GB Day 36

GB Day 36:

Via Tärnasjö, Syter

Saturday 14 August 2021

We had an alarm set for 06:30, and got going relatively early (for us). The day felt fresh, and we kept a good pace. When we reached the lakes south of Stájnnavárrie, we stopped beside a creek to have breakfast. We also saw that we had passed OUR HALFWAY POINT (700 km)! So we took a photo and congratulated ourselves for making it halfway.

In the forest some km east of Tärnasjö, we stopped once to have a water break. Suddenly we heard snorts and grunts quite close, so Lukas looked up and saw a reindeer. The second after we realised there were reindeer everywhere among the trees, so we stood still and just watched them walk by just a few metres away in the forest. When they finally started running, more and more kept showing up. It was really cool.

In Tärnasjö we stopped to have a break. As we were sitting down having a snack pause, a girl we recognised from Jäckvik, and her partner (they were hanging out with Annelise) showed up and talked to us for a while, and we told her that we had been walking yo-yo with Annelise for a few days.

When she had to leave, we instead talked to the cabin host, Lars, for a while. He was fun talking to because he knew quite a lot, and was following Gröna Bandare. He told us he had met Agnes Zimmer the day before, and that we'd pass a woman with a dog called Rickard that were walking Kungsleden, but that she'd been walking several long distance trails before, like the PCT.

Just as we were about to leave, Annelise showed up again. She had camped just beside our tent late last evening, and now she'd caught up to us again. We said her friends from Jäckvik had just left, and then we were off again...

The cabin host had told us about a beach about 4 km away, so that's what we were heading to, to have lunch by. It was a good spot, and would probably have been really amazing if it wasn't for all the gnats. The weather was great too, sunny, the entire day. Lukas bathed and after lunch he showed Kim how to skip stones. We kept going and Kim felt the km were ticking by slower for sometime, but then we had to stop because we met a guy and a girl walking Kungsleden, looking for tent spots. We told them about some really nice ones by the water and just as we were about to leave he asked us questions about the trail ahead, and he seemed nervous and like he doubted his decision to do this hike. We did our best to answer all his questions, give him tips and cheers and just some wisdom we'd gotten so far from our hike.

Now when we got going we tried walking extra fast. We wanted to pitch the tent in time, but still pass the Syter cabin. It went along well until we walked across the bridges over the islands in the southern parts of Tärnasjön. Here we had to stop because someone needed to cross over with her dog. As we patiently waited on the other side, we asked for the dog's name. It was Rickard! We said the cabin host in Tärnasjön had mentioned that we would meet her. We had a little conversation by the bridge, and talked shoes, Gröna Bandet and about how tired Rickard was. Then she and her (hiking) partner had to get going, and we too.

Once more, we set off at full speed, but now up a hill. As we reached a big boulder almost at the top, we checked our phone service. We had Internet! So we booked a hotel in Hemavan for our rest day as a celebration of having walked half way now.

We then got going again. The gnats were everywhere, and we had to reach Syter.

The view was amazing as we climbed to the top, but we couldn't stop this time, we needed to pass the cabins.

Soon we reached them, had our little break and went across the water to make camp. We both, for once, bathed a little and crawled inside our tent to sleep. As we were inside there were a little larvae that desperately wanted to climb the outside of our inner tent. I think we happened to make him slide down three or four times but it didn't take long before he was trying again. Nature delivers entertainment!

Tosay's:

Favourite: The pause at Tärnasjö

Distance: 25.5 km

Start time: 08:10

End time: 19:50

Ascent: 503 m

Descent: 547 m

Snickers eaten: 1

Totals (from Treriksröset)

Distance: 723.1 km

Ascent: 16,847 m

Descent: 16,563 m

Tent nights: 28/36

Gröna Bandare spotted: 16

Via Suecia-hikers spotted: 2/4

Snickers eaten: 26

Ice cream eaten: 10

*We found a nice lunch spot by Tärnasjön.*

GB Day 37-38

GB Day 35