A Summer in the Mountains - Part Two
Ever wonder what it's like to walk over two hundred kilometres of pavement? Yeah, me neither. Jeremias and I just finished our second section on Gröna Bandet! This was the part of the hike that we were least looking forward to. The majority of it was spent on roads, and for Jerre and me some of it was spent in a car. We tried to stay positive, but our feet were pissed!
As we were walking down the road, and my brain was turning to mush, I was trying to think of an engaging way to describe this part of our journey. I decided to write a short story loosely based on true events that might be a bit more interesting than, 'and then there was more asphalt.'
Hannah and Jerre had a lovely time with their friends Oskar, Linnea, Imre, and Love. Their rest day ended with a visit from Jack, Ida, and Luna! After a barbecue, sauna, and fun with friends they were very well rested.
However, they were about to embark on a nine day journey on roads and were nervous for what was to come.
"Ugh! It's going to be so boring!" cried Jerre. He was not looking forward to the next leg of their trip at all.
"Oh, come on. I'm sure it won't be that bad. Try and stay positive!" Hannah tried to console her grumpy boyfriend, but she too was apprehensive about the days to come.
The morning of their departure was a lovely one. The nine friends enjoyed a breakfast of eggs, toast, and cheese together. After collecting all of their things, and saying all of their goodbyes, the two hikers were ready to start.
As they stood together at the gas station looking down the road that would be the gateway to their adventure Hannah said glumly, "Well I guess we'll have to start sometime."
"This is going to be so boring!" exclaimed Jerre.
Little did they know of the tribulation that they were about to face.
Hannah and Jerre began their journey. Although they were not looking forward to the days to come they were glad to have cell phone service so that they could listen to podcasts.
They walked along the winding roads in their own little world listening to the soothing voice of Ira Glass. All of a sudden they saw a football field. Normally this was an ordinary sight, but it was the players that caught their attention.
"Man, Swedish football players are ugly!" laughed Hannah.
"Hannah, those are Ogres and Trolls out there on the field." said Jerre.
It was a sight that neither of them had seen before. They had to stay and watch, if only for a minute or two.
After about a half an hour the Trolls were down by ten points. They had spent most of the time on the field arguing with each other, or with their finger up their nose.
The two travellers had enough and decided to keep walking. They found a nice spot to set up their tent, and rest their heads for the night.
"The game with Trolls, totally wierd right?" asked Jerre as they sat down to their dinner of gruel.
"Oh my God yes! Totally wierd. I wonder if the Trolls even knew the rules."
Jerre looked at Hannah a little askew, "Yeah, but the fact that there were even Trolls and Ogres at all, what was up with that?!"
"Oh ok! I thought maybe that was common in Sweden."
"Definitely not common, Hannah. We definitely just saw magical creatures playing football."
Having decided that what they saw was somehow not abnormal, the two spent the rest of the evening playing cards and listening to their beloved podcasts.
The next morning they awoke to a glorious sunny day. After eating a hearty breakfast of gruel, they packed up and headed out.
Hannah and Jerre were having a good old fashioned sing along to Snoop Dogg when they spotted a fox on the side of the road. They stopped and had a look expecting him to run away. Instead he sat down in front of them and said very clearly, "And who might you be?"
A little shocked, they didn't say anything back.
"I said, who might you be?" The fox was calm. His voice was deep and soothing.
"We're on our way to Treriksröset." explained Jerre to the fox. "My name is Jerre, and this is my girlfriend Hannah."
"I only ask because I don't see humans like you around here very often. The humans I usually see are running around on four wheels."
"Huh?" Jerre did not get the fox's riddle.
Taking off his veil of mystery the fox sighed and said, "Ugh! Humans are usually in cars, stupid!"
"Oh. Ok I get it now."
With his veil replaced he continued, "Well I guess it's my duty to welcome you two to the valley of the shadow of roads. Enjoy your stay here, but be warned things get weirder the further north you go."
The two hikers looked at each other with bewilderment.
"What do you mean?" asked Hannah, but by then the fox was gone.
"This is already weird." It seemed that Jerre was wrong about one thing. They were not at all bored, just confused.
From there they walked with caution, unaware of what would be around the corner, but absolutely sure that it would be something. However, the rest of the day was relatively uneventful. It rained a little bit, but nothing else was very noteworthy. As they rested their heads for the night they dreamt of what would await them tomorrow.
The next day began as an uneventful one, but as expected turned haywire.
"I don't think I like these roads very much. Can't we stick our thumbs out and skip some of this?" Hannah longed for a ride in a car and some rest for her feet.
"That's a really good idea." agreed Jerre.
They stuck their thumbs up like they were pros turning to face the cars and giving them great big smiles.
"Who wouldn't want to pick us up? We look like we would be so much fun to hang out with!" said Hannah excitedly. But their smiles faded fast, as cars continued to whizz by.
"Well, this is not what I expected." Jerre had picked up hitchhikers in the past and didn't think it would be this difficult. With great disappointment they turn their heads down and continued walking forward.
A little further down the road they noticed a small patch of grass beside the road.
"This looks like a good spot to camp." Jerre noticed.
"Indeed it does." Hannah was also ready for a rest from the roads.
On a small patch of mud they noticed a footprint that they recognized. It was not that of a fellow hiker, but of a bear. They were in the most densely populated bear territory in Sweden. The two were speechless. While both knew what to do if they encountered a bear, they sure as hell did not want to run into one. Like the good backcountry hikers they were they began to make a lot of noise as to not surprise the bear. Jerre needed to use the little boys tree so he stepped away from their campsite for a moment while Hannah was preparing dinner. He hadn't gone more than 100 meters away when she heard a loud scream.
"Ahhhhhhhhhh!" That was definitely Jerre.
With her hiking pole as a sword, she immediately ran back to see what the commotion was. A giant brown bear was trying to attack Jerre. Together, the two managed to fight it off and it ran away crying like a baby. But it managed to take a souvenir with it, Jerre's left foot.
"Are you ok?" Hannah asked.
"Yeah I think so. I could probably walk on the stump." Jerre was optimistic, but he quickly realized it was not going to work. The two were going to have to brainstorm and come up with another plan so they could accomplish their goal.
"What about your hiking poles? Let's attach those to where your foot used to be." Hannah thought that was a great idea. They strapped the poles to his leg and he took it for a test drive.
"I don't think this is going to work Hannah, I lost my foot not my leg." Jerre was very positive for a man who just lost a body part.
"Hmm, you're right. What else could we try?"
"Let's try filling my sandal with my extra clothes."
The makeshift foot looked stylish, but it wasn't very supportive. The two sat in deep thought, and wondered how on earth where they going to get out of this one. The idea came to them at the same time, nature! They gathered sticks, leaves, vines, bark, anything they could find around them, and soon Jerre's foot was good as new.
The next morning they made an escape from the roads and went up to the forest above the tree line.
"I think we'll be safe up here." Jerre noted as they traversed the more rocky terrain.
"I'm just glad to be off those roads."
With the Valley of the Shadow of Roads behind them, the two walked hand-in-hand in the mountains again.
The last two days of this section were spent back in the mountains. Sometimes above the tree line gazing out at the mountains ahead, sometimes walking across cool rivers, and sometimes in the forest being swarmed by horseflies. No matter what the situation was, it was much better than walking on those dreadful roads.
