Kungsleden Trail Autumn Photo Gallery

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Kungsleden trail hiking sweden

Photo: ‘Mountain sidewalk’ along the Kungsleden trail, Sweden.  September 2012

I’ve added a new gallery of images from my mid September hike on the northern section of the Kungsleden trail – from Nikkaluokta to Abisko.  In a few more days I’ll hopefully add a more detailed writeup about the whole journey.  But other than getting a bad cold halfway through, I had much better conditions than my previous hike in 2009; even some days where I could hike in a t-shirt, something I never thought possible!

–CLICK HERE– to view photo gallery from September 2012.

lake Radujavri along Kungsleden trail, Lappland, Sweden

Photo: Evening comes to lake Radujavri, Kungsleden trail, Sweden.  September 2012

 

Alisvaggi, Kungsleden trail, Lappland, Sweden

Photo: Incoming storm over Alisvaggi, Kungsleden trail, Lappland, Sweden.  September 2012

 

Berchtesgaden – Germany

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Watzmann, Berchtesgaden national park, Germany

Photo: Dawn light over Watzmann from Jenner, Berchtesgaden national park, Germany.  Oct 2012

After a few nights in the Allgäu region, and without having any sort of plan or maps, I headed to Berchtesgaden, a place that I’m at least a bit familiar with.  It was still sunny when I arrived in mid afternoon, but I knew the fog would be arriving so I wanted to get up into the mountains to escape the gloom.  I headed up to Stahlhaus, dropped off my backpack, then immediately hiked up Schneibstein.  I wanted to wait around on the summit until sunset, but the hut warden lady didn’t want me back too late, so I had to go down a bit early that desired.  But it was still amazing to be sitting at 2200 meters in the late afternoon, in October, and only wearing a t-shirt.

In the darkness of the following morning I hiked from the hut to Jenner, hoping to get an interesting photo of Watzmann at sunrise.  Wasn’t the best sunrise ever, actually was pretty boring the whole week with the almost perfectly clear skies, but the valley fog covering Königsee and Berchtesgaden was quite nice.  I wish I’d had a second camera so I could shoot some timelapse sequences of the fog as it moved around.

Schneibstein, Berchtesgaden national park, Germany

Photo: Afternoon light from summit of Schneibstein, Berchtesgaden national park, Germany.  Oct 2012

Allgäu – Germany

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forggensee, allgaeu, germany

Photo: Twilight over Forggensee, Allgäu, Germany.  Oct 2012

After picking up my car in Munich I headed straight to perhaps my favorite region in Germany, the Allgäu.  Where rolling, cow filled pastureland meets the vertical wall of the Alpine foothills, the Allgäu is a magical place.  Combined with a late October Indian Summer, the region was bursting at the seams with tourists looking to escape the fog that cloaked the rest of Bavaria. Though despite the fullness of the parking lot as I arrived at noon, I did find myself a peaceful night as the only guest at the Ostlerhütte on Breitenberg one night.  Actually felt a bit awkward really, but I managed, helped by some good food filling my stomach and amazing views right out the door.

Allgäu sunset from Breitenberg, Germany

Photo: Sunset from Breitenberg, Allgäu, Germany.  Oct 2012

Aggenstein – Germany

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Aggenstein, germany

Photo: Moonlight silhouette of Aggenstein from Ostlerhütte, Allgäu, Germany. Oct 2012

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, You’d know that I was cruising around the Alps for a week.  And a week of absolutely fantastic weather it was.  If I actually had any idea of how good the weather turned out to be, I would’ve skipped renting a car and just done some long hut tours in the mountains.  But anyhow, I still stayed a few nights in the mountains in the Allgäu and Berchtesgaden regions.

 

Aggenstein, Germany

Photo: Climber on Aggenstein with Tannheimer Tal (Austria) in background, Allgäu, Germany.  Oct 2012

Last Days on Lofoten Islands

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lofoten islands norway offersoykammen

Photo: Autumn light over Lofoten from Offersøykammen, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  Oct. 2012

My time here on Lofoten is soon coming to an end.  Today is stormy, making it a good day for rest and a bit of reading and writing.  Overall, it’s been a good Autumn; pretty dry, with some good calm days.  On a few occasions I’ve found myself arriving on mountain peaks in just a t-shirt; though this is mostly due to the amount of sweat I create under the burden of all my camera crap.

Unlike previous trips, I’ve tried to be a bit more focused this time.  One of the main reasons is that I want to add more content to my other website I have about the Lofoten Islands: 68north.com  Once I’m done traveling in mid November, I’ll have quite a few updates to make and a lot of new content to add.  It should keep me busy while hiding from the rain in what is forecasted to be a pretty crappy winter in the UK.

And despite having now spent nearly six weeks north of the Arctic Circle since late August, I’ve only seen one small display of the Northern Lights.  They’ve been occurring, but I seem to always find myself in a cloudy location.  Or on the few clear nights that I have had, the sky has been quite.  I have a few more days left for my luck to change, we’ll see what happens.

Two days ago, Tuesday, I finally hiked up Himmeltindan, the highest mountain here on Vesvågøy.  I was racing an incoming layer of high cloud as I made my way up the 964 meters (it may not sound high, but the parking area was at a beach) to the summit.  Like normal here on Lofoten, or at least with my luck, the clouds won.  Still a good day all and all.  I met some soldiers at the top, who’d taken the elevator – there is an elevator build inside the mountain to service the radar station built on top.  I half joked if I could get a lift back down, ‘No, sorry. That wont be possible…’ came the response.

Yesterday was one of those frustrating days where I was always 1-2 minutes too late.  The light was nice and stormy, as it should be here in Autumn.  But I found myself just driving in circles, never able to put light and subject together to create a decent image.  Finally, and partly out of a little bit of frustration of having spent 400 nkr of gas, I decided just to hike up the small peak of Offersøykammen and try and wait until sunset to see if anything would happen.  Well, the clouds decided to descend over the summit about 45 minutes before sunset.  There was some nice light in the process, but I then headed back down to the car, only to notice that I had chosen one of the few peaks in the area with cloud cover; most of the other summits remained free and clear.

In final thoughts, and as much as I like being here, after six weeks in Norway and Sweden I can hear the cries and protests of my bank account every time I enter the supermarket or pull up the the gas station.  It actually makes having 250 Euros stolen in Germany seem like not all that big a deal.  I think I prefer Norway in shorter amounts of maybe 3 weeks at the most – with at least half that hiking and sleeping in a tent so I don’t spend anything.  Now I can feel myself being too cautious with money; not renting a car if I don’t think the weather will clear up (I have a sort of deal worked out with one of the rental car guys that I can take a car only on the days I want it, but that still costs me 250 nkr/day + gas at 15.5 nkr/L – $10.26 gallon), so I’ve missed some good light on a couple days I didn’t think would amount to much.  And then when I do go with the car, I can sense that I’m putting myself under pressure to create something good.  And up here, it doesn’t work like that.

On Tuesday I fly to Budapest and see if the place still looks the same after six years.

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

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

Hiking Gear Packlist For Lofoten Islands Norway and Kungsleden Trail Sweden

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Lofoten Islands Norway mountain camping Reinebringen

Photo: Camping on Reinebringen, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  July 2010

Backpacking gear 2012

Photo: Backpacking gear 2012

Backpacking gear list for travels to Lofoten Islands, Norway and hiking the Kungsleden trail, Sweden.

Here’s a quick rundown of the gear I’m taking with me on my travels this year.  First part is 2 weeks of late summer on the Lofoten Islands – a mixture of camping and hostels.  Next is camping at a festival in Germany for a few days.  This is followed by 10 days of hut-to-hut hiking on the northern section of the Kungsleden trail in northern Sweden.  Then I’m back to the Lofoten Islands again for another 2-3 weeks of chasing autumn storms; I’ll probably mostly stay in hostels this time around, but maybe a night or two in the tent if I get a good forecast.   Finally I’ll slowly head south. I’ll probably hang out in Stockholm for a few days and then head down to either Germany or Poland for a few weeks before flying back to the UK.

1 – Backpack
Golite Odyssey – 1.6kg/47oz – 90 Liter

2 – Clothing
Shell Jacket – Mountain Hardwear Trice jacket 489g/17oz
Shell Pant – Marmot Minimalist pant 292g/10.3oz
Insulation 1 – Patagonia R2 fleece 371g/13.1oz
Insulation 2 – Patagonia Ultralight down shirt 167g/5.9oz
Pants – Mountain Hardwear Nima pant 607g/1.5lb
Shorts
T-shirt – 2 cotton, 1 synth
Socks – 3 pair
Underwear – 3 pair
Gloves
Beanie
Sandals (for hostel showers)
Shoes – Montrail Mountain Massochist II Outdry

I’m trying something new with clothing this year.  I probably have mentioned several times that I don’t really like hard shell jackets, as I often get way too hot in them until the temperature drops a few degrees below freezing.  But from my wet, cold, snowy, windy experience on the Kungsleden trail in the autumn of 2009, I think a shell jacket will make sense (of course with my luck, every day will be 15˚ C and sunny.  Not that I would complain!)  My reasoning is along the lines of: Most days I will need to wear a fairly weather resistant jacket while hiking.  If I were to wear something like a soft-shell or Marmot DriClime windshirt, I would still need to carry a rain shell anyhow, albeit a light one.  So I might as well just hike a heavy duty rain shell and avoid carrying the extra couple hundred grams of a second jacket.

I’m also going without a second pair of ‘normal’ pants, instead taking only a second shell pant.  This will also help to save a bit of weight.  For my normal day to days pants, I chose something a bit warmer, so again, I hope I don’t overheat.

For footwear I’m going with waterproof trail runners.  It’s possibly a bit risky and I’ll likely end up with some wet feet at a few points, but since I’ll probably be staying most nights in the STF mountain cabins, and with a warm fire to dry everything off, I don’t think it will be a problem.  If I knew I was going to be in a tent the whole time, I would definitely take a lightweight waterproof boot or mid level shoe.

3 – Sleeping
Tent – Big Agnes Fly Creek 2 Platinum 992g/35oz
Sleeping Bag – REI Sub Kilo -7˚C/20˚F  820g/29oz
Pad – Thermarest NeoAir 397g/14oz (old version)

The only new addition here is the tent.  It’s 2 person and lighter than the old 1 person tents I used to carry.  And costs a hell of a lot of money!  The sleeping pad is a bit heavier than if I were to take a foam one, but the savings on space, as well as added comfort, is worth it for me.  The sleeping bag should be plenty warm.

4 – Cooking & Food
Stove: Primus TiLite + Titanium pot (.9l) – 9 oz.
Water filter – Katadyn mini
Food
Fork and Spoon

5 – Trekking Poles
Black Diamond Ultra Distance 297g/10.5oz

6 – Hygiene
Toothbush/toothpase
Camp soap (multi-use)
Camp towel
Hand cleaner
Deodorant (only because I feel sorry for anyone who has to sit next to me on a train/bus/plane if I haven’t showered in a few days)

7 – First Aid Kit

8 – Rain Cover

I’ve also made these gear list for the past couple years:

-CLICK HERE- for my list from 2010 for a few weeks in Lofoten Islands and central Norway in summer.
-CLICK HERE- for my list from 2011 Autumn/Winter in Lofoten Islands and northern Europe. It was similar to this trip but with more time in cities and no long distance hiking.

Reindeer in mountain landscape, Kungsleden trail, Lapland, Sweden

Photo: Reindeer, Kungsleden Trail, Sweden.  September 2009

Mount Dana – Yosemite National Park

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Mount Dana, Yosemite national park, California

Photo: Summit of Mt. Dana, Yosemite national park, California.  July 2012

Trying to avoid being too lazy while spending a few days in the Yosemite high country, we decided to head up Mt. Dana, the 2nd highest peak in Yosemite national park.  The forecast was for mostly clear skies, but things began to cloud up as we headed up in mid afternoon.  I had initially though of staying up there for sunset, but conditions looked a bit risky.  Heading up we even had a few minutes of snow/hail as some clouds passed over.  Once back off the mountain, thunder rumbled though the sky.

For some reason I’ve never been up Mt. Dana before.  I once had plans of climbing Dana coular, but those fell though.  In reality though, I don’t spend that much time in Yosemite as I mostly stay further south in the Sierra.  There were some nice views from the top, so I’m glad I finally made it…

View over Mono lake from Mt. Dana, Yosemite, California

Photo: View over Mono lake from summit of Mt. Dana, Yosemite national park, California.  July 2012

 

Hiking mount dana yosemite california

Photo: Descending the loose talus slopes of Mt. Dana, Yosemite national park, California.  July 2012

Tuolumne Meadows

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deer and mist, tuolumne meadows yosemite

Photo: Lone deer in fog, Tuolumne meadows, Yosemite national park, California.  July 2012

After leaving Colorado we figured a few days in Yosemite would be a good way to finish off the roadtrip.  It was a long, hot drive across Utah and Nevada.  It is really amazing how many miles of emptiness this country still has.  Quite a contrast to driving in Europe (where I’ll be in a few more weeks) where one passes through town after town every few miles.  Although much of the land is probably empty for good reason, I sure as hel wouldn’t want to live out there.

For the most part we stayed in the high country of Tuolumne.  I cruised the meadows for 3 consecutive sunrises, but my willpower was not enough to defeat the fog.  Sunset on one day provided a bit more light, but still nothing too much.  On the last night we took a walk along the Tuolumne river under the full moon, was quite warm as well and the perfect end to two weeks on the road…

Tuolumne meadows yosemite

Photo: Summer sunset, Tuolumne meadows, Yosemite national park, California.  July 2012

 

Tuolumne meadows yosemite

Photo: Summer sunset, Tuolumne meadows, Yosemite national park, California.  July 2012

 

Tuolumne river night yosemite

Photo: Moonlight over Tuolumne river, Yosemite national park, California.  July 2012