The landscape in Sweden is a dream. You have a lot to see with all the different circumstances. However, you have to fight mosquitoes here after the winter. We fled inland to the coast at the beginning of June because of this. But we had the worst experience on Polcirkeln in Juoksengi. That was really hell because they were everywhere and found every little crack in the bus. Sleep wasn't great to think of and so we made our way into the mountains. It's hard to believe, but we've been on the road for 8 weeks and we're not far from Norway. Maybe we're lucky and can go over there in early July.
Gällivare - lake with a view of small mountains
After the terrible night with the mosquitoes, we left early towards the mountains. For us that meant “scrubbing miles”. The route was really great, very lonely, every now and then a reindeer to inspire the tourists. Since we are totally overtired, we took our time driving and alternated more often.
Since the toilet lid broke, we chose a location with a hardware store. The next one was then in Gällivare and since it was Sunday, we had to wait until the next day anyway. We found a nice place to stay that was at a swimming lake. As it was windy, we didn't have that many mosquitos here.
The view over the lake was also great. You had a view of the smaller mountains, which also have ski lifts. However, no gondola goes up in summer, otherwise we would have been able to see the whole thing from above. There is also a "parking lot" for 2 seaplanes on the lake. One started on both days we were there. That was really interesting to see.
Unfortunately Basti didn't have the camera to hand on the 1st day and on the 2nd day he slept and I wasn't fast enough with my cell phone. There were mosquitoes on and around the lake, but far from the crowd. And if someone got lost on the bus, we brought them in from outside.
The next day we went to the store and Basti bought a new toilet seat. Back at the lake, he installed it directly and it goes really well with our bathroom in terms of color. Then he lay down with Finja to get some sleep from the mosquito night. I then wrote something and did needlework. The 2 nights here at the lake were really good and also slept in the second morning. Over coffee we thought about where we wanted to go. Sebastian had read that you can enter Norway at the beginning of July. Actually, we also want to go to the Abisko National Park, which is up on the border road. But 2 weeks is still a long time.
So we decided to drive a little south and then west to get to the Stora Sjöfallet National Park get. There we will spend a few days along the lake and drive back to Gällivare and on to Abisko National Park. First of all we did some shopping, refueling and filling up fresh water so that we had everything for the next few days. You never know what the supply will look like in such lonely mountain areas.
Stora Sjöfallet National Park - 145 km long dead-end road
On the way to Stora Sjöfallet National Park It got more and more mountainous and at some point my grin couldn't be wiped off my face. At the dead end we saw the white peaks of some mountains. This road is 145 km long and you have to drive it back again. It leads to a large lake, which is dammed in the middle.
In between we stopped so that Basti could take pictures. But we also had to hurry because that Naturum Laponia closes at 6 p.m. and I wanted to get some information material. Then I went to Naturum and Basti ran a little with Finja and took pictures.
We would like to walk more in nature reserves. However, in Lapland some of them are closed to dogs from May to September, as the reindeer herds with offspring are there. It's a shame, but that's the way it is. On the Naturum side we can walk with Finja, so we continued down the road. On the other side of the lake is a huge national park, Sarek National Parkwhich contains the last wilderness in Sweden. There is nothing there but nature and the wilderness area is 150km at its widest point.
In two places along the road, you can either take a boat or helicopter and hike there. Or you can go on a sightseeing flight in a helicopter. When you are back on the bank after the hike, you call the boatswain and he will pick you up again. No matter how long you are on the road. The panorama is simply unbelievable and you would like to translate straight away for a hike. However, this is actually forbidden for dogs.
We then found a parking space for hikers to spend the night. There were already 2 other German mobile homes and 2 Dutch. The view of the lake and the mountains was super nice. Directly next to the parking lot a waterfall came out of the mountains and along the waterfall there is the hiking trail Kungsleden, the Königsweg, up into the mountains.
The hiking trail has a total length of 450 km and goes from our location up in the north of Lapland via Kiruna to Abisko. This is where the trail starts or ends, depending on where you are starting from. At daily intervals there are huts for overnight stays, some of which are managed. We wanted to go hiking the next day. You can tell that we are in the mountains from the outside temperature. At 10:20 p.m. we only had 8 ° C, so we turned the heating on again for the first time. It's a good thing. When I had to go to the toilet around 2:30 a.m., it was no longer 4 ° C outside.
After we slept well and had plenty of coffee, we started the hike at noon. The sun was outside and it was nice and warm. It went up the waterfall the whole time and there was a lot of incline in it. Several times we stopped to take a breather and take pictures. Finja did a great job, we wore her in difficult places. At some point we had to go back because otherwise it would have been too exhausting for all of us. We took a drink break and during this time Sebastian let the drone fly.
Finja spent most of the way back in the backpack. She showed that she couldn't anymore and that was really exhausting. For being in it for the first time, she did a really great job. I walked up with her so that she always had a look at Basti. She probably sat down and turned around in between, which I then noticed, but otherwise she was calm.
We didn't do much the rest of the day and went to bed relatively early. The next day we continued our direction at noon Ritsem driven to the end of the road. From here there are hiking trails that lead to Norway, but are 60km long. We found a great parking lot with a breathtaking view of the lake and the Sarek National Park with its mountains. The sun was shining and the remaining snow was really shining. You just have to enjoy this view! In the late afternoon we were still working and later we ran a short lap.
After dinner, a German station wagon suddenly stopped next to our car and the young man asked if there was a restaurant anywhere. When we said no and he still had a few questions, Basti got out and talked to him for a long time. He was a funny guy, traveling alone and covered 3000km in 4 days. Hammer!! Since it doesn't get dark anymore at night, you can't tell what time it is without a watch. And when the mosquitoes got too much, Sebastian got on the bus, it was 12:30 a.m. The young man actually wanted to drive the 145 km back. Hats off!
More information about Stora Sjöfallet National Park can be found here on the official website: https://www.nationalparksofsweden.se/de/nationalpark-wahlen/stora-sjofallet–stuor-muorkke-nationalpark/nationalpark-fakten/
You can find more pictures in the Sweden photo gallery.
