This is it, opening of the summer waffle season! I drove to Bruksvallarna and took the toll road to Mittåkläppen. The target for the day’s hike was Lill-Axhögen. There’s a 4-wheeler road that follows the valley to the west, and this road would take me very close to the mountain. But instead of wasting time and effort on walking, I had my bike with me and cycled the 6 km which then left me with an easy 4+ km hike to get to the peak and back.
On the way up, I finally found the reindeer that have been conspicuously absent so far on this vacation. There were hundreds of them, and initially they were all heading towards me, which got me thinking if people have ever been trampled to death by a horde of reindeer. But apparently not, because as soon as they realised that I was there, they made a full U-turn and ran off.
On top of the mountain, I found a lot of reindeer antlers. I counted about 10 more or less complete antlers, and pieces of many more. It’s strange, it seems like when I find one antler I always find a lot more, and then I can hike mountain after mountain and not find one.
I was almost in a little bit of a hurry to get back, because I had to make it to Djupdalsvallen before they close. In the end I had plenty of time, I arrived to my favourite waffle place… only to find it closed. Oh what a disappointment, and what a total miss on my side! I should’ve read the small text. They open on the 26th, not 24th… So there I was, hungry, chased by mosquitoes, and grumpy about the clouds which spoiled any chance I had of checking out a few more places in the vicinity to take some pictures I’ve been planning to take.
I had some coffee left in the thermos and tried to find a nice spot to drink it. But all those bugs, in the end I was sitting in the only mosquito-free place I could find which is my car. And got grumpier by the minute.
Just can’t win every time.
