Peacocks and Caves
Mile 85 / KM 137 (+ 47 km for the Kebnekaise detour)
Kebnekaise Fjällstation - Saltoluokta
Audiobook of the week: 'Elon Musk' by Ashlee Vance
Podcast of the day: 'The Daily’ by Times Magazine
Song stuck in my head: 'Back in Ohio' by Lucero. Forever my favourite band
I miss: A hot bath and fresh veggies
We left Kebnekaise Fjällstation and on our way back to the Kungsleden, Laura spotted an Ice-Cave high above us on the hill, so of course, we hiked up and emerged into a different world. There was light at the very end of the cave, so we crawled out, took some photos, and climbed back down. Once back on the trail, we looked back up and there was a herd of reindeer running past the exact spot where we had just taken our photos. Had we waited for 10 more minutes - we would have had the most incredible Rudolph sighting ever.
The rest of the days was perfect. We followed a stream through a valley and ended up pushing past our goal for the day. Luckily we did! Our campsite ended up being at the top of a hill with a 360° view of a mountain arena.
There was one tiny incident where I spilled a beer in my tent so now my stuff does not only smell like sweaty me, but also like old beer. Great stuff. Dom's Bierzelt.
And now about peacocks. It's funny with these trails. When meeting guys, they tend to brag about what they've achieved right away. Not saying this is all of them, but a good portion does that. At times it's like watching a peacock spread its feathers.
We met two guys the same day and without even asking who we were, they were already telling us which trails they had hiked before and how amazing they were. "I hiked the PCT. You know, the whole 4'200 km. Like all the way". Yeah, so have I, but I would never use that as my opening line. Or another guy was bluntly - after having talked to us for less than a minute - telling us that he has definitely hiked more than we ever had and that he's been out in the 'wild' for 3 days straight. So? Who do you think you are? What do you know about me? And 3 days isn’t very long anyways. I'm usually really easy when it comes to having a conversation, but by this dude, I felt offended. I don't remember the last time I left a conversation while the other person was still brabbling but this guy didn't deserve a single second of our attention. The funny thing is, he also let us know that when he hiked the PCT he didn't summit 'Mt. Whitney' which to me is one of the highlights of the trail. Upon asking him why he said "because it wasn't important to me" Ok...
Summiting 'Kebnekaise' was also not important to him he said, but the same guy was planning to sleep at the base of it to shorten the way the next morning to get to the peak.
We got up early and saw his tent on the way up. Then we saw him again on our way back from the top at 11 a.m. He was sitting on a rock, exhausted while wearing the same 60-liter pack I had had at the very beginning of my thru-hike adventures. You'd think that someone who has hiked so much more than everyone else, would have downsized his kit by now by half of the amount. Maybe going light isn't important either?
Then on the other hand you meet women who, just by looking at their gear, have done long-distance hikes, but none of them would tell you that right off the bat without you asking. They much rather ask you how you are and discuss what to be careful of in the section and so on. Who run the world?
But back to the trail. After having spent the night in my Bierzelt we woke up and hiked down to the next Fjällstation for our first of many boat crossings. We initially wanted to use the tiny rowing boat because they're free of charge, but the wind was blowing way too hard and we would have ended up anywhere but where we should have so we asked for a ride in the motorboat instead. And now here we are, at the end of Section 1 heading into the next chapter on the Kungsleden.
Laura Croft
Beer fridge at Kaitumjaure
Markus, the man with the plan
Laura drying my beer-drenched things.
Laura’s infamous broccoli soup with burned ‘croutons'
