I’ve been back in Mexico for almost a week. Missing Sweden, friends and family a bit, with a touch of jet lag. At the same time I’m excited to back, as I have friends visiting here, Hunter, and a bunch of fun stuff that I’m working on 🙂
Been lagging on my posts, but barely had time to put my butt down in Sweden. A week of hiking, roadtrip, birthday party, dinners, 90’s festival and some interesting work.
My sister and I flew up north in Sweden for what’s now become our yearly hike. This time we tried Kungsleden, aka the Kings Trails. We did the most southern part of it from Hemavan to Ammarnas for a total of 6 days and 5 nights.
We flew from Stockholm to Hemavan. My backpack was 9.35kg…
You can obviously do it faster, but we like to make stops and enjoy the nature while out. There weren’t many stops the first day as it rained pretty much when the plane landed, until we made it to the first hut. Please appreciate my raincoat that makes me look like ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ since my backpack underneath looked like my sister was hiding in there while piggyback riding me hahahaha…
Still a great day out as it didn’t pour and wasn’t too cold.
This was the first week the trail was open so there was only a couple of other people staying in the Viterskalet hut and we got our own room. My sister lit the fire and we enjoyed some food before going to bed. A bit weird since it’s daylight 24/7 up there this time of the year…
My sister and I are alike and we both wake up early. We were having coffee at 6am. Here’s a pic of the Viterskalet lodge when the sun was out the next morning 🙂
Most people eat breakfast before heading out, but we like to find a nice spot and eat it outdoors. This part of the trail was super nice. The sun was out and we started hiking in a valley between two mountains. Pretty crazy it was the end of June and there still was a lot of snow on some parts.
Pit stop with coffee, snacks, and catched up with some other hikers on the trail…
Reached the top after a long uphill hike and we found this spot. Perfect for a break and a nap 🙂 We can pretty much nap anywhere and nothing is better than sleeping outdoors!
The 2nd night we stayed at the Syter Lodge. Washed up in the river and it was cold so you didn’t linger in there…
This was Midsummer’s Eve in Sweden so we had brought small Champagne bottles with us to celebrate 🙂
We had a great host at the hut and she baked us a cake to celebrate 🙂
3rd day was sunny, but super windy. We started to notice the mosquitos, so having a bit of wind was good to blow those f*ckers away!
Bundled up for breakfast break…
It was a pretty easy hike, a total of 14 Km.
Arrived at Tärnasjö Lodge and they had a store at this lodge so a beer and some chips in the sun hit the spot!
Best part of this lodge is that there is a sauna by the lake here. Us being Finns, it’s like telling “Santa’s coming” to a child!
These huts are self-serviced, meaning you carry in water in buckets for cooking and chop up firewood for the fire pits or in this case the sauna. My sister had it down pretty good and I mostly supervised hahhaaa…
The sauna was beautifully located right by a lake so you hit the sauna and then go swimming. Or more like dip yourself in there and hurry back in the sauna. It was like 5 Celcius in the lake brrrr…
Packing up outside the lodge the next morning. It was sunny and it was going to be a hot day…
This was also a 14km day. A nice stop by a river to cool off before a climb to reach Serve Lodge.
The 5th day of hiking was the longest one, 19km. It had a couple of long uphill parts that required some resting after 🙂
Spotted an all-white reindeer. They are suppose to bring you luck. I’m still waiting 😉
Added a stop here to fill our water bottles and I did an impromptu photo session 🙂
The last lodge, Aigert, also had a sauna and you could swim in a small pond after. Such a great feeling after a long day outdoors!
The last day was only 8 km to Ammarnäs. Looking back at the hut and then walking mostly in the woods and crossing rivers…
Came across this great waterfall that was our last stop and also required an impromptu photo session again hahhaaaa… Luckily my sister is very patient!
We then finished and ate some waffles with whipped cream and cloudberry jam at a cafe. Then a 5h buss ride to Luleå where the train back to Stockholm left from. As I said, we nap everywhere LOL… I’m just nice enough not to post the picture of my sister sleeping with her mouth open 😉
Some more pics that I forgot to squeeze in the post…
Burgers and fries before the train tasted so good after eating ‘hiking food’ for 6 days. Then passing out on the train. Almost as good as sleeping outdoors…
Such a great time with my sister and can’t wait for our next hike! We get along so great and get to share great talks and a lot of laughter while out together 🙂 Thanks sis!
OK, going to go through the rest of my pics and going to compile it all together for the remaining time I was in Sweden…
Hunter sends his regards and says “Stay cool…” and we’re wondering what you’ve been up to?
XXX Puma
Puma Swede Blog 