A lonely tree between fjäll and forest
Ten days solo-trekking in Swedish/Norwegian gränslandet.
Beautiful autumnal colours above the Storån
Due to the global Covid-19 pandemic I had to change my plans for my outdoor- and wilderness-holidays. I originally planned to go to Norwegian Dovrefjell and photograph Muskoxen during their rutting season and enjoy the gorgeous autumnal colours. I wanted to meet my close friend and best tour companion Linn up there. But Norway imposed a mandatory ten-days quarantine for travellers from Germany. That foiled all my plans. Norwegian Femundsmarka has always been my plan b for this fall and with this equally impossible, I had to quickly find an alternative. It turned out to be Gränslandet and it turned out to be solo hiking, because my friend wasn’t allowed to go to Sweden without undergoing a quarantine back home in Norway, too.
On the edge of Töfsingdalen national park
Getting there
As the name suggests, Swedish Gränslandet is a wilderness on both sides of the Norwegian/Swedish border with scraggy mountains, deep forests, endless bogs and the wild and pathless Töfsingdalen national park quite in the middle. It is a little lesser known than Norwegian Femundsmarka some kilometres further west, but they are literally two sides of the same coin.
And thus, it went. I made the 1,500-kilometre travel exclusively by car due to the pandemic and used only the Scandlines ferry from Puttgarden to Rødby in the process, spending the entire 45 minutes alone on deck. With every kilometre further north, my anticipation rose. Both fall and bird winter-migration was in full swing.
Being where I love to be - the Scandinavian fjell
I started my hike in the little mountain town of Grövelsjön. The first day saw me crossing typical scraggy fjell-terrain before I descended into what seems typical for the region. I went along river Storån which forms a lot of lesser lakes. It is all very wet, boggy, wild. The paths are not easy to walk at all, typical Scandinavian fjell with roots, puddles, boulders all over the place. The colours have been nothing short of breath-taking. From the deep green fir trees over bright and dark yellow, vibrant oranges to really dark reds. I quickly crossed into the pathless Töfsingdalen national park before I returned to follow river Storån. There are some really cosy shelters along the way, but I relied on my tent for the first few days. Then something happened that I had not foreseen. I fell in love.
Falling in love with a hut
I came across a very beautiful little hut. It was as if it was calling me to stay. I felt an urgent desire to follow its call and it did not disappoint me. My friend Linn, who has been obliged to stay at home booked it for me and send me the PIN for the key-safe (a typical Scandinavian thing). For two days I did little but enjoying coffee, watching the vast numbers of migrating Ring ouzels and the ever-present and very talkative Whooper swans. One unforgettable moment I saw six Ravens playing together in the air. And I saw my first ever specimen of Siberian jay and Northern hawk-owl. But I pretty much fell in love with the whoopers. Did you know that they not only dabble, but feast on blueberries? I want to have such a hut. Being there fed my escapism big-time. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as those little mountain-huts here in Germany.
Sunset at the border of Töfsingdalen national park
The swift running river Hågåån
Jottuslättan and Hågåån
When I continued my journey, I headed for the region of Juttuslätten. Very few people ever come here – this was what everyone said before and that sounded very promising. Unfortunately, I never made it there. I found a very beautiful little path to Ytre Hågåsjön. Maybe this was the best day of my journey. I found bear-tracks and a herd wild reindeer accompanied me for a kilometre or two. From Ytre Hågåsjön I went down the river Hågåån to find the crossing that the map promised. After two kilometres of rather demanding and pathless walking along the river I came to a huge manmade clearing in the otherwise dense forest. A little up the river a bridge had been torn down by the power of the running water. I took about two hours two scout the river for a crossing, but I finally decided not to cross. The river was running swift and at least waist-deep, maybe higher and I had no crossing-shoes with me, because I did not plan to do challenging crosses. All in all, the water was to deep and swift-running to do it barefoot and I did not want to do the rest of the trip in soaking wet hiking boots.
This has been quite a bummer. I spent the night there, walked down the Hågåån valley until it met the Storån again and then continued north and around the Töfsingdalen national park again. My final stage took me over the regions highest and very windy peak of Storvätteshågna.
The definition of freedom
A photographers problems with the wilderness
It has been an incredible trip. I would have loved to be out a little longer, but it had not been possible for personal reasons. I only met two people in all this time. Wonderful. And I re-learned a lesson that I learned some years ago in the Sarek and that I had forgotten. Photography and ambitious hiking or trekking don’t go hand in hand. Walking in such a landscape is a thing of its own. I personally don’t really find the peace of mind and time to concentrate on photography, when I am walking with a heavy pack. But photography needs this. Time, patience, focus. So, I did not take to many images of all what Gränslandet had to offer. Breath-taking autumnal colours, beautiful and swift rivers, wildlife, wind, rain, trees, mountains, forests, bogs, but most of all silence, peace, freedom.