TS Day 71

TS Day 71

Via Gördalen, Harrsjöstugan

Saturday 18 September 2021

Getting up and getting ready this morning was tough. It was cold, a bit windy and some drizzle (but it always seems worse inside the tent than it actually is). It felt really hard being on my own, and I missed Lukas a lot. I'm already impressed by all Gröna Bandare doing the hike on their own, that's tough! The day before I hadn't met a single person during the entire day, but I tried to cheer myself up that I would meet people in Gördalen. Eventually, I was ready to go again. One hour later than I had planned.

At first I was wearing a lot of clothes, because up at the mountain it was cold. A few km later, I met my first people of the day. A family with a dog, perhaps bird hunters?

I descended into the forest and the wind stopped immediately, which was nice. Soon I arrived in Gördalen and had a pizza at Gördalens Bystuga. At first it was just me there and a group of hunters having a meeting. After they left, another group came and they also seemed to have some kind of meeting. Then Lukas called and we talked for a while, and I tried to keep myself from crying a few times.

Eventually, I finished my meal and moved into the entryway to continue my call and also repack my bag and charge my powerbank. A while later I finished my call with Lukas and used the Wi-Fi at the Bystuga to get some stuff done.

Meanwhile, a man asked me if I'd walked far, and as I explained I had, and from Treriksröset, he got really impressed and gave me complements. I also heard that he talked about me to the others he was with!

Just as I was about to leave - 2 hours later than planned, I got asked the exact same by someone else, who also asked about Instagram!

All of this together cheered me up and made the continuous walk easier. The climb up the mountain was steep and long, and made me really warm. But up on the mountain it was hard to keep the pace up, it was very rocky, and sometimes no path at all - just rocks.

I met a couple with two dogs that I talked to a little bit, then I kept going. At Harrsjöstugan I had a look inside and met another couple that I talked to. After that, I was slightly disoriented, but finally found the right path forward and kept going. I stopped for two geocaches, and found an "Inuksuk". I also passed Rörsjöstugorna, and that place was huge! And I saw that they even had lamps inside!

I decided to continue as I wanted to pass at least 25 km today, and the sun was about to set. I finally found a flat spot and pitched my tent in the twilight. This time I managed to do everything before I fell asleep - probably because I skipped dinner and just had some snacks before going to bed. I was still full from the big pizza I had eaten.

Today's:

Favourite: Gördalen Bystuga

Distance: 26.0 km

Start time: 10:05

End time: 19:44

Ascent: 513 m

Descent: 553 m

Snickers eaten: 1

Totals (from Grövelsjön)

Distance: 112.2 km

Ascent: 1,799 m

Descent: 1,697 m