After a week in Sweden it was time to pack up for my annual hike with my sister. This is the 6th consecutive year we’ve went. This time we set out for the 160 km long Padjelanta Trail in the northern part of Sweden.
You feel every extra kilo in the backpack on your back! The weather forecast looked rainy so we both bought rain pants. Most of the huts sell food and snacks, but since you don’t know what or how much they’ll have, we brought food for every day.
We flew up to Gällivare early in the morning on a smaller propeller plane.
From there it was a 3h bus ride to Ritsem where you can start the trail from. Saw reindeer on the road and we had a pee break at a cool hotel on way. Had to take a pic of the stuffed bear since I have a slight bear phobia…
We spent the night at Ritsem since we arrived late. Most rooms have bunk beads and since I thought I might roll out of bed we made a barrier out of our slippers 🙂
There are 2 departures with a boat in the morning to shuttle you over to where the trail starts from. In very good spirits and ready to tackle the first 18km of the trail!
There was a small settlement where we started where the Sirkas Sámi have their summer stays. I loved this church ‘kåta’. ‘Kåta’, traditional Sámi housing back in the day.
After about an hour it started raining lightly. Then the wind picked up and it started raining even more. Luckily half-way to our first stop, there was a small shelter. We went inside to make some food, hot chocolate and put on long johns.
A Sámi guy also entered to have some shelter from the rain. He worked on the trails in the area during summer and otherwise hunts reindeer. He also happened to mention that there are bears in the area. I had a slight panic attack until he said that the bear will see us, but we’ll never see them. Puh!
Warm & full, we took on the last part of the trail. The weather switched between rain and no rain. Beautiful surroundings with a lot of waterfalls. Worth mentioning is that the water is so clean here, that you can always fill your water bottle up and have ice cold and fresh water. Yes, my rain poncho on top of my backpack makes me look something from the ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ character!
Our first night we spent at the Kutjaure Mountain cabin. All the cabins have one or two wardens that supervise the cabins. Everyone is asked to help bring in water in buckets, empty waste water buckets after doing dishes, chop up and bring in logs for the fireplace and clean up. The cabins have no running water or electricity. They have gas though so you can heat up water/food and pots, pans, plates, glasses and utensils to eat and cook your food from. Here is dinner with the fireplace going and us having our coffee the next morning before heading out.
2nd day was 19km. A bit of rain and most of the day was cloudy. We met a German lady who had taken a break and offered us some coffee. Most of the people you meet on the trail and in the huts are super friendly! Saw some reindeer too 🙂
2nd night was spent at Låddejåkka cabin. Dinner was a super tasty Bison Chili and a Blueberry Peach Crisp for dessert 🙂
The 3rd day was one of our longer days and it was 25k. We skipped one of the huts and it made the hike longer. The trail was pretty even and easy even though it started with a 4k long uphill climb. A lot of heavy fog when we reached the top, but so quiet and peaceful!
Since there was no rain we had some porridge with dried raspberries, coconut flakes and goji berries for lunch. Some chocolate chip cookies too for some sugar to help with the remaining kilometers 🙂
The 3rd night was spent at Staloluokta cabin. This was the only place along the trail that had a sauna. Us being Finns obviously we got very excited! I can’t describe how good and rewarding it felt after the long day! And to wash off properly too! 2 thumbs up for Staloluokta and their sauna!
Since we both prefer to eat outdoors, we always start our mornings with just black coffee. Then hike and find a good spot for breakfast. It’s a good thing we are so alike – wake up early, fine with starting the day with just coffee and pretty much keep the same speed on the trails.
The 4th day was an 18 km day. Very beautiful scenery and so green everywhere.
Found a nice spot by a waterfall to eat and rest. Right after we packed up we spotted a small group of reindeer. They say that if you spot a white reindeer, it brings you luck!
Most of the days so far had been cloudy and rainy. This afternoon we finally got some sunshine! Had to sit down and just enjoy the warmth. Probably our legs needed a break too 😉 See, the reindeer brought some luck right away 🙂
When we almost were finished, we come to this wide river. No way around, but through. Soaking wet feet, socks and shoes ! And 10 minutes later there was another river crossing just as wide, so we arrived with clean feet at Tuottar cabins 🙂
Here they had about 6 smaller cabins with 3 bunk beds in each. We shared our cabin with a solo hiker from Catalan. The water was down at the river where we just came from and kind of far. The guy was a gentleman and told us to chill and he’d walk down and fill the water buckets so we didn’t have to 🙂 Instead we went to see what the store had to offer. My sister got very happy to find that they had beer. Even though it cost like 3 times more than in the store 🙂 Oh, and there was a rainbow so more luck to us hopefully!
5th day was a 26km day again since we skipped a cabin and walked to the next one. Started with decent weather. A little pit stop by a river…
Right after we had to cross that river. Soaked again… I think from this point on, our shoes and socks never completely dried up for the rest of the trip!
Since my hiking shoes are made of leather they don’t let out the water. After each river crossing I had to stop and empty the water out of them and wring out my socks.
We were pretty exhausted by the end of this day. It rained on and off and the final stretch was downhill and the trail was wet, muddy and slippery. We had made reservations before for all of the cabins. They say you have to arrive before 6pm to be guaranteed to get your room. Otherwise it might be given to someone else without a reservation, since you might not show up. We got a bit stressed at the end of the hike since we didn’t arrive until 6.45pm. Our longest day so far. But we were lucky and got our own room at Såmmarlappa Mountain cabin 🙂
Our 6th day was a 19km stretch. It got more woodsy as we were on lower elevation. That also meant that the trail was even more wet, big pools of water and a lot of mud you tried to step around. Also the weather cooled down. Around 5°C in the morning and you could see some fresh snow on the mountain tops.
We could feel the kilometers in our legs by now and felt good when we finally arrived at the Njunjes Mountain cabin. All the cabins have a fire place, or a heater, in the common room, and in your room so you can dry stuff up. All my crusty socks went up 🙂
Last day was an easy 13km stretch which felt good. You mostly hiked in the woods. We both prefer the higher grounds with open landscape and where you get the views for miles.
Then you have to get on a boat to get a ride to the last mountain station which is Kvikkjokk.
Since there is only one bus which leaves 05.25am daily from Kvikkjokk, we had to spend the night there. Treated ourselves to a delicious 3 course dinner at their restaurant. My starter was smoked elk, fermented reindeer and first time trying reindeer tongue. I wasn’t going to eat that, but the waiter said it’s the best, so gave it a try and it tasted pretty damn good! Dinner was reindeer steak and for dessert we had vanilla ice cream with cloudberries. Cloudberries only grow up here in the north and are called ‘the gold of the forest’. If you ever get a chance to try them, do it! Soooo good!!!
Next morning we took the early bus for about 5h to reach Luleå where we caught a flight back to Stockholm.
What a hike! We both agreed that this was our hardest and most strenuous hike we’ve been on so far. The rainy weather played a huge part since we made fewer stops along the trail. We learned that we need to study the map before-hand if there are a lot of climbs and downhill parts before we decide to just skip a hut. This hike was recommended to be done in 9-10 days and we did it in 7. Even though it was hard at times, it was beautiful and me and my sister always have the best time together. It feels great that we pulled it off and tested our limits. Can’t wait to see what we plan for next year! Thanks for this year’s adventure sis!
More of my time in Sweden coming hopefully on Sunday. Giving jetlag and my sugar cravings a fight now hahahaa…
All the best,
Puma
