Sjhultjiestugan
Estimate 24km today, all but the first two km and a bit at the end above treeline with strong continuous wind; really took the energy out of me. Also gave me a bad headache and, of course, despite the dry conditions and air temperature, a touch of hypothermia. At least it seems not as bad as I'd feared. Forgot and made my tea inside the (fairly small) cabin (though it's bigger than my former home!) but the stove was only on for a minute and I airated the room well after. Will cook breakfast on the steps outside.
Slept last night at a shelter directly by the side of the road as I'd worked out, correctly, that I'd taken the wrong way out from town. Problem was that I'd ended up on the old Kungsleden because someone had neglected to take down the signs from town pointing to it. So I found a path on the map leading where I wanted to go, leading off the old trail at the summit of Njallavaratje. Turned out to be no path at all the 1 1/2km from the summit back to the treeline: just a line of snowmobile / cross-country posts across very boggy ground, with the exception of one one-hundred-meter stretch complete with blazes, path, and bog bridges -- then nothing again.
Funny: all the people I'd stopped and spoken to, including locals, assured me that I was indeed on the Kungsleden. But the almost complete lack of appropriate markings -- once I was actually on the footpath, I only saw one, very weathered and ancient-looking sign saying Kungsleden. My map, supposedly updated December of last year, only showed the old route. The wildlife reserve maps here and there showed the new route, but in excruciatingly low resolution, with no topographical info. Using my topographical map, I could only guess the approximate route I should have taken from town. That I got a little lost is probably allowable.
God a very bad opinion today of ATVs, if it wasn't poor already. The Kungsleden hugged the boundary of the ATV exclusion zone: at least, that's how I interpret förbjudetområde för terrängforden. Their tracks were everywhere, crisscrossing my way. They are amazingly environmentally destructive. Everywhere there's wet bog -- which is pretty common around here! -- they leave behind a churned mass of mud.
Sun has now set but it's still, of course, broad daylight, and will stay so throughout the night.
Slept last night at a shelter directly by the side of the road as I'd worked out, correctly, that I'd taken the wrong way out from town. Problem was that I'd ended up on the old Kungsleden because someone had neglected to take down the signs from town pointing to it. So I found a path on the map leading where I wanted to go, leading off the old trail at the summit of Njallavaratje. Turned out to be no path at all the 1 1/2km from the summit back to the treeline: just a line of snowmobile / cross-country posts across very boggy ground, with the exception of one one-hundred-meter stretch complete with blazes, path, and bog bridges -- then nothing again.
Funny: all the people I'd stopped and spoken to, including locals, assured me that I was indeed on the Kungsleden. But the almost complete lack of appropriate markings -- once I was actually on the footpath, I only saw one, very weathered and ancient-looking sign saying Kungsleden. My map, supposedly updated December of last year, only showed the old route. The wildlife reserve maps here and there showed the new route, but in excruciatingly low resolution, with no topographical info. Using my topographical map, I could only guess the approximate route I should have taken from town. That I got a little lost is probably allowable.
God a very bad opinion today of ATVs, if it wasn't poor already. The Kungsleden hugged the boundary of the ATV exclusion zone: at least, that's how I interpret förbjudetområde för terrängforden. Their tracks were everywhere, crisscrossing my way. They are amazingly environmentally destructive. Everywhere there's wet bog -- which is pretty common around here! -- they leave behind a churned mass of mud.
Sun has now set but it's still, of course, broad daylight, and will stay so throughout the night.