GB Day 28

GB Day 28:

Friday 6 August 2021

Since we started so late yesterday, we kinda wanted to make up for it today, so we had an alarm early and got going. Soon, it went upwards through the birch forest. On the other side of the hill we stopped for a second to think: "Damn, there are a lot of stones here. Where's the trail?"

But we didn't need to worry about it, and we were soon on the other side. On our way through we met a German man and his daughter. He was out walking Kungsleden to write a guide book about it, and asked us if he could take a photo of us on the bridge as we walked across, which we gladly went along with.

Our initial idea then was to have breakfast by the cot (Tjäurakåtan), but it was basically just a dirty pile of soil, so we didn't want to sit inside. Instead we found a better place for stopping, in the sun by a stone.

After this it went steep uphill for a while, and there wasn't exactly any places to refill water either. Up at the top we saw two reindeer that ran around us in a circle. Really weird! Some time later we also saw three reindeers with three calves.

We thought about having lunch then, but luckily we didn't feel like it. There was still no water for some time. We had just descended into the forest again, and started sighing over having to walk in such terrain (it wasn't as tough as yesterday though) when we saw a bridge up ahead and heard voices. We asked them if we also could eat there, since it's a great idea to eat while you're near water. We sat down beside two out of four people by the stream, and started talking. It was a girl from Umeå walking Hemavan-Kvikkjokk, and another Gröna Bandare! It was Fredrik Tuvesson, who had started in Grövelsjön the day before we started from Treriksröset. Lukas bathed in the water, and then while we ate we talked about a lot of different things, and had a really nice time. Fredrik also told us that we would meet another Gröna Bandare later in the day...

They also said the trail would become more boring ahead, which was true for us. But in the forest we at least got to see some cute birds, probably 5 bigger ptarmigan babies.

As we walked through the forest, passing the last bigger water source with a broken bridge lying in the water, we saw a face we recognised from Instagram. It was Ludwig Öst, coming towards us at full speed. We stopped and talked for a while, mostly about gear and the hike that lay ahead, and our experiences along the trail so far. But yet again we had to say goodbye and good luck, Ludwig wanted to get up on the mountain to sleep there, and we needed to find a tent spot in the forest.

That didn't prove to be easy though. Tent spots and water seemed just as scarce. In the end we camped on some kind of uneven ground, just beside a bog with a tarn. 1 km from Vuonatjviken.

We were both really tired, and none of us wanted to make food, so we just had some snacks inside the tent, and then went to sleep.

Today's:

Favourite: The people we met

Distance: 26.4 km

Start time: 08:14

End time: 19:52

Ascent: 750 m

Descent: 646 m

Snickers eaten: 1

Gröna Bandare spotted: 2

Totals (from Treriksröset)

Distance: 558.4 km