The Quiet Picture

Today’s hike was to the Ösjöstugan cabin and then over to the peaks of Ösjövålen and Osjökläppen. It’s a long-ish hike so I wanted to make it a bit easier by taking the ski lift up from Ramundberget up to the plateau, which meant that it was fairly level hiking to the Ösjön cabins. After that, the trail goes up and when I got to the pass, I had Ösjökläppen on my left and Ösjövålen on the right. Both are low peaks so I didn’t have to put much effort on reaching them from the pass, as you can see from the picture (both peaks are there and the pass in the middle, and you can just barely see the cabins as well, the trail is pointing the way).

Ösjökläppen turned out to be interesting. There was this barren streak going down the mountain, just about the only plant growing in the streak was the alpine catchfly (Lychnis alpina). But then, there were loads of them. Never seen anything like it. A bit higher up I came across some rock piles and holes that were filled with water now. And then it hit me – copper. The alpine catchfly loves copper, which means that there is a very high concentration of copper here. No other plants survive. But outside this barren streak, it was life as normal.

If the plant life was normal, I found it very strange how many fallen reindeer antlers I was seeing. You’d think that there are antlers everywhere in the mountains, but it’s not at all like that. It’s quite rare that you see any and on this hike, I found 11 and they were all on these two mountains, within a distance of about 1.5-2 km. That’s probably more fallen antlers than I have ever seen before, all put together!

On the way back I stopped at the Ösjöstugan cabin. I had read about a natural well close to the cabin and I must say it’s the most special well I’ve ever seen. I’ve seen natural wells before, but I haven’t actually seen how the water flows up. But here, the water was just bubbling up (without creating any bubbles but I don’t know how to otherwise describe it) and the water was absolutely clear. I drank it and it didn’t taste like anything. I mean, there was really no taste in the water! Pure as it gets.

All that remained was the hike back to the car. When I was going down the hill to Ramundberget and my car, I was glad I had taken the lift up. The hike was over 16 km and although I wasn’t tired as such, I was still hoping that the evening would be cloudy so I didn’t have to drag myself out to shoot the light. It’s almost time for sunset now as I’m typing this… and it looks like rain!

Had a busy day yesterday. Busy in a good way – one day trip to the mountains, I was in desperate need of a break. The last time I had any vacation was September! Of course, we can debate how relaxing it is to drive hundreds of km in a day and hike up and down two mountains… but I’ll much rather have a tired body than a tired brain.

Anyway, I started with Stor-Mittåkläppen. There’s a special flower I knew might be growing there, it’s the glacier buttercup (Ranunculus glacialis), however I had no confirmed reports about it but I had to start from somewhere. This flower likes the tough conditions next to snowfields and there’s one on Mittåkläppen that doesn’t melt until later in the summer. When I got to the foot of the mountain, I saw a herd of reindeer gracing above and below the snowfield. There were a couple of hikers ahead of me and the reindeer didn’t like them (reindeer are not wild animals as such, just extremely shy of people) and ran off, so all I had to do was to avoid the reindeer droppings on my way up to the snow. Very soon after I arrived at the snowfield, I found some leaves which I thought would be the glacier buttercup. To be honest, I’m still not 100% if I’m right, I’ve compared my picture with four different sources and sometimes the leaves match and sometimes not. But it’s gotta be a buttercup of some sort, not that it helps. In any case, it wasn’t flowering yet so the question is if I can go back there in about two weeks to confirm the species. Oh well, it took me 4-5 efforts to find the alpine chamorchis so I can’t expect to find the glacier buttercup so quickly!

It was a warm day and initially it was overcast so it didn’t look promising for photography. When I arrived at the peak of the mountain, the sky had cleared enough for the sun to shine and it got hot. Wind normally brings some relief and today the wind was heavy, but it was the warmest wind I’ve ever experienced on a mountaintop. Strange experience. But at least it kept the mosquitoes at bay!

When I came back from the mountain, I had a waffle at Djupdalsvallen. They are so incredibly good there, there’s probably a few thousand calories in one but who cares! I really recommend it, not just for the waffle but the whole experience of hiking up this special mountain and then having a coffee in the beautiful surroundings.

By now it was mid-afternoon. I drove to Messlingen to check out the Mittån delta where the creek runs into the lake Messlingen. It should be a botanically interesting place but I would disagree, I reckon you’d need to be interested in grasses and half-grasses to find anything exciting there. So after walking around for a while, I took the trail up towards Kappruskaftet because I wanted to see if I could get a view down to the Anådalen valley from there. I didn’t find the view of the valley (or maybe I didn’t walk far enough) but the landscape was otherwise interesting. Kappruskaftet isn’t high enough for alpine tundra even if it looks like at first. So it’s a bit strange seeing all these big old pines there, some of them growing all alone on the borders of the big marshland.

When I got back to the car, it was past 7pm and all I’ve had to eat all day was one small sandwhich, energy bar and a waffle. I calculated that I had hiked about 15 km up and down mountains, so I was hungry – I was halfway home when I finally could stop eating, LOL!

I came home after 11pm and it seems like the day had been even warmer here because it was still 21 degrees. But today it will be raining, which is just as well – I think I will do nothing today. Watching a movie sounds like the kind of activity I want to take on!

I had a long drive ahead of me, so I started early. I was looking forward to the Wilderness Road as it goes above the treeline, so the scenery should be good.

Initially it was a bit cloudy and the wind was only marginally lighter than yesterday. It wasn’t particularly warm either – my fingers were numb after a very short hike to a waterfall. It’s not the temperature as such, but the wind chill…

Already as I was approaching the tree line, the photo ops were appearing one better than the other. I drove past most of them, shame on me, but like I said, time was an issue so I wanted to use all I could spare on the tundra. Unfortunately the sun still hadn’t come out by the time I reached the tree line, so I didn’t see the scenery in all its glory. Because glorious it was for sure – you could stop every 100 meters and find something interesting, a small brook, or a different angle to a mountain, or a new bend or rapids in the big creek… even waterfalls. And reindeer. At first I stopped the car and turned off the engine, got out and took pictures. Then I stopped the car at a lay-by and got out. And then I just opened the window and shot from the car… without even bothering to pull over to the shoulder. I didn’t see any other cars as I was driving through the tundra so it’s not like I was blocking the traffic!

I was half expecting the beautiful scenery to end when I descended from the tundra. But I couldn’t have been more wrong – it was just simply gorgeous, driving through Klimpfjäll (the place is much nicer than its name), then Saxnäs, and I was surprised to see that the road was still photogenic as I turned north from Stalon towards Dikanäs. I only had two problems – no time, and a lot of wind. It had taken me over 3 hours to drive the first 100 km and I still had 500 km left until Luleå. In that respect, I should be grateful for the wind because it was spoiling most of the opportunities. Still water was anything but still, so all those beautiful lakes with mountain views were wasted today.

My original plan was to visit Storforsen before getting to Luleå. But after spending so much time on the Wilderness Road, I had to drop Storforsen. Better to use the little time I had one on the photo opportunities I had in front of me, than chance on something I had no idea if it would work or not. And I still didn’t have enough time to shoot everything I wanted to. The Wilderness Road really made an impression on me, it’s by far the most photogenic 200 km I’ve ever seen in Sweden. It’s easy to find some photogenic roads, but solid 200 km of beautiful mountains, lakes and creeks… it’s hard to beat! It was a constant waterfall there, rapids here, probably impossible to squeeze it in a whole day let alone a few hours as I had. I’m just simply going to have to drive it again, but then I’ll make it the goal of the trip instead of a de-tour on my way somewhere. And September is probably the right time for it, too. The days are shorter, but you can keep shooting through all through the day and still get good light. And the autumn colours are never wrong!

Since it had been a clear night, we now had frost on the ground. Once again I couldn’t resist it but got out with the camera while waiting for breakfast to be ready – now there’s another luxury for you. Wonderful!

We were out on the trail before 9am and the frost was still thick on the ground, but the boots held steady and we made quick progress with some frequent photo stops. It turned out that this 12 km stretch from Blåhammaren to Storulvån is actually the most scenic one of the Triangle. There are small tarns a-plenty, and once you start the descent from Blåhammarfjället towards the Ulvåtjärn wind shelter, the trail follows a lovely creek with numerous small waterfalls. Under the right conditions it would be absolute heaven for a waterfall enthusiast like myself, but now I had to just settle with seeing the potential as there wasn’t much water and I prefer my waterfalls in overcast conditions anyway, with just a touch of rain if possible. The creek is doable as a day hike from Storulvån… worth keeping in mind. After the halfway point (Ulvåtjärn wind shelter) the trail started following the tree line, providing all the more photo ops with beautiful autumn colours.

Before you think that we’ve done all this hiking without seeing any reindeer, here’s one – the grass was greener on the other side of the trail and the fella was a bit put off with us for getting in the way. He pretended not to care and butted heads with the juniper bush until he finally realised that he could circle around behind us for his chosen pastures. The mountain in the background is Getryggen, the one we climbed on Saturday.

If possible, the weather was even better today than yesterday. Maybe just a touch more wind, but warm enough in the sun. Hiking in the mountains just can’t get any better than this! Making reservations for a hike in September can be a risky business because there’s no telling what kind of weather you’ll get – three years ago I got a snowstorm, and when it hasn’t snowed it has rained. We got a lucky break and we enjoyed every minute of it, aching muscles and all!

From one tourist magnet to another. I’ve never been to the Nipfjället nature reserve even though I’ve been thinking about getting there for a few years now. The reserve consists of two mountains, Nipfjället and Städjan, where Nipfjället is the higher peak but Städjan probably more famous with its volcano like shape which is fairly unique in Sweden. Regardless, it’s the lower Nipfjället peak (“Lillnipen”) where the people flock, so naturally I headed for the highest peak called “Mulen”. The parking lot was full of cars, but I was all alone on the mountain. It’s not a difficult hike by any means so I don’t understand why more people don’t take the trouble. I have no ambitions about being a mountain climber and the easier the hike is, the better, but I just don’t want to mingle with small children up on a mountain like I saw them going up Lillnipen. There’s easy, and then there’s too easy!

Another week, another mountain range.I drove to Mittåkläppen, parked the car about 1 km past Djupdalsvallen and started walking. After I noticed that the road continued in fine conditions, I was a bit bummed with myself for not driving further. I had never been there before so I didn’t know how it would look like and parked in what I thought was the last safe place. So it’s more walking for a lazy photographer then. Got to Holmvallen and my mood was getting even worse. Despite the autumn colour that finally seems to have started, I couldn’t find any good photo ops. The sun was occasionally out or shining through a thin cloud cover, but I just couldn’t find anything that appeared suitable for me.

I headed towards Axhögen and suddenly I got lucky – a herd of reindeer standing in a clearing with Mittåkläppen in the background. I had to crawl behind the bushes to find a good angle but the reindeer knew I was there anyway and they kept a watchful eye on me. Then I got even more lucky – the sun came out and allowed me to rattle off a few shots before the reindeer decided that they didn’t like me much and trotted off. My mood was infinitely improved though – I got some pictures!

After a while the path turned into a muddy road (or a tractor tracks) which was not marked on the map. I figured that it has to be one of the trails on the map though, just marked wrong, and continued. Then more wonderful scenes opened up in the front of me – it was raining just the teeniest bit, enough to create a rainbow next to Axhögen. Kodak moment. Sorry, Canon moment!

I was waiting for a fork in the road/trail but it never materialised, instead I suddenly was in front of another “fäbodvall” (homestead). I had planned to get to a homestead but was surprised to find one here! Unexpected or not, I took some pictures and then turned back as I was hoping to get back to Djupdalsvallen before 4 to eat some waffles they serve. But now I was getting annoyed again – I hate it when the map is wrong. Or when I don’t know where I’m on the map. Pick one. The fact is however that the tractor tracks are not marked as such on the map, but I figured that they will lead to the main road and I was right. It looks like I had actually followed the exact route I had planned beforehand, but I never quite localised myself on route. Weird as it sounds!

So now I had to hike some extra to get back to the car and again I was annoyed with myself for parking so far. The sun was quite warm and my hip was starting to hurt but no worries, I made it to Djupdalsvallen in time and got my waffle and some real strong coffee, all my annoyances somehow just vanished!

My mood thus improved again, I started driving back. Since I was in no hurry, I stopped to check out “Lyftstenen” that was marked from the road. Only 300m so no probs, I was expecting to see a huge rock left alone by the ice age, I’m always fascinated by them.

Now I’ve seen my share of sights during my travels. But the “Lyftstenen” takes the prize in its un-sightness! The English name they had given it was “The rock they carried”. That says it all. It’s a small rock (the size of those blocks they carry in the Strong Man competitions) that two guys had carried some eons back, competing who can carry it the furthest. Sheesh. I can do this – just pick a rock, make up a story, set up the sign and wait for the people to come. I’ve got two words for you: urban legend. I was laughing when I walked back! There was another sign soon after for something called the “Björnstenen” (Bear stone). I opted not to look. What would that be – a stone that a bear had once carried? And despite it; I know one day I probably will go and take a look anyway, just too curious!