GB Day 42:

West of Skalvattnet - Åtnikstugan

Via Västra Vardofjället

Friday 20 August 2021

We didn't feel very excited when we woke up this morning, and even less so when Kim had a look under the tent and said that the weather was worse than yesterday. But none the less we had to get moving, and a few hours later (as usual, we're quick) we headed up the mountain.

The sight was quite bad because of all the fog, but we could see a few cairns ahead of us. As we made it up the mountain, the sight got slightly worse, and where the trail took a sharp left (east) across Aamere, we were happy to find that they had made orange markings on the cairns. This part of the trail is new due to Lapplandsleden being made, so that's likely why. Up here, we could see only 1-2 cairns ahead in the fog. On both sides of us there was only a compact white wall, but we had heard the view from up the mountain ridge would be amazing. Too bad.

We walked for a couple km in the wind and fog before it finally started going downhill. Now, we could sometimes see things around us, and it was easy to imagine that amazing view when the weather is good. Sometimes we could even see a hint of the sun, which made us pick up our pace more, so we could get a little bit of it.

Down the mountain there were more footbridges laid out, and it was easy to find our way down. When we got to the road there was a rest stop by the side of it with a privy and two benches which we immediately used. At the rest stop there was also another group of people that we exchanged some words with. Lukas threw some wistful glances at their grilled sandwiches, and before they left, they came over and gave us home-smoked elk meat, Dumle and coffee. Perhaps they felt sorry for us in the shitty weather, and when they heard about how far we've walked, and will walk.

When we were eating we saw that we had Internet, and we had a look to see where Peter Bergström might be, because we wanted to meet him along the way. On his tracking link we saw that he had already come to Gränssjö, and our minds raced. It was 9 km ahead, and he's faster than us, so we thought we wouldn't be able to meet him. But when we got a message from Agnes saying she successfully took the route across Västra Vardofjället, which in our case was a shortcut, we decided to take it. We said that if we walked all the way to Åtnikstugan today, maybe we would be able to meet him there.

So we sent him a message, hoped he would see it, and started walking again. First 2 km of roadwalking before crossing the water. At first the terrain was a bit boggy and wet like previous days, but as we started heading upwards it got better. The weather didn't get better though. The sight was good, but it was really windy. The prognosis said 10 m/s of gusts, but really, it was more, and not in the gusts, but all the time. But we persuaded. After crossing the mountain we came to a reindeer fence. After this, the ATV tracks turned into a trail marked with cairns. A trail almost without a path. And for Kim, who was both cold, tired and whose feet hurt, it was a really tough walk through wet potato hills again.

On and on, we walked, until we left the mountain and descended into the forest where the terrain was better.

Here somewhere, Lukas had phone coverage and had gotten an answer from Peter. He said both that Handlar'n, the store in Klimpfjäll, was closed on Sundays now, and that we would meet in Åtnikstugan, at 10 o'clock.

That the store was closed made Kim really pissed off, because it messed up the plan to arrive and leave Klimpfjäll on Sunday (so in two days) and it felt completely unnecessary to push so hard today. So, we said we would have to take it really easy the upcoming days and arrive on Monday instead.

It felt like it took forever of walking in the mysterious forest until we could finally see Åtnikstugan.

When Kim went to the privy, Lukas took a look inside the cabin, and was met by a warmed-up cabin and a man sitting inside. "Are you Lukas?" the man said, and we found that the man happened to be Agnes' friend, Dirk, and that he has been keeping an eye on where we have been.

We put up our tent outside, then went back inside to eat dinner and spend some time with Dirk in the warmth.

Peter never showed up this night, so we went to bed and figured he'd pitched his tent earlier, because it was really dark outside.

Today's:

Favourite: Elk meat from the strangers we met, reaching Åtnikstugan

Distance: 30.2 km

Start time: 09:45

End time: 20:20

Ascent: 1,094 m

Descent: 1,301 m

Snickers eaten: 2

Totals (from Treriksröset)

Distance: 847.6 km

Ascent: 20,601 m

Descent: 20,448 m

Tent nights: 31/42

Gröna Bandare spotted: 19 + 1 🐶

Via Suecia-hikers spotted: 2/4

Snickers eaten: 31

Ice cream eaten: 13