TS Day 70

Röskåsen - South of Rödingtjärn

Via Id-Persätern

Friday 17 September 2021

Today I had a suuuuper slow morning at Röskåsen, didn't even leave my sleeping bag until almost noon! It was super nice though. I did some more blog posts, planning etc, and when I finally left I kept a good pace. My original plan was to get to Gördalen, but since I started so late I knew that was impossible. So I thought I'd stop at Drevfjällsstugan or somewhere on the mountain, so I could go to Gördalen the next day to have lunch there.

In the beginning I kept a good pace and just took some breaks when I had walked a few km, and came to a shelter or so. But as the day progressed it got slower. It was weird, this was my first day completely alone for over 70 days! And hiking alone, for me, always feels tough. Mentally, as it's harder to pass the time and if the weather is shitty you have to endure it on your own. Today was okay though, the weather was cold, but it wasn't windy or raining anyway. The worst was my fingers, because my gloves have started to break. Oh, and have I mentioned that my rain pants now have a hole in them too, since yesterday or perhaps even longer? Everything just breaks. Another annoying thing with today was the terrain. Lots of bogs, some with footbridges but today they weren't just broken, some were also overgrown (which means easy to slip) and some several dm under water with no way to go around. Not pleasant... So my toes were quite cold as well.

Another thing with this trail is that a lot of markers are missing. Between Id-Persätern and Drevfjällsstugan I pretty much didn't see a single one, just followed the path (which I managed to lose once when passing a shelter) and earlier today, the markings just stopped on the middle of a bog, but I couldn't see any on the other side, and not a path in the bog either - and no footbridges. But after crossing the bog I managed to find the markings again.

When I finally reached Drevfjällsstugan, I thought about staying there. But finally decided not to. The sign said you shouldn't stay inside because of Covid, and I had also walked so short today, and there were no great spots for a tent there. So I continued up the mountain, hoping for maybe a spot with both phone coverage, water and flat ground.

On my way up, I saw orange markings going in another direction than the trail I was following (the one on the map). Confused, I followed these (not on the map) but they were leading me in the wrong direction. So again, I off-roaded myself back on the trail again and followed that until I reached a (tjärn). I found a flat spot and put up my tent, unfortunately no phone coverage though, so I sent a message to Lukas through my Inreach instead.

Then I had dinner, and again, quickly fell asleep once I crawled into my sleeping bag.

Today's:

Favourite: The slow morning at Röskåsen

Distance: 22.5 km

Start time: 12:29

End time: 19:21

Ascent: 391 m

Descent: 317 m

Snickers eaten: 1

Totals (from Grövelsjön)

Distance: 86.2 km

Ascent: 1,286 m

Descent: 1,144 m

Tent nights: 2

Ice cream eaten: 3

Snickers eaten: 2

Totals (from Treriksröset)

Distance: 1,518.4 km

Ascent: 34,413 m

Descent: 33,718 m

Tent nights: 44/70

Snickers eaten: 45

Ice cream eaten: 26