July 25, 2023, Kungsleden, day 3
It was so pleasant to wake up in a dry tent, both inside and out. Today we were walking along a long, broad valley.
There's an emergency shelter at Tjäktja pass, 1,150m, that we stopped at. There were some remnant snowbanks at the pass. It wasn't super cold when we reached there but it was windy so we went inside and made coffees. It was clean, with benches around the perimeter of three sides, a stainless steel-topped table, and a pot belly stove with a supply of firewood. This place would be a lifesaver in a storm. There were two other buildings, one of them locked, which is presumably where additional firewood is stored. The other was a toilet, which was clean and didn't reek of ammonia as some of them do, especially in the hot afternoons.
We passed Fjällstuga Salka without stopping. All the Fjällstugor have enormous stacks of firewood and this was no exception. The wood is for the bastu (sauna) which our guidebook says is by far the biggest cost of running the stugor. All the wood has to be helicoptered in at great expense, which is one reason it costs so much to stay in, or near, a stuga. We don't even particularly like saunas. If it was stormy and really cold we would consider checking one out.
At 5 pm I spotted a potential campsite off to the right of the trail that looked to be somewhat protected from the wind. Going over to check it out I discovered an even better site next to a stream so we set up the tent there.
We had brought a total of 9 freeze-dried dinners from the USA so we've been eating one of these for dinner every night supplemented with a couple of ounces of Karen's mixed vegetables. When we run out, we're going to have to suck it up and buy the Swedish freeze-dried meals, 120 or 150 SEK for an individual portion. That'll be as much as $30 for one freeze-dried dinner. The camping is free at least, which is really surprising.
July 26, 2023, Kungsleden, day 4
We both had some trouble sleeping. We're not used to 24-hour daylight but we were tired enough, apparently. Both of us were awake at 3 am and it was quite light so we said, "Why not?"
We ate breakfast, packed up, and started hiking just after 4 am. Since there's 24-hour daylight we're not at all constrained by night time, except when we're tired. We could just as easily sleep during the day and hike at "night".
We reached Fjällstuga Singi after walking 2 km. This is the point at which most people leave the Kungsleden on their way to climb Kebnekaise, the highest peak in Sweden. We decided not to try to climb it because hiking the Kungsleden was enough.
We walked along another valley for 3 or 4 hours before Patsy wanted to stop for second breakfast. We continued until we came to a small stream where I filled a 1-litre bottle and carried it until we came to some suitable rocks to sit on off the wet ground.
We continued to (lake) Padje Kaitumjaure passing several fabulous campsites before reaching the Fjällstuga but there were lots of mosquitoes so we hurried on.
We had to climb up to and over a broad saddle before beginning a steep descent to Fjällstuga Teusajaure. Patsy was really tired by now and really slow but we finally made it. At the lakeshore we were told there were no STF row boats on this shore. One was being rowed across to bring another one back across the 1 km-wide lake.
The hut warden said it cost 150 SEK each to cross in the motor boat and we could go as soon as there were 4 hikers to transport, or we would have to wait until 17.45. It was now 15.00. We paid, bought snacks and waited at a picnic table on the shore but when the rain started we retreated to eth bastu to shelter under cover.
No other hikers appeared but at 17.00 they decided to take us across the lake anyway. Patsy wanted to camp at the lakeshore but it didn't look great. Our captain suggested we hike to the bridge above treeline where there was good camping.
We made our way slowly up the climb. Always ahead, I kept stopping to wait for Patsy. It started to rain, but not too heavily. My right ankle was hurting a little and I wasn't in a very good mood. At a sharp turn signed "BRO" I turned off to the right, went on a little, then stopped to wait. When Patsy reached the turnoff she indicated she wanted to keep going, and that's what she did.
I had no choice but to retrace my steps and catch up with her. We topped a rise and followed the path down to the river. It might have been possible to ford by rock-hopping but I didn't want to risk it with my already sore ankle. Instead, we filled our water bottles and climbed the short distance back out of the river valley to the plateau above. There I found a very nice campsite and we set up the tent just after 7 pm, making it a 15-hour hiking day.
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