Cunojavrihytta
Wow, when I woke up first this morning just before 6 am and looked out at the cloud that was embracing me, suddenly the beads of water hanging on to the mosquito net of my inner tent made sense.
I have to admit I turned around, closed my eyes and tried to go back to sleep in the irrational hope that the weather was just a bad dream and I would wake up soon… In reality, I lingered in the tent for another almost 3.5h waiting for the clouds to lift and then I felt I had to make a decision.
As any other way from here but back to Unna Allakas would take me higher into the clouds on unknown ground, the alternatives I had was either sit tight until the weather clears up at some point, or go back down to Unna Allakas cabin to get my stuff dry! I choose option two, and at just under 1000m of elevation I finally had the clouds above my head and not all around me anymore. The river was swollen from the rain yet I could repeat the trick from the day before, mainly by choosing the widest point for crossing and trusting my high shafted boots.
The rest of the descent was all easy, and I picked up quite a load of mushrooms on the way to have a nice lunch as some solace for having to go back.
And being able to share with the cabin host Thomas, who ironically enough had planned to open a can of mushrooms for his dinner! Within minutes of entering the cabin I had a fire going in the stove and my stuff was hanging to dry, I know how fast you can dry equipment when there is enough dry air and not too much stuff hanging there, and so I aimed to be all done before someone else showed up with wet gear, and leave the space for them to take over. As it turns out I spent a few hours by myself in the cabin, having a couple of pleasant chats with Thomas, and not until I started chopping some wood before leaving, the first people showed up! I had made the decision to continue along the trail through Norway southward towards Hukejaure as the weather situation has made my initial route too unsafe, and planned to camp at the bridge about 1km beyond Cunojaure hytta.
The clouds had lifted and the sky looked pretty promising with a small risk of a rain shower or two. Arriving at the cabin a first met a couple of Norwegian guys working on a new gear shed for the cabin and used the opportunity to go inside the new cabin and top up the battery of my phone. Turns out the guys occupying the cabin were just about to leave, had left some hot water on the stove and I sat down with a cup of tea.
A little later I met a German guy who stayed in the other cabin on the compound and, in a gut feeling, I made the decision to stay in the small cabin the Norwegians just left. Staying in these cabins is so inexpensive it just doesn’t make sense to pitch a tent outside and sleeping in a bed for once won’t hurt!
