with traditional Sami bread called Gahkko. The char was tender and flavorful with just the right amount of smoke, and the Gahkko was a perfect accompaniment with some salty butter. It was nice to have shelter from the rain for a while, eat some fresh local food, and speak with the owner. He told me about the history of the village and how people are living there now. Interestingly, only a little has changed here in the last couple of hundred years, except for the addition of snowmobiles and star links. He suggested that I should visit a nearby waterfall on the other side of the valley and find a nice spot to spend the night in the tent.
After lunch, the rain stopped, the clouds were away, and the sun was shining. I looked towards Gierkav and saw that the clouds were away, but it was too late to climb it today. So I decided to walk to the waterfall, which was easy. Since the ground was flat without any trees, I could walk without following any trails, just straight to the waterfall. Once under the waterfall, it reminded me of the Peričnik waterfall in Slovenia. I was surprised that I hadn’t known about this spot before and that not many people were coming here since it’s such a beautiful place. As I was enjoying the view, some dark, heavy clouds were rolling toward me. I didn’t want to get wet again, so I hurried to find a place to pitch a tent to protect me from the rain. I found a suitable spot, cleared the ground, and set up the tent, making sure to secure it properly. In the end, not much rain fell compared to how heavy the clouds looked, but it was an excellent opportunity to practice setting up a tent without getting any of the equipment wet.
I rested for a bit in the tent, and then I noticed the sun was appearing again. The light was very low, and in combination with the heavy clouds above me, it was perfect for taking some photographs. Luckily, it’s still summer in Sweden, and sunsets above the Arctic Circle can last for a couple of hours with only a short period of sun under the horizon before it comes back up. I was too tired to wait for the sunset, so I went to bed, or to be more precise, to the bag.
The morning was again cloudy but without the rain this time. I had a quick breakfast, after which I packed my bag and headed back towards the Sami village. Once there, I reassessed the option to climb the Gierkav. The sun was up, there were only a few clouds, and the conditions were good. The only thing I need to keep an eye on is the time since I need to be back at Saltoluokta by 3 p.m. With some short calculation, I figured it should be possible, and I headed towards the overpass where the trail was splitting towards Gierkav.
The weather was looking better and better, the clouds were going away, and the sun was shining with its full power. I left my heavy bag on the side of the trail and started climbing up only with the essentials. It was a steep hike, but the views were amazing. At the moment, I was looking at the lake and only a few steps forward on the valley. Surprisingly, the top was almost flat, and it was easy to reach the official top from where I managed to see the rest of the Stora Sjöfallet National Park and got a glimpse of Sarek National Park and all the way toward the Norwegian border.
With these beautiful views, I almost forgot I needed to catch a boat to get back home on the same day; with an increased pace, I started walking back to my backpack. That was easy, the trail went downhill with no load on my back. Once the backpack was back on, my speed dropped a lot. I tried to keep the pace to catch the boat, but my knees started to hurt. There were a lot of rocks on the trail, and I decided to slow down and not hurt myself. With that in mind, I would miss the boat and need to spend the night until tomorrow and the next boat. I was okay with that, it’s better to take it easy than hurt yourself. I lowered the pace and slowly walked toward Saltoluokta.
The trail led me back to Kungsleden, where I met the first people of the day. It’s a very popular trail, and I have plans to hike some parts of it later in the season when it’s less busy and gets a bit colder for the mosquitoes. Shortly after, I came to the sign saying 1 km to Saltoluokta, and I looked at my watch, which showed only 2:45. Then I started calculating again and figured if I pushed a bit, maybe I could catch the boat. At the same time, I was thinking about how many times I had come across a sign with written distance, and gps showed much more at the end. But I decided to give it a try anyway. The next sign showed 200m to Saltoluokta, and the watch showed 2:53. Now again, I’m thinking I will make it. Once at Saltoluokta, I could hear the boat engine running, but I still had around 200-300m to reach it. Since I was so close, it may help to run for a bit, which my legs didn’t appreciate. After this strange activity, which people call running, I could see the beginning of the pier, and with a smile on my face, the boat still next to it with the last people boarding and me coming as last.
Again, with a smile on my face, I sat on the open part of the deck and let the wind cool me down. This time, the boat was almost full, and in a few minutes, we were on the other side of the lake where I parked my car.
This was a lovely weekend trip to where I have been multiple times, but never crossed the Langas lake. Maybe the hike didn’t go as planned, but in the end, it went even better. Now, I’m looking forward to exploring new trails I learned about during the trip. If I had filmed the trip, I would have missed a lot of parts because of the weather conditions and the higher pace on the second day. This brings me to the conclusion that writing fits my hiking style more, and I can enjoy the hikes more.