Hike of 2016 – Day 6

Waking up early img_4489with just a little bit of dew on the tent I stayed in the sleeping bag reading and just relaxing for some time enjoying the comforting sound from the river close by. What an awesome way to start a day, meditating to the sound of a natural stream with nothing to interrupt the peacefulness of nature.
Walked up to the cabin and checked my stuff around 8AM and everything was perfectly dry, even the boots. I just love to have changed back to plain boots without the Gore-Tex lining.
Not really hungry so I had a few cups of coffee with lots of water, got everything packed and started the hike around 9:30.
It did not take a lot of walking before the right Achilles tendon started throbbing again, I had checked it the night before and it is definitely swollen with some inflammation going on between tendon and sheet. Good news are that it´s only the pressure from the shoe that inflicts pain, working the muscles and tendon during the hike does not make it worse in any way.
After a short time I catch up with the Swedish couple and it turns out that Sören could give me a piece of his seat pad to put between the socks and relieve some of the pressure on the heel. This turns out to work really well and I continue to the small cabin where I find a sunny spot with protection from the wind and have a small snack with a few cups of tea.
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Another group from the university of Oulo arrive during my break and we have a nice chat, it turns out that everyone of their groups have one or two rather experienced member while the rest are pretty much rookies enjoying themselves on there first real mountain hike.
I´m impressed by how they organize their hiking trips several times per year, imagine this would be appropriated by other educational facilities. What extra value for the students!
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Second part of the hike is mostly down hill and very comfortable, I make the decision to finally get to spend a night at the beach of Cunojaure and only stop for some photos and brief water breaks.
Arriving at the beach 18:30 I can wash in the lake enjoying the last rays of the sun before it seems to disappear behind the mountains in the north west. Amazing suset!!!
img_4506Camp is set in a few minutes and I light a small camp fire to fend myself from a small number of mosquitos appearing from the water ponds and bushes near the lake.
img_4524Dinner, tea, some writing and reading and I´m ready for retiring to my tent falling asleep almost immediately on the comfortable bed of sand in the peaceful surroundings.

The journey continues, please leave a comment to tell me what You think and share this with friends and loved ones who might benefit or be interested!

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Peace // Claes

Hike of 2016 – Day 5

Woke up just before 7am in a very moist tent, happy for all the condensation been caught on the outer tarp leaving the interior of the tent almost completely dry. Looking outside I got confirmed on what I already suspected, I’d been sleeping in a cloud and it was still there…
Visibility even lower than in the evening I decided on a lazy morning waiting for the clouds to lift, drifting from sleep into a meditative state and back several times was immensely enjoyable and relaxing and made the hours pass quickly. As nothing had changed at noon I made the decision to break camp and hike back down to Hunddalshytta and get everything dried up.

Hike was slow, first due to the mist and low visibility, later just because I was weary. So grateful that I followed my intuition and did not get caught up in the pass with these conditions.
Approaching the cabin I crossed the river at the closest point that looked possible instead of doing the extra 3km total to get back and forth to the marked crossing. With the cabin so close I didn’t change and so got some water splashing into the boots, no problem when they can dry inside. Had this crossing been anywhere else but right next to a hut, my Crocs had been on dutimg_4493y.
Upon arrival I met a elderly Swedish couple, Cajsa & Sören, still going strong while approaching their
70’s. Just love to see people continue doing what they love doing instead of blaming age!There can be such a big difference between biological and chronological age.
After kindling a fire in the stove of the mail cabin and putting my gear to dry I went down to the river and raised the tent, there’s nothing like some wind to dry a tented long as it’s not raining!
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Coming back to the cabin I meet three seriously soaked guys from the university of Uolo, Finland, being part of a much larger group of 30 people, on their yearly summer hike.
After drying their stuff they wanted to continue and I gave them a few tips on where to proceed, actually pretty happy being left to my own company again.
The cabin is comfortable and build in a truly beautiful spot where two valleys meet and with the clouds finally lifting the view was spectacular. I was playing with the thought to get back up to Leirvatnet and continue over the pass to Lossi next day, knowing it was a bad idea and not going to happen as I thought of it. My right Achilles’ tendon was just not up to that, clearly inflamed though without any dysfunction. Meening that as long as I could manage the pain walking should be no issue.

After dinner and a pleasant and interesting chat with the couple I retired to my tent and fell asleep almost immediately again. The feeling of weariness that had been with me for the last two days would turn out to be a more faithful than welcome companion.
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The journey continues, please leave a comment to tell me what You think and share this with friends and loved ones who might benefit or be interested!

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Peace // Claes

Hike of 2016 – Day 4

img_4412I’d expected to sleep in after the extra 8km last night and was surprised to wake up at 7am. After some reading and meditation I had a lazy breakfast and took my time packing. Beautiful morning and no hurry is a good way to start a hiking day.
Got moving around 10am and started slow, feeling the aftermath of my rush back for the food bag, train was really nice and the view absolutely breathtaking. No one else in sight, I felt an increasing connection to nature and enjoyed the hike immensely stopping several times to just sit down, relax
img_4436and think.
Where the trail passes the lakes it was rather poorly marked and I got a little to high up on the hill side offering a marvelous view over Sealggajavri with the glaciers of Storsteinfjellet right above. Fantastic excuse for another sit and some nice photos ?
My original plan was to stop for a meal at Leirvatnet before 2016-08-22 14.54.16climbing the pass towards Lossi, though due to my relaxed approach to this day got me there pretty late. Reaching the lake at 15:00 and knowing the pass to be rather steep and difficult, I made the decision to call it a day and spend the night with lake view.
Part of the decision came from my right Achilles’ tendon being really sore and slightly swollen, something I connected with the quick paced double back the day before. Later I discovered some stitches at the back of my right boot being torn, decreasing stability of the shoe and putting pressure on the tendon… Nothing much to do about it except trying to reduce pressure and take it more easy.
Before making camp and cooking dinner I had a quick wash in the lake, nothing like water directly from the glaciers to get energized after a few hours of hiking ?
Felt nice to clean up anyway!

Had a bunch of reindeers passing by pretty close by the tent, always nice to see them in their
img_4469natural habitat, and got some good pics.
Around 19:00 clouds started creeping up from the valleys around and gathered over the lake, then spreading out all around me. Just 30 minutes later the visibility was down to around 20m and I was a real happy camper not climbing around on wet blocks up the pass!
Still a little weary from the day before I went into the sleeping bag early and fall asleep almost instantly after another fantastic day in the mountains!

The journey continues, please leave a comment to tell me what You think and share this with friends and loved ones who might benefit or be interested!

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Peace // Claes