The clouds were low in the morning, but it wasn’t raining any more. I was going to do a hike to Pyramiderna (the Pyramids) and the Issjödalen valley but since I had the whole day on me, I wasn’t in a hurry to leave while there wasn’t much landscape to be seen. So I just did a small walk to kill some time, and noticed that the clouds were starting to lift. After an early lunch, I was ready to hit the trail and by now the sun was breaking through as well.
Thanks to a tip from the cabin manager, I started towards the Lill-Gröngumpen peak. Once on top, I spent a moment to take in the landscape and then finally got down and headed towards the Pyramids. The excitement was mounting with every step, I was finally going to see them! I had seen pictures so I had a good idea of what to expect, but it still so much different when you are standing in front of them. To be perfectly honest, they are not very spectacular or particularly beautiful, but they are geologically very interesting and during all these years since I read about them, and failed attempts to reach them, they had become something of an obsession for me. So now that I saw them, I was happy and just a little bit relieved!
I followed the ridge on the west side of the Pyramids and then got down to the small valley and walked back at the foot of the Pyramids. It is forbidden to walk on top of the Pyramids because the wear and tear from foot steps is causing heavy erosion, and that was perfectly ok with me – I really only wanted to see them!
I rounded the Pyramids on the north side and then sat down by a creek for a coffee break. It was a nice warm day, almost calm, and life really was good. It felt like this was more than a hike – it was an experience, and it just kept getting better!
Issjödalen is right next to the Pyramids, I just needed to get over a ridge. But even that ridge was full of surprises, courtesy of the ice age. Occasionally I would just stop and stare, uttering a ”wow” out loud. The more I saw of the place, the more I loved it. And the more I was grateful for having the wideangle lens. If I had chosen the normal zoom instead, I would only be cursing at my stupidity. So note to self: If in doubt, take the wideangle. Every time.
I followed the trail in the valley up to kungliga jaktstugan (the royal hunting cabin), which didn’t look so very royal up close. Now I had seen everything I came here to see, so I started to head back to Lunndörrsstugan. But the experience was not over yet by any means – the trail passed by a deep canyon, which was lined by beautiful mountain birches. It meant a lot of photo stops, even though by now I was also skipping a lot of photo ops because my feet were starting to complain. It’s been a lot of hiking in two days, and there’s more to come tomorrow!
The hike was 14.61 km, plus 1.88 km for the walk in the morning. When I took off my boots, I discovered a blister behind my left big toe. I hadn’t felt it at all during the hike! I had other things in my mind the whole day, it really was one of the best hikes I’ve ever done and I felt that this trip was already worth all the effort, regardless of what would happen tomorrow.
