Kungsleden - do it

Chapter 4: Abiskojaure (14km Monday)

After we made it to Kiruna, we needed to get to Abisko, the northern end of the northern Kungsleden located directly at the Norway boarder to finally start our hike. Therefore, we had to take one of the two possible trains at 7:00 from Kiruna and went another hour northward. The time was used to explain me Skat again and of course to play some rounds.

We jumped of the train at Abisko Tourist Station short past 8 and looked around the beginning of the track.

After a picture under the official start archway we could, after two days of traveling, start our hike.

The Kungsleden trail starts or ends, depending on the direction you walk it, at lake Torneträsk. One lakeside is Swedish and the other one is already Norwegian. 

From there the trail leads along the river straight into the mountains. So, our first day went through a valley with forest out of stunted mountain birch trees in beautiful yellow and brown colours of the Lapland fall. After a few meters we stopped for our first break and tried to use our newly bought gas cooker to make some tea. After 10 minutes of intense thinking (theoretical students detected) we managed the assembly and successfully cooked our first awful coffee.

On the further track the sun got warmer and warmer and we dropped clothes until we were only walking with jumpers.

The track itself was very easy to walk. The valley was flat and the path dry or on wooden planks. We made many breaks and realized that we miscalculated our meals. We got only 4 breakfasts and 4 dinner for 5 days. Although we didn’t really worry because we knew that there would be small shops in the huts where some basic food could be bought. 

we actually saw some reindeers before we recognized them

There were some other people walking with us and some walking in the opposite direction. As one group of them stopped to ask as whether we knew the result of the Swedish elections I really realized that we were just on our way to leave civilization…

We arrived before 1 o’clock at our first STF Hut, Abiskojaure.

As we had pre-booked our stay we just needed to present our STF membership cards, which was problematic as nobody of us got his already. J and S had ordered their membership some time before and had asked for their membership number via email. I had done the same but didn’t receive the answer before the coverage was gone. F got no membership by now. As it is possible to buy your membership at the huts and even pay via credit card and I got screenshots of my order we got no struggle to check in.

Weather was good, and we asked for some smaller hike for the afternoon but there were no suitable trips available. Instead we helped another German guy who was hiking for almost a month, to make some firewood and played some Skat with him afterwards.

In the evening we cooked our first dinner, which was not the typical outdoor food you would expect but very tasty anyway.

As nice ending of the day we went to the sauna, bathed in the river (maximum 4 degrees) and played Skat with the shine of some candles.

Chapter 5: Alesjaure (22km Tuesday)

Our second day on the track started classy with porridge and tea. After breakfast we started in grey weather to get over the trees and up to the first pass. On the way we got great views on the valley we were just leaving but had to struggle with strong winds blowing down the hill.

As we were half way up it started raining. After about 15 minutes we decided to put on our rain trousers. Five minutes after we got them on the rain stopped and after ten more minutes the sun appeared.

Behind the pass we walked through a peat pog and along a large lake with a Samen village on the opposite site.

We spotted our next hut early as it was located on a hill at the end of the valley. We arrived there around 2 o’clock and were stunned by the view into the next valley with a beautiful winding river. We also found a box with free food that gave us the missing dinner and breakfast we needed. The ranger at the check in told and showed us that we have been walking through a herd of about 20 reindeers on our way to the hut, which we didn’t recognize at all.

After we had a short rest in our comfortable 4 bed room, F and me decided to walk up a hill where we had seen reindeers before and try to get some closer pictures.

As we walked through the cold wind we didn’t see any reindeer but got an even better view on the valley and shot a bunch of pictures.

The evening was spent with my self-made dried chili, which luckily tasted pretty good, a sauna at a dangerously steep hill and of course Skat :D

Chapter 6: Sälkajaure (25km Wednesday)

In the night we had planned to check for polar lights but missed our alarm. We got up at 6:30, enjoyed our very tasty porridge and coffee and started at 8:40. The night was very cold, and we got ice on the planks, which made them very slippery. 

calsssic breakfast

the toilets are quite new because they were blown of the hill last fall...

We followed the river through the valley and enjoyed the rising sun in still air. Around noon we arrived at the lower end of the Sällka pass. The ascent went over rock fields again and got little climb for the last meters.

We took a break in the hut on top before we started the descend into the next valley, where we followed the next river. As we were already close to completing the 25km we surrounded a hill and saw the huts in the middle of the valley. We were happy to arrive and felt like “land in sight”.

We asked the ranger for any smaller tours, we could do on the next day, where we only had to walk 12 km. She recommended us to go on the “nose hill” close to the hut, what we planned for the next morning before we would start our actual walk.

rice with tunar and mustard cream sauce (medium positive taste)

While we were playing cards, we saw some reindeers at the hill and decided to go out there and try to get some pictures again. We walked quite far and got some ok pictures from some distance.

Afterwards we had dinner, went to the sauna, played Skat, went to bed and again set an alarm for the night to try to see polar lights. At one o’clock F woke me up and we went outside in the freezing cold to see the polar lights, which were only a bright shadow on the sky without any colour.

incinerator euro 5

Chapter 7: Silka (12 +x km Thursday)

While J and S decided to sleep some more hours to cure their colds, F and me started early to climb the nose hill. We had about 400 meters to get up without track or detailed maps of the mountain. The terrain was very partial very steep and full of more or less loose rocks, the last glaciers left at and on the Mountain. After more than one hour we arrived on the peak. Lucky again the sun broke the clouds at the same time, what gave us great views but also increased the wind even more. We shot some pictures on top and started our descend and found pretty a good way to get down safely.

As we came back to the hut J and S were just having breakfast. At about 11 o’clock we started the actual hike of the day to Silka hut.

view from the top

view from the bottom

On the way we found a big herd of reindeers, for which we walked some kilometres in the last evening, standing directly on the track.

As we already saw the huts we made a detour to a waterfall, we heard of. It was actually more a deep valley cut with a bridge over it. We passed the bridge and enjoyed the view to the next part of the valley. Down the river we saw another bridge and decided to take a “shortcut” over that bridge. The way down there exposed to be harder than excepted because of big rocks and a lot of mud. As we finally arrived at the lower bridge we realized some missing parts. Crucial missing parts…

We then looked for a way over the river downstream and tried to walk through it at a flat spot but realized that it was too deep. As jumping over the rocks was too risky we decided to take the bridge anyway. Worked out fine and after some extra kilometres we arrived at the Silka hut.

There we met many single hikers which resulted in some interesting talks. While playing Skat we heard from the other table one young guy talking about soccer and telling something about the KSC. As all four of us are originally from Karlsruhe we got quite interested and found out that this guy came from Karlsruhe. We played some Schafkopf with him and enjoyed a Jenever shot with view over the valley as sunset.

couscous with tuna and roasted onions (taste was medium)

Sadly, the hut got no sauna…

Chapter 8: Nikkaluakta (33km Friday)

For our last day we had almost one third of the total distance to go. The hut between Sälka and our final destination Nikkaluokta was totally booked out and got only very expensive places left. From some other guys we heard too late of another hut in an adjacent valley that we could have taken instead.

We started early, walked up a small pass and went down into the forest again. Weather was cold, and the mountain peeks were hidden by clouds. After 15 km we arrived at Kebnekaise, which is a well-known excursion destination for Swedish people. There is electricity, a restaurant and… coverage. 

We used a break there to warm up and log into the internet again after five days out of civilization. Surprisingly the world kept going even without us and after 10 minutes of internet I decided that I got enough news for another week and would be ready to go back in the mountains :D

Sadly, we had to finish our way to Nikkaluokta, which was still 19 km away. Motivated by the hope for some reindeer burger from Lap Donald’s we started the last piece of our trip. As our energy dropped, we arrived at Lap Donald’s and realized that it was already closed… 

at least we got another great view on the lake

Frustrated by that but with the will to arrive, we run the last 5 kms in one of the best paces we had on the whole trip.

Short before the village we were lucky once again and saw two moose on a field running away as they spotted us.

Under the archway of Nikkaluokta we made one more picture and went to our hut for the night afterwards. This was a small cabin with with a kitchen but without bathroom. The service building was again quite far away but had a sauna and… showers! We started the evening with a shower and a beer, went to the restaurant for some local reindeer specialities and a lot of salad from the buffet. 

Afterwards, we fell full into our beds for some minutes, moved to the sauna and played Skat afterwards. Before we went to brush our teeth, we set another alarm to try to see some polar lights. On the way to the toilet at around 8:30 I spotted some lights on the sky where I supposed polar lights. As we arrived at the toilet there were already more and greener polar lights than in the other day in the middle of the night. We went back to our hut and put on all cloths we had, went outside and saw stunning polar lights. The whole sky was full of green moving and static lights. At one point we got fast moving green and even pink lights above. We tried to take some pictures but were unable to use our cameras on a proper way.

After about one hour outside the lights got less and we decided to go inside to warm up and to look up some tricks for the camera. As we went back outside the polar lights were still slight, but we took some nice pictures with better settings and a “professional” tripod.

We went to bed at 11 and got up some more times in the night but couldn’t see more lights.

bad picture with awesome polar lights

professional tripod

nice picture with bad polar lights

Chapter 9: Espoo(1xxx km Saturday)

view over the "town" of Nikkaluokta

On the next morning we took the bus at 11 o’clock back to Kiruna, sat there at the Burger King for some hours, bought some snacks for the night entered the train back to Stockholm at 18:30. F and me arrived at Arlanda airport at 9 o’clock and waited there for our flights at 3 and 6 o’clock.

At 18:30 I was finally back in Helsinki, washed my clothes and made some nice dinner.

The trip was physically tiring, the way to and from the hike very long and expensive but I am happy, that I decided to do the hike. The nature was stunning, we saw everything we could have seen and we had invredible luck with the weather, with the animals and the polar lights. This was my first hike for such a long time but will definitely not be my last one and I will try to do some smaller hikes in Finland in the close Future.

Reports will follow, I hope you enjoyed my report and are motivated to do the Kungsleden yourself 😉

cheese out of a tube and out of shoes