A Few Kungsleden Trail Photos

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Kungsleden hiking trail sweden

Photo: Kungsleden Trail, Sweden.  September 2012.

I’m back on the Lofoten Islands now after having finished the northern section of the Kungsleden trail in Sweden; starting in Nikkaluokta and finishing in Abisko.  Overall the trip was fantastic.  Some days of bad weather which is to be expected, but also some amazing days as well.  I even found myself hiking in a t-shirt at some points, a far different experience than my last time on the trail in 2009.  I was even happy, and to my great surprise, to meet a few readers of my blog out there.

If you are looking for more info on hiking the Kungsleden trail in autumn, I have a more detailed writeup -HERE-

I’ll make a full writeup of the trip later on when I have a bit more time.  The weather here in Lofoten has been surprisingly good as well this autumn so I’m out and about more than I had planned.  So for now just a few photos…

Kungsleden hiking trail sweden

Photo: Afternoon sun, Kungsleden trail, Sweden.  September 2012

 

Kungsleden hiking trail sweden

Photo: A moment of sun between the rain, Kungsleden Trail, Sweden.  September 2012

 

Kungsleden hiking trail sweden
Photo: Mountain sidewalk, Kungsleden Trail, Sweden. September 2012

 

Kungsleden hiking trail sweden

Photo: Afternoon light, Kungsleden Trail, Sweden.  September 2012

Utakleiv Summer Night

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utakleiv lofoten islands norway

Photo: Driftwood campfire, Utakleiv beach, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  August 2012

utakleiv lofoten islands norway

Photo: Summer twilight, Utakleiv beach, Lofoten islands, Norway.  August 2012

Ryten – Lofoten Islands

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Cliffs of Ryten Lofoten islands Norway

Photo: Steep cliffs of Ryten rise from the sea, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  August 2012

…Continued from my last post…  As we headed higher and higher above the beach, across blueberry covered hillsides and rocky slopes, the views became more and more spectacular with vertical cliffs rising 500 meters straight out of the sea.  About half way up, I noticed some rain showers off in the distance and quickly heading in our direction.  And as I had not actually planned on hiking up a mountain on this afternoon, my rain jacket was back in the tent.  First a few drops, and then a heavy, cold rain hit hard, and with a frigid wind.  I tried as best as I could to take some shelter behind a rock, but by that point I was already fairly wet.  My camera as well from trying to get a few photos of one of the best rainbows I’ve seen.

But soon enough the rain passed and the light of the low hanging sun covered the land.  The wind was still strong and brisk but the light was too good to leave and a warm sleeping bag was only 45 minutes away if I were to start getting too cold…  With the sun about to sink into the sea, we headed back down  in the last light of the day.

Ryten lofoten islands rainbow

Photo: Rainbow rises from the land, Ryten, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  August 2012

 

lofoten islands sunset

Photo: Late summer sun hangs low over the sea, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  August 2012

Kvalvika Beach – Lofoten Islands

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kvalvika beach lofoten islands norway

Photo: Looking down at Kvalvika beach from Ryten, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  August 2012

Near the top of my list for this trip was a night of two camping at Kvalvika beach.  Perhaps one of the most spectacular beaches on all of Lofoten, I was last here in in 2006 where I sat in my tent for 3 days of rain and could hardly even see the mountains rising above me.  This time however, I lucked out with some spectacular (for Lofoten) weather.

It was also the luck of meeting a stranger that I probably got some of the best photos from these last 2 weeks here on the islands.  In the late afternoon I was shooting a few photos on a small path above the beach, looking to get a bit of an overview shot, but also feeling a bit lazy.  There was one other guy camping at the beach, a young German, who came up the path and said he was going to hike up the mountain, Ryten, and asked if I would like to come along.  ‘Sure, why not.’ was my reply, as so we headed up the mountain in the warm afternoon sun.  …To be continued.

kvalvika beach lofoten islands norway

Photo: Evening light over Kvalvika beach, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  August 2012

Leaving Lofoten

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utakleiv lofoten islands camping campfire

Photo: Campfire at Utakleiv beach, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  August 2012

If there was any chance the islands were trying to hold onto summer, it’s now gone with the first autumn storm of the season spreading across Norway.  This morning I was still planning on taking the Hurtigruten ferry from here in Stamsund to Bodø tonight.  But as the hours passed, the weather worsened; with near gale force wind forecast for later this evening.  I called the Hurtigruten and they were not sure if they would be able to make it into port in Stamsund tonight, and with a 7 am flight to Germany tomorrow, I decided to play it safe and book a flight from Leknes.  It also means I’ll arrive not too late and thanks to the hospitality of some friends in Bodø, I’ll actually have a place to sleep instead of a few hours on the floor of the ferry building.

Over the last two weeks I think I’ve had a few more good days that I was expecting and I managed to visit and get some decent photos of most of the places I was wanting to.  A few more hikes will have to wait until I return in a few more weeks.  Looking back, it seems to have been a pretty cold and stormy summer overall here on Lofoten, without any long periods of stable weather.  In the last week, the trees have definitely begun showing colors of autumn.  Hopefully the color waits for me to return in roughly 3 weeks.

For the next week I’ll be in Germany and then it”s back north of the arctic circle for 10 days on the Kungsleden trail in Sweden.