When I woke at 1am the rain had stopped and wind had dropped. When up again at 7 it had started raining again. But by the time we left at 9.30 it was easing up. The first 45 minutes took as along the lakeshore, past some wild fowl who have not yet gone south.
Then past the Sami village which looked totally deserted,
then up the hill. After that it was generally downhill. While it had stopped raining, I was still pretty wet from all the moisture on the vegetation and the going was very muddy and slippery lower down, I soon had wet feet. Higher up on the tundra the going was a bit easier.
The views were spectacular in a bleak sort of way. We passed a broken down Sami shelter looking like the bones of an ancient creature. There were several nice waterfalls. It also seemed to me that the yellows were getting yellower, and the reds reder.
After a while we decended to the tree line again. Soon after that we were lead astray by two French ladies. The valley bottom had broadened out into a wide expanse of grass and low trees. We followed them from a distance and caught up with them when it became apparent, by virtue of an uncross able river that we were off the trail, though obviously making the same mistake as many before us. We had to back track about a km to find the true trail. At about the same time the rain started again, though fortunately the wind was from behind us.
The rest of the walk was not much fun, very rocky, muddy and slippery, with the occasional bog thrown in for good measure. All done in driving rain with no views as we were in dense birch forest most of the time. We were very glad to finally get here.
This is quite a small hut, but as there are few people on the trail we have an alcove, which could accommodate 5, to our selves, and only have to share the common facilities, kitchen, stove, drying lines, with one other couple.
After stripping of wet outer Garments found little moisture had penetrated, except for the socks of course. Did however find that some moisture had penetrated the two supposedly waterproof stuff bags in which I pack my things within the backpack. Nothing major but still annoying. Examining the seems of one bag it was apparent why that one leaked. The cause for the second one is not obvious. Regardless extra measures will have to be taken, like using the large plastic liner bag that I have brought along just for such a contingency. So after general unpacking and unwinding, had a big dinner – chicken pasta with black bean sauce, a sauna, then retired to my bunk with a cup of tea and a packet of trail mix to write this. 7.30pm.
The battery on my Fitbit ran out midafternoon so the numbers below are missing 1 to 2 hours of data (I think)
As of 8 pm: 750 ft vertical, 4319 cals., 19.0 km., 23,766 steps.
Oh my aching knees.
agrellm 