The Quiet Picture

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!

I have a vacation again – the last of my summer vacation. When I left, the weather was actually nice and summery, but when I got to Strömsund and turned west towards Gäddede, I was met by increasing wind and dark clouds. I don’t mind the rain, but the wind was really bad – there were times I was sure the trees would snap at any moment.

The vacation plan is to stay overnight in Gäddede, drive north via Stekenjokk (Vildmarksvägen, the Wilderness Road) and then turn east and cross over to Luleå for the night. And on Friday, all the way from Luleå to Savonlinna in Finland. A lot of driving and quite a de-tour to get to Finland, but I’ve never been in this corner of Sweden so I figured that now was to time to drive the Wilderness Road.

Photographically speaking, the today’s main target was the Hällingsåfallet waterfall near Gäddede. Initially when I got there and saw the falls, I was disappointed. Now matter which viewpoint I checked, there absolutely no way at all get the falls in the frame without getting the bridges and trails and guard rails as well. In fact, it was hard enough to get the whole falls in the frame, at all… my widest angle wasn’t wide enough. A moot point in any case. But then I decided to ignore the waterfall completely – the secret of success is adaptability and there were other things to shoot than just the falls. And it seemed like the sun agreed with my decision, because it came out and revealed a glorious rainbow across the canyon, born in the mists of the waterfall! That’s all the opportunity I needed and I was a happy camper. The inclement weather added some spice to the sky, and even the wind wasn’t quite that bad here so the rig stayed steady during the exposures.

When I left the falls and drove towards Gäddede, there were rainbows everywhere, this time born out of rain. When I saw a good op and stopped to shoot it, I really strugged to keep the camera steady – not because my hands were not steady, but because my body wasn’t! That’s how the wind was.

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I’m posting this from my little Powerlessbook, I hope the pictures are ok (they look a bit iffy on my screen). I’ve processed them like I normally do but this machine is really not ideal for image processing! I’ll fix them when I get home if needed.

The reason why my summer vacation is split like this is that I wanted to find the alpine chamorchis (Chamorchis alpina). I think I still made a mistake, it felt like this week would be too early for it, but I had to try anyway. If I can’t find it now, I can take a weekend in August to come back for another try (does that sound obsessed?).

I knew that the orchid was very small, so I was getting a bit daunted by my task… Torkilstöten may not be big, but everything is relative. So I hiked up to the pass and starting searching. Very soon I came across a small thing growing next to a small-white orchid and I stopped to take a closer look at this what I thought was an unusually stunted, withered small-white orchid. Except it wasn’t stunted, it wasn’t withered, and it sure wasn’t a small-white orchid! Can you believe it, I had found my alpine chamorchis!!! After letting out a cry of joy, I got down to photograph it. Not so easy because the wind was really hard, it kept moving even this tiniest of orchids. I knew I wasn’t getting any good pictures but you know I really couldn’t have cared less.

Close to this first alpine chamorchis that I saw was another, even smaller – this was definitely early season for them. So that was two individuals and when I looked around me at the mountain landscape, I was wondering if I could find any more. It is certainly hard to spot it if it grows among anything green, this one I found was growing in a “bald” spot so it caught my eye just enough to be curious to take another look. I continued my way towards the peak of Torkilstöten, now that I didn’t have the pressure of finding any orchids I just wanted to see the view from the top; this is as close as you can get to Helags by car and then it’s just the short hike up. The clouds had cleared a bit so I took a series of pictures for a panorama stitch. I wasn’t sure if it was going to work though, the wind was really hard so I suspected that it would cause enough vibration in the rig to blur the shots. But wind is not all bad. No bugs!

When I started my way down, almost immediately I saw something…. alpine chamorchis? Oh yes it is! This time I took a shot with my bubble level next to it, to give an idea of the size. And close by, yet another orchid. So the grand total of alpine chamorchis I found today was four. But still… I can’t believe I found it at all. I’m telling you, it’s small, the tiniest orchid I’ve ever seen.

When I was walking down, I was becoming increasingly aware that my left foot was hurting. The leg had felt a bit stiff this morning but the morning’s short hike seems to have aggravated it. But as long as I can walk, no worries! All this worrying I did about the car… and then I injured myself, LOL!

Somehow the weather got the best of me. Of course, it’s nice to have warm sunshine so I shouldn’t complain, it’s better than constant rain for sure. But then there’s the feeling that I’m here too early in the season. And I’m really getting fed up with having to hike up mountains, yes I get to see great landscape and the feeling of reaching the treeline and then the top of the mountain is unbeatable… but I’m just getting tired of it now, that’s all. I think I need a holiday from my holiday.

So I will leave Härjedalen for now. Instead of heading straight home, I drove to Ljungdalen to check out Torkilstöten, which is probably my favourite flower location. The fact that it’s easy to reach (the road takes you to the tree line) doesn’t hurt, but it’s really the flowers that make it stand out. This is also the location for the alpine chamorchis that I mentioned earlier, but I had a feeling that I was way too early to see it. But there are plenty of other flowers, so time just flew by as I was walking up and down, left and right on the mountain side. I think next year though, I will have to come here in mid-July or even later.

Now that I was north from Flatruet, I thought I might as well take the road to Ã…sarna and check out the Rövrafallet waterfall east from Storsjö. I was also interested in seeing how the new road was shaping up, they’re now working on the Ljungdalen-Storsjö stretch but the rest of it is already done. And I was well impressed, it’s an absolute joy to drive and a far cry from the stress-inducing and car-chipping experience that the old road used to be. They have also built plenty of picnic places and lay-bys so kudos for that.

The waterfall turned out to be bigger than I expected, and I was actually positively surprised. It’s that awkward size of waterfall that I normally don’t like, but somehow I thought that this was nice, even if I didn’t get any good pictures. If you ever take the Ã…sarna-Ljungdalen road, then I’d recommend a visit to Rövrafallet. Take the road signed to TossÃ¥sen (it’s actually the old road so you can compare it to the new), the Rövrafallet parking is less than 2 km on the left. Leave your car at the picnic place, unless you have a high clearance vehicle so you can drive to the trailhead (it will save you a whopping 200m). The trailhead is marked and the trail is well worn, it’s an easy hike of 800m to the falls. There’s a wind shelter and even a toilet, so the place is just waiting for visitors, but I would imagine that not many people visit the place though. Is it even mentioned in any tourist brochure?

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When I got home, it was 13°C and overcast. I’m not gonna complain!

View towards the Dunsjöfjället mountains

I love planning but only a fraction of anything I plan ever becomes a reality. This weekend was one of those rare occasions of action, but even now the plan would never have left the drawing board had I not had a friend to come along. We were determined that even the bad weather wasn’t going to stop us, just pack in rain coats, rain trousers, rain ponchos and rain guards and we were all set to meet the elements. When we got to the mountains and parked at Kläppen in Ljungdalen, the rain was more of a drizzle so it was already looking better than we expected. In fact, it just kept improving and we even got to see a glimmer of sunshine in between the showers. The variable weather carries with it the bonus of the occasional light show in the form of rainbows, so we were definitely not complaining that SMHI got their forecast wrong once again. After 12 km of hiking – half of it above the tree line – we finally got to the Helags Fjällstation (mountain station), tired but happy.

It wasn’t all good though, it turned out that they had misplaced my reservation (I swear I booked the right place and date) so they only had beds in the old cabin at the station, it was kind of like those wilderness hostels I stayed at in Canada – no electricity! It was no biggie though, we’re not so spoiled that we couldn’t survive without all the mod cons.

After a half slept night (the cabin was overheated and were were 8 people in the same small room!), we enjoyed a hearty breakfast and wondered if SMHI got their forecast wrong again, because we were seeing a lot of sunshine instead of the snow (!) they had promised. We even got a quick look at the peak of Helags (which at 1796 metres is the highest mountain in Sweden south of the Arctic Circle), it lasted about 2 seconds but enough for me to grab the camera for a quick shot!

Peak of the Helagsfjället mountain with the southernmost glacier in Sweden

When we set out again, the good weather was holding with sunshine decorating the mountains with splashes of colour and light. Gradually the cloud cover took over, but there was no rain bar a few drops, and certainly no snow. We couldn’t believe our luck… this was definitely far beyond our expectations!

Usually reindeers are very skittish but these two were just as interested in us as we were of them

Another positive surprise for me was that my poor hips were holding up well. I had expected my hips to start displaying the usual stinging pain by halftime and my shoulders to start aching from the backpack. But nix, I got neither, so I’m counting my blessings. I wasn’t even dead beat when we got back to the car!

All I can say is that I hope that I can make many more of my hiking plans become reality in the future. Planning is fun, but nowhere near as good as the actual hike!

This is what I look forward to every autumn – wake up see the landscape covered with the first snow. Somehow I wasn’t all that happy now though to see the white stuff coming down heavy because I was not prepared at all for winter conditions. The visibility improved a little bit during my generous breakfast, but even the lower mountains were in and out of the snow clouds.It was fairly obvious that Sylarna would not be visible today, so I took yet another direction from the station and headed up towards Getryggen. It was snowing constantly and the snow on the wooden planks that crossed over the marshy places made it slippery going – my boots have excellent grip during 3 seasons but they are equally bad in snow. I managed without accidents and stopped to take photographs of the snowy scenery. When I was packing the camera back in again, a family of three showed up and I was consoled by the company. I can’t deny that I’m always just a little bit worried being out there alone, and it gets worse with the deteriorating weather conditions. But thus reassured, I decided to continue further up although initially I had thought that I’d just go a small bit and then turn back to take the originally planned route towards Sylarna (even if I had given up on seeing them today).

As I got out from the protection of the forest, the snow got more intense. Every once in a while I would stop for a breather, look at the scenery (what was visible of it as the snow clouds kept covering part or all of the valley below) and also check if the family was still following behind me. Still a bit more up, I noticed that there was a group of 5 people coming up as well, so now it started feeling decidly crowded! This was not a bad thing though, instead it encouraged me to continue up the mountain in hopes of reaching the top. If they’re gonna do it, so was I. Unfortunately the snowfall just got worse further up, as did the wind. There were some gusts whipping off loose snow in whirlwinds, if you got into one of them it was just a matter of standing your ground, or even crouch down. The wind was however not as bad as it had been yesterday, thank you for that.

Naturally, the higher up I got, the more snow there was. The trail was not very well marked to start with and at times it just simply disappeared, but the general direction it took was pretty obvious (towards the top, of course). At around 1200m I started to get a bit worried though – none of the people coming behind me were actually coming behind me. The trail was really hard to find by now and I had to keep looking back for landmarks (that is, big rocks) and in the end I took a compass reading to make sure I could find the right way back even in zero visibility. Following my own footsteps was not an option as the snow gusts wiped my tracks off just as soon as I had made them – scary. Visibility was very low at times so it was a few anxious moments every time my marker disappeared out of sight. But then I saw the group of 5 finally – only to see them make a turn and head for the nearest “fake” peak (you know, those low peaks that at first make you think that it’s the actual peak of the mountain but when you get there, you find that the mountain still continues). Gulp. So now I really was alone and a big snow front closed in on me so that the group disappeared out of sight. But by this time I was very close to 1300m and I desperately wanted to cross that. Every time the snow would hide my marker, I would stop. Then when it cleared enough, I would run up as much as I could before I ran out of breath, or another snow gust hit me. It was soooo stupid I can’t believe it! I was thinking it was stupid as I was doing it, but I still did it. How stupid is that? Then the altimeter showed 1315m and I didn’t stop to admire it but just jumped back down, keeping my eye on the landmarks and trying not to trip over, which was more than close a few times. It’s really slippery as the wind and snow gusts try to throw you off balance and then the fallen snow was hiding rocks, bumps and holes and in some places, mud that slid off under your foot. I was relieved to say the least when the trail once again became clearly visible.

And then the miracle happened. The snowfall cleared enough to see the valley below, the sun showed itself a little bit and the lower peaks were free from the clouds. Serious photography time and indeed I stayed there until the snow moved back in.

Incidentally, I lost the rain cover for my 70-200mm lens. My fingers were clumsy with cold so when I tried to remove the cover, the wind just tore it off my hand. Running after it down the mountain was never an option, so regrettably I had to watch it fly away. If you ever come across it, I’m sorry – I really don’t intentionally spoil the nature. I’ll be even more sorry if a lemming suffocates in it.

So I made it back to the station, gave up on the weather and drove back to Ånn via Handöl to take a look at the waterfalls there. Excuse me while I’m not being impressed. I don’t mean to sound blasé but medium sized waterfalls just don’t work for me. They are big enough to dominate the landscape, but too small to overwhelm by sheer size. I’ve seen some very big waterfalls in my time (Niagara, Victoria Falls) and these are the ones that demand your attention and will keep it. I think this is one thing that photography has ruined for me. While I always respect the show of power inherent in waterfalls, I prefer the small ones for my photographs. I like it when the waterfall is part of the scenery, not the central point of it.

My main target for the trip was the Storulvån mountain station. It has a good reputation and it’s suitable for day hikers like me because the place is surrounded by mountains. The prices are a bit on the high side for something that’s part of the Youth Hostel chain, however let’s not forget that we’re almost up at the tree line. Another important thing to remember is that you get your money’s worth – I love that place! Since I’m partial to big breakfasts, I also invested in their morning feast. What can I say – breakfast for champions for sure. I was happy looking around the restaurant while eating – for once I felt at home as hiking pants and fleece sweaters were the norm, not the exception. Bliss.

But it was raining. A lot. I decided to make a brief trip to a suspension bridge over the Handölan river to feel out the conditions. It is relatively warm (no worries about snow then) but oh the rain; if there was anything good I could say about the weather, then at least the clouds weren’t very low as the mountains immediately around were visible. The bridge then, it was a bit of a disappointment, I expected wood planks and ropes but it was all metal. I crossed it over and came back and it has to be said that the metal constructions was a bit more reassuring than wood and ropes, even if one of the side support cables was worn cut.

Back in the hostel, I had to make some adjustments to my clothing because of the rain and warm temperature. There is something to be said for functional clothing – it really works and keeps you comfortable no matter what the conditions are. Out here the looks really don’t matter. Another good investment is contact lenses; I really hate it when you lose visibility because the water is running down the glasses.

So I climbed up the rather easy trail to the tree line and continued towards Sylarna. No Sylarna visible though – rain and clouds you know. At one point the rain got really heavy, so heavy that with the gusting wind, the rain drops felt almost like needles on my face and the sound they were making on my hood was deafening. I was lucky to have a crop off birches just off the trail so I found what little protection there was, but now I was starting to feel the effects of the conditions and all my rain guarding started to feel inadequate. I was not just a little worried to see that my rucksack was soaked – the camera was in there. When the worst rain dissipated, I went back on the trail and saw something move on the opposide side of the valley. Had to stop for a moment to see if it really was a person or a reindeer, and sure enough it was someone else braving the elements. He more than me, actually – he was hiking between the mountain cabins, I was just making small excursions. My short hikes in the rain and the wind might earn me bragging rights in the office, but out here I’m the novice.

By now I decided that it simply wasn’t worth the trouble anymore as Sylarna wouldn’t be visible anyway, so I turned back. I was definitely feeling less comfortable now. I was getting a bit cold, the rain somehow beat my face on my way back in like it had been walking out, and I definitely did not need the jacket side ventilation zips open anymore as I surmised that they had let in not only air, but also rain. Back in the hostel I unpacked the camera with some trepidation but was relieved to notice that although the bag was definitely not as waterproof as it should’ve been, the gear was dry – protected by the plastic bag and pack towel I had wrapped around it.

It was still only early afternoon and I hoped that the weather would turn at least a little bit so I could go out some more. But it just kept raining. A lot. And the wind was hard; the kind of wind that beats stormy waves in the surface of the smallest of puddles. Nope, just gotta hope for better weather tomorrow.

Despite all the discomforts and the slight disappointment of not having any photo ops, the day hasn’t been wasted. It does’t matter if the wind is so hard it almost knocks you off a bridge. It doesn’t matter if it’s raining so hard it cuts through your waterproof clothing. It doesn’t matter if the trail becomes a river of water and mud; what matters is that I’m out here and if only for a brief moment, I feel alive!

Yesterday was a total washout – heavy rain and heavy winds. So I was all the more relieved to see that it was no longer raining even if it still was overcast and I could finally do a hike up a mountain – my target was Storsnasen. I could see straight away that I was not going to reach the top because what had come down as rain down here had fallen as snow up there. I’m not experienced or brave enough to walk up and down mountains in tricky conditions.

The beginning of the hike was just about as boring as it gets – just level ground through the forest. Then I finally got to the marshes and the scenery got better (a proper view towards Storsnasen), however the trail had seen its best days as some of the wooden planks crossing the marshes were downright rotten or just simply missing, so the name of the game was to stay alert and walk carefully to avoid plunging in the cold water. I had seen on the map that there is a waterfall (named Silverfallet) running down from the mountain and sure enough, I could see the falls from the distance.

When I finally reached the falls, I was happy. Instead of just one big fall, there were numerous smaller ones along the whole way. So I don’t know which one of them was the actual Silverfallet or if that is a collective name for all of them, but it was nice in any case. Photo ops were thin on the ground however since the water falls in a ravine and it’s difficult to find a good viewpoint, but I did manage to shoot three of them. The higher up I got, the easier it would’ve been to shoot the falls, however the wind was also getting heavier with every metre up so the camera wouldn’t have been steady for long enough for slow shutterspeeds.

I hadn’t quite reached the high plateau when I decided that it was time to turn back. I don’t like heavy winds too much, especially if I’m alone on a mountain and bad weather is forecast for later in the day. I was almost able to lean on the wind, it was that hard. So I turned around at roughly 950 metres but once in the protection of the forest, everything was fine and dandy again. The hike back was somewhat more boring than the hike in, and what I had initially considered as “level ground” through the forest turned out to be anything but, and I was going up and down small hills all the time. You don’t notice these things with fresh legs; but with a hurting hip and a hungry stomach, it was disappointment after another until the car park finally was there.

Here it is – finally! – my “summer” holiday. I was originally going to go to Lapland, but since I was a bit tired from work I didn’t feel like driving that far. The weather was going to be on the poor side anyway so I didn’t want to go there for nothing – done that a few times already.

So I drove to Ånn (west from Åre, close to the Norwegian border) and when I got there, the first impression was – a small place. I don’t have anything against small places, on the contrary, it’s just that they somehow always take me by surprise. This is the kind of place where a café can advertise itself as the café – because it’s the only one! I wouldn’t have believed the train stops there if I didn’t see it myself… The railway station was just opposite the road from the youth hostel and I could see the train from the room window.