GB Day 2
Guolbangohpi-Kummavuopio
When we woke up in the morning, yesterday evening's clouds were gone. We got up and headed further along the mountain, and here we lost the path a few times but we could still follow the cairns. After half an hour we had breakfast. Micke and Lukas ate so much oatmeal with so much peanut butter that they almost choked on it while eating. Kim finished quickly but the guys had a hard time eating all of their food, so they looked like they were about to throw up a few times.
The rest of the hike up on the mountain was nice. Not too many mosquitoes and the view was amazing. The weather was great too - almost a bit too good.
And all along we had no idea what nightmare lay ahead...
Luckily the path was very easy to follow and easy to walk on. But having a lunch break proved hard when we walked through what once had been marshland but now were completely dried out. This didn't stop the mosquitoes though, they just steadily grew in numbers. After many dry km we finally reached Harakkakoski, a bigger river where we sat down among the crazy mosquitoes to have lunch. We also saw a ptarmigan on the path, with some babies! After this, we walked the last 3.5 km to Kummavuopio, and here neither the terrain nor mosquitoes made it easy for us. The road was a really wet ATV road, and the amount of mosquitoes grew 'til a buzzing inferno. We decided to make camp in Kummavuopio were we could partly escape from them, and where the ground was flat. The view here was amazing as well. Too bad it was a mosquito paradise now though! In the evening when the tent was up, Kim took shelter inside to clean herself up in protection from the buzzing insects. It's on a whole new level when it sounds like it's raining on the tent, but it's actually just insects trying to get in. Just as we were about to fall asleep, the rain came. But the mosquitoes stayed. Well protected under our outer tent! Yay!
Today's:
Favourite (Kim's): Allergy pills (antihistamines) - my legs look like salami, but it's not itching!!!
Worst (Lukas'): Pooping with the mosquitoes
Distance: 16.9 km
Start time: 09:19
End time: 17:28
Ascent: 206 m
Descent: 425 m
Snickers eaten: 1
Totals (from Treriksröset)
Distance: 25.1 km
Ascent: 488 m
Descent: 511 m
Snickers eaten: 3