05:25 – Somebody knocks on the door. I try to open the door from the left side (like at home), it fails miserably. But in the end I get the door open from the right side. ”Hello, I’m your new neighbour. If you’re planning to drive out today, then you should move your car to the main road because we will have a big truck block the road today”. My cabin is by a cul-de-sac, so there’s only one way out. I take the keys and park the car at the first best lay-by by the bigger road. It seems to be a nice morning though, foggy at the moment but the sun is clearly on the go. But I am so tired from yesterday’s hikes that all I can do is crash back in the bed.
06:45 – Somebody knocks on the door again. This time I remember how to open it. ”Can you move your car a bit further out? It’s too close to the junction, the truck needs more swing room.” So I move the car, see what a beautiful morning it is and give up on sleep.
* * *
One thing I have been dreaming about for several months it seems, is the waffles at Djupdalsvallen. I know it sounds silly to miss something you can easily make at home, but there’s so much more to it than just the waffle itself (which, I have to say again, are the best I’ve ever had).
The target of today’s hike was Lill-Mittåkläppen. I’ve been up to Stor-Mittåkläppen a number of times but the smaller mountain should also be good for flowers and it’s one of the 60 toppar peaks. The day was warm, so I couldn’t wear any more layers than a t-shirt. Blood-sucking demons… everything from mosquitoes to gnats to horse-flies. And then I had to get across big boggy areas and very soon I felt that my feet were wet. Whether it was because of walking through water or sweaty feet in the hot sunshine, I don’t know. But I don’t like the idea of water soaking the Gore-Tex, in my experience the first time the Gore-Tex hiking boots are soaked through, they lose their water-proofness (which obviously wasn’t so good to start with, if they get soaked through…) so they kind of lose their purpose. But it has happened with several boots so I know it’s a fact, no matter what the brochure says.
Anyway, once I was across the bogs, I faced a reindeer fence. I got lucky and quickly found a hole in the fence, so I was able to crawl through. Then I had to cross a small creek and after that it was all uphill to the top of Lill-Mittåkläppen. I had a look at the melting snowfield in the steep side of the mountain for some flowers, but I lost my interest quite quickly when I almost lost my footing a couple of times. It would be a quick way down, but rather painful I think. Up on the top of the plateau, the biting insects finally left me alone. But I wasn’t done with flying critters yet, now I had a pair of gulls circling around me, apparently they have a nest close by. I was a little bit worried that they would start dive bombing me, but I got spared from that.. even if they flew so close to me that I could hear the swoosh.
And after all that hiking and wading and climbing and crawling and biting, I found that I couldn’t actually reach the top. There’s another reindeer fence that surrounds the top from this side and I couldn’t find any opening in the fence that would’ve allowed me to go through. I didn’t feel like following the fence either, I was getting a little bit worried about the time. Djupdalsvallen closes at 16:00 and I had to get a waffle, no matter what! So it was with some bitterness that I gave up, I will still consider this mountain as conquered even if it bothers me that I didn’t actually stand on the highest point. But as you can see in the picture, I was very close in any case.
Since I didn’t like the idea of wading through those mires again, I had this bright idea of going over Stor-Mittåkläppen. Exactly what made me think that climbing a second mountain (which is almost 200 meters higher) would be better than getting wet feet I’ll never know, and I can honestly say that halfway up the steep slope I was seriously questioning my decision-making process. Again. Why are my ideas good only when I get them?
But I made it to Djupdalsvallen with over half an hour to spare. And the waffle was just as good as I remembered it was. An adventurous day with a perfect conclusion!
* * *
I have a love-hate relationship with hikes like this, I hate them when I’m doing them but afterwards when I get back safe, I love them. My biggest concern is that one day I will hurt myself pulling out these silly stunts like exploring the steep side of a mountain with a heavy backpack that can throw you off-balance. I can’t always even call for help – for example today, there was no mobile coverage until I was almost on top of Lill-Mittåkläppen so sometimes I’m well and truly alone. If I hurt myself so badly that I can’t move, I will die there. Nobody knows where I am and nobody will miss me until I should be back at work. So this is a little bit scary sometimes, but what the heck. I’m doing what I love doing and if I have to stop doing it, then I will stop living. Easy decision.