Day 2

Heading out

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After getting woken up relatively late by a helicopter landing I broke down my camp and left Abiskojaure early in the morning in the early hours of noonafter taking a quick number 2 in the local toilet.

Southward through the National Park

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I continued southwards to the border of the National Park following a noticeably more difficult path through the characteristic birch forests of the Abisko National Park. The path at this point consisted mostly of rocks and wound it’s way up and down various small hills.

Losing my shit

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Having left the birch forests of the Park I took a break where I noticed to my shock my trowel for digging cat holes missing which was very much not a great start for only day 2 of the trip.

Camping ground

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Having left Abisko National Park I came across a nice campground next to a hanging bridge that was inviting me to stay and have a chill day after only clocking a bit over 4 kilometers.

Pushing on

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Once again I decided to move on(you’d think I learn from my mistakes but apparently I’m the kind of child to touch a hot stove plate again even though the blister on that very hand and still hurting). Following a steep ascend I refilled my water from what can best be described as a small puddle and I struggled up the mountain into the valley.

The white menace

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It was here where I first encountered the hereto by far biggest issue and challenge of the trek. Patches of old snow in the process of melting down.

No step on these is ever safe as they constantly shift in density while water from the melting snow carves out cavities inside the snow. Every step was a risk of having a deep break in into the snowfield and having to either struggle my way out or face the possibility of having to call for help if not able to free my self.

The issue even got exacerbated by the fact that both my pack and especially myself are quite heavy even compared to the average hiker which multiplyed the risk of breaking in.

Needless to say my speed slowed pretty much to a crawl whenever I was on the snow fields, but I still would sometimes get snow in my boots.

Rain and camp

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After experiencing the misfortune that is old snow fields a few times I started looking for a camp to set up for the night. Unfortunately that was still quite a ways away as all the water from the melting snow fields turned any promising areas into mud.

Pushing onwards the trail now mostly consisted of either rocks, snow, mud or a combination of the three.

To make a bad situation worse slight rain started to fall along the way with still no suitable camp location in sight. Consulting OSM (many thanks by the way for the incredible community mappers you are true Lifesavers) I saw a camp site just three kilometers out, right next to the trail. Getting some strength from that hopeful expectation I kept going. On the way there (and having almost arrived) I passed a sign that said “only 5 kilometers until the ferry”.

Finally arriving at the camping spot I found it slightly damp being situated between 2 big fields of snow but overall serviceable. Considering that the rain was now picking up I made the decision to put up tent and after a quick warm meal I put on my warm set of clothes and went to sleep, only waking a few times due to the uncomfortable ground and the icy wind.