A Summer in the Mountains- Introduction and Part one

Heading towards Helags

Through hiking is a masochistic activity.

”Hey guys! You know how we made all that stuff that made getting from point A to point B really easy? Well, screw that! I’m going to put everything that I need on my back and walk there.”

This is the mentality of through hikers. Ok, obviously we are not just trying to get from one point to the other. It’s all the fun stuff in between that we’re after. The start and end simply frame where it is that we want to go.

Gröna Bandet is a chance for us to see the Swedish landscape from our feet, spend time together and with likeminded people, and to learn more about ourselves. For us it is not about trying to set a new record or to win anything. We are are doing this hike as a way to spend our summer.

With that here is part one in our series, ’A Summer in the Mountains.’

A Summer in the Mountains- Part one

After months of planning we may or may not have been ready to start our 1400 Km hike through the Swedish mountains. Either way it was time to go. Our alarm went off at 4:30 in the morning, so we could be ready at 5:00. That’s the good thing about Swedish summer; even though it’s stupid early, you already have plenty of light. It made shaking ourselves out of a deep sleep a little easier.

Jerre’s mom, Lea, and brother, Julius were kind enough to drive us the five hours to the trail head in Grövelsjön. This was a real blessing because if we had to get ourselves there it would have taken two days of train and bus travel. The drive up was calm and quiet. I’ll admit I was the worst passenger, and fell asleep for a couple of hours. But a pit stop for ice cream woke me up, and soon we found a little pizza place to fill our stomachs before we hit the trail.

Apparently the official start of Gröna Bandet is at the doors of the Grövelsjön Mountain Station. Lea and Julius acted as our personal photographers and took a few snapshots of us touching the door. The two joined us for the first 45 minutes giving us a prolonged goodbye. It wasn't until we were on our own that it felt like we actually started the trip.

There was not a cloud in the sky that afternoon, perfect weather to start our journey. Just 14 kilometers later we reached our first campsite. We set up our tent and washed in the adjacent lake. We were so happy. It wasn't until we sat down to dinner that we both admitted that our feet had gotten a bit sore by the last few kilometers. But we expected that and were ready to soldier on the next day. Dinner with a side of celebratory whiskey was a great way to end the first day.

The next day was a different story. I think my journal entry from that day really sums it up.

Day 2- June 07, 2016

End Point: Rögenstugan

Time: 09:45-20:15 (10h30m)

Km: 27

Today was way harder! I'm only able to write a tiny bit before my eyelids fall down. We woke up a littler later than expected, and left later. We were in good spirits until we got a little lost in a rocky area on the trail because we followed some, now seemingly random, cairn. We didn't loose too much time there but it was very slow going. This was after we ate a late lunch at 2 in the afternoon. Then it started to rain. Not a lot of rain, but enough for ponchos. It cleared up pretty quickly and revealed an amazing rainbow. We ran into two hiker that made us look pathetic. They had just done an insane number of kilometers, and still looked fresh. After that my feet got sore, then really sore, then really really really sore. By the time we made it into camp I was in tears. I think I just needed to cry. I have to remember it will get better…right?

Oh also, we got a cabin for the night…SWEET, mattress and everything!

The next two days were a testament to the power of mother nature. We were faced with wind, and I mean WIND! We estimated that it was gusting at 18 meters per second, and at times we were fighting to stay upright. We decided not to push ourselves to such an extreme like we had on the second day and reduce our kilometers. It was a smart decision because our feet were still really sore. On day four we planned to meet a friend, Per, on the trail and he would continue with us for the afternoon. We were very happy to see him when we got to the wind shelter half way along the day’s route. We sat and warmed up in the shelter for a bit, and he offered us a bed to stay in at his cousin’s house along with a big fat dinner and a sauna. I don’t think he even finished the question before we said, ’YES!’ That evening was amazing, not only was it such a luxury to have home cooked food and a sauna, but we could not have asked for better company. We laughed and chatted late into the evening. The next morning Per drove us to Ramundberget where we would begin our hike that day. By staying with Per, Tim, and Caroline we lost about 15 or 20 kilometers of our hike. That is a big no no on the official Gröna Bandet rules. Luckily, we’re not following them. As I said before, this is how we decided to spend our summer, and we don’t get these kind of opportunities everywhere. We wanted to enjoy it.

The next day we started to really enjoy the trail. If the previous days had taught us anything it was to take it easy. We aren’t in a race, if we were we would definitely be getting ’participant’ medals at the end. By the time we made it to the wind shelter that we planned on having lunch in, the weather was crazy! It was snowing sideways, really sideways! It made the wind shelter very cozy.

A day without wind. What’s that noise? Nothing. We could actually hear ourselves think again. At this point we started to run into snow patches. Nothing terrible, but it meant poking our hiking poles into the crust to make sure we wouldn't fall through. When it was possible we just walked around. The weather began to warm up as well, and the views were spectacular! It was only a 13 kilometer day so we arrived at Helags Fjällstation (Mountain Station) at 2:30 in the afternoon. In Sweden these ’mountain stations’ are dotted around the country. Some are accessible by road while others, like Helags, are only accessible by foot, ski, snowmobile, helicopter, basically anything but road. They have all sorts of amenities like hotels, hostels, restaurants and small shops, but they are not open every month of the year. We were a week early to this cabin. Luckily Sweden is safety conscious. At their cabins, even if they are not officially open, they always keep one cabin unlocked for emergencies, and for hikers to use on the honor system. One thing that Helags had left running was their electricity! Yes, a cabin in the mountains with electricity. I almost didn’t believe it. Fun fact: Helags Fjällstation is at the base of Sweden’s southern most glacier.

This is a good thing to remind ourselves when we start our next through hike. The first five days are hard, really hard. But by day seven we really started to hit a stride. We finally felt as though we really could do it! By day eight we were picking up our pace to a new level covering seven kilometers in just two hours. Our virtual men on the map really were starting to pick up the pace. As we continued on the trail our energy was more at ease. We just relaxed.

As you’re walking your mind starts to wander. It’s as if being in nature creates these profound thoughts in your head like, ”Cheeseballs, cheeseballs, cheeseballs, cheeseballs.” Jeremias spent an entire day with that one word in his head. As we were getting closer to civilization, we were also getting hungrier. Luckily we passed through a small village whose mountain station was open for business! We grabbed a sleeve of cookies, a tube of Pringles, a Daim bar, and two sodas, kicked off our boots and sat on the picnic tables outside feasting on our treats. After our tummies were full we made our way back into the mountains and camped by a small lake.

My journal is filled with: beautiful lake, spectacular mountain, amazing river, but has anyone ever look at any natural feature and been like, ’Damn! That’s really ugly.’

They days were going so well, a little too well. It was only a matter of time before we had another difficult day. First it was the descending off the mountain, it was steep and slow. Then it was the heat, just a little too hot. Then is was…the road. We thought it would be nice to shave off some kilometers by taking a dirt road into the village of Ottsjö instead of a crazy zig-zagging trail. Well, I don’t know what that trail looked like, but holy hell was that road boring! We were saved by some music and podcasts off of our phones. When we finally made it into the tiny village we were disappointed to find the local store closed from noon to three for lunch. Luckily we were save by the 88 year old woman who lives upstairs. As the previous owner of the shop, she helped out from time to time, and was kind enough to let us in to buy a couple cans of Coke. We parked our asses across the street, ate our lunch, drank our sodas, and baked in the sun until we dragged ourselves back up the mountain to end our day at yet another beautiful spot. I'm glad we forced ourselves up there, it was worth it.

And…touchdown! The next day we walked just eight kilometers to Undersåker, and were picked up by Jerre’s friend Oskar. He took us immediately to Max (a burger joint) so we could stuff our faces with burgers, fries, sodas, and milkshakes. All of the food! We have spent two days relaxing with friends, and we’re ready for the next leg!

See you soon!

#GrönaBandet