Day 34: Thursday 20 July 2023

Kalikselva/Čáihnajohka-Gautelishytta via Čáihnavággihytta

Today we slept in a little bit. The terrain today was harder than yesterday, there was a lot of downy willow and there was also a bit of an ascent.

We reached Čáihnavággihytta after about 7 km and had breakfast there. While Kim had breakfast, the guys decided to go down to the water. Lukas dove into the ice cold water while Viktor splashed some water on him to clean himself.

After the hut we soon had to cross some water. Kim's mood and self confidence was bottom low - probably some hormones and menstrual pains also added into the mix, and she broke down by the water, thinking she couldn't make it, thinking she was completely useless. Lukas tried to cheer her up, he knew she could get across on the rocks here without slipping or getting wet. She had managed this before.

Finally she did get across, and not long after we met the only people for the day (during the hike). We didn't quite understand them, but at least tried. But the conversation was short and I think they also just gave up and continued. Kim thought they were speaking some advanced Norwegian dialect at first, but then Lukas and Viktor told her that it was just Danish 😅😆

We continued upwards on the rocks and snow. The terrain just got worse and worse. Very much like Halti, it was steep and rocks in all directions.

Kim's mood didn't improve for quite some time, with heavy thoughts and lots of crying...

But after many hours of walking over rocks and snow, we started the descent, and Kim felt a little bit better, and we even got some glimpses of sun.

We started to get closer to the Gautelishytta, and we realised we wouldn't get much further today, because it was already late. Viktor and Lukas started a campaign to convince Kim that we should stop at the hut today, but Kim quickly answered that there was no need for convincing, since she had pitched the idea already like two days ago (😂).

So we camped in the hill behind the huts, used the sauna and talked to some nice people who stayed at the huts. Kim also went to find a geocache, and we enjoyed the nice weather and beautiful views.

Today's

Distance: 19.58 km

Start time: 10:06

End time: 19:59

Ascent: 717 m

Descent: 550 m

Tent nights: 29/35

Lukas' swims: 1