Day 28 – 17 Jul, N foot of Blafjellet Vuomavrri to 2km south of Altevasshhytta Hut

(37 km, total 708.5 671.5 km, 10h 50, 0650 to 1740)

The sun was streaming into my tent turning it into a sauna so I could not stay there any longer and got up early. I was on the trail by 0650 and feeling good, despite the long day yesterday.
The trail continued to wind through the forest for a little while before the trees started to thin out. This was a lovely track and the views in front of the lake an mountains were very pretty.

The trail started veering to the left and climbing up and over a saddle, past some lakes and down to a large lake where the hut was. I made very quick time for this 4km taking just over an hour.

At the hut was a man packing away his gear and a beautiful dog. It was friendly and perfectly happy to be patted by me, and I was pretty happy too. The man was here with his wife and three children doing a two day hike and he was fishing in the evenings. Seeing the trail to come I was impressed at the children’s abilities, the oldest only looked to be around 12 and the youngest looked around 8.

After signing in the hut book I was on my way following the river upstream, but keeping high on the side of the hill. After 20 minutes I could see two hikers who seemed to have just packed up and were starting for the day. I quickly caught them and we had a good chat. They were a retired German couple who had started the E1 in Sweden, rented a cabin for the winter then started E1 from Nordkapp and were going around 1000km. They were going about 10km a day and so their heavy packs were even heavier with food. I admire their attitude to the trail of taking it easy and wish I could take it a bit more easy.

Alexandra and Wolfgang from Germany

Now the climb started to become more pronounced as the track went over a small saddle and then I could see the end of the valley, which meant a climb out of the valley.

I could see a tent well off the trail as I started climbing but was not going to walk that far to say hi. The climb started ok but then started to get rocky until it was continual rock hopping across the boulder fields, nearly 1km of full on rock hopping and then another 2km of rock hopping with a few brief rests on smaller rocks.

Looking back at the valley I was climbing out of

This is a lot of rock to scramble across

The sun was beating down and I was starting to feel very lethargic. I quickly ate something to try and get some energy back.
Not long after I started the descent from the saddle I met a Norwegian Man wearing shorts and with a small pack, two very rare things with Norwegians. They tend to wear heavy pants and carry huge packs. When he realised I spoke English he asked if I was the New Zealander. I thought Jan had been doing his work again but when I asked if he had met Jan he said “no, I have been reading your blog”. Wow I did not expect to meet anyone in Norway who had read my blog. He was doing an interesting sounding three day hike and was lucky enough to hike here regularly. As we were talking we were both being bitten by the flies which he said are called Kleg in Norwegian. They hatch when the weather gets hot and some years can be near plague proportions. It is still early in their season so I have their delights for much more time. They annoy me much more than mosquitos because they really hurt when they bite.

I have been very impressed with the Tromso region. Everywhere I look the views are fantastic and the trail has been interesting with big mountains, big rivers and lots of lakes. This is definitely a region I would recommend people to come for amazing hiking.

About 15 minutes later there was another Norwegian man going fishing with a huge pack but he did not want to stop. After seeing him I was thinking about back when I did traditional Kiwi tramping (NZ Hiking) with a big heavy pack. I remember being focused on the pack a lot and resting a lot. I appreciate my new lighter setup, especially with the rock hopping. I don’t know how you can get through the rocks without jumping which would be hard to do in the heavy packs I have been seeing. Also I barely notice my pack and it makes a more enjoyable experience. Because my pack is lighter I go much faster which means I need less food which means my pack is lighter etc.

The trail finally left the rocky zone and started descending on a grass track, with lots of rocks interspersed with frequent boggy patches.

Finally off the rocks

I am glad I decided to take it easy today as the trail would not allow a fast hike. I was loosing energy again as the valley had no wind to ease the heat. I had been drinking nonstop and was happy I was in the mountains where I am not filtering my water.
The trail dropped to follow a river and as it came around a corner the lake came into view, an it is a really large lake. There were some ups and downs through the sparse trees and lots of boggy patches before crossing a bridge and arriving at the hut.

I woke a lady who had stopped to rest and snoozed off. She was heading to the last hut I stopped at so had a long way to go.
I ate lunch and saw there was a temperature gauge. It was 27 degrees outside and that was in the shade, no wonder I was hot. As well as my normal sandwich I also finished a bag of nuts and dried cranberries which usually lasts all day. I had a long break there to try and get some energy back.

It worked and when I left the hut I was raring to go and took off at a fast pace. I had mentioned to the girl that this section looked swampy and she said it was board walked. I though that meant a few patches but every single stream crossing and bog had boardwalk. The first part of the trail went uphill through sparse trees on a beautiful fast trail.

Then the trail entered the smaller beech and other shrubs and the trail became rougher and more rocks and routes on the trail but the boggy patches were board walked and I was still flying.

Then an hour later I started to fade so eased back on the pace. I was drenched with sweat and was dipping my hat in all the streams to help cool me off.
Much quicker than I expected the track descended to the lake edge, through constant boardwalks over the swamp. I was at my 700km mark so some fallen branches made my marker this time. I now am starting to feel like I am making progress.

The trail headed up beside a river and I caught 3 people. I don’t know where they came from as it was after fussing around making my sign and taking the 700km photos and then when I started walking the people were right there. Two of them looked exhausted but there was nothing I could do to help that. I passed them and was quickly at the bridge. I don’t thing it would pass NZ safety standards as there were no hand rails, though it was wide.

No handrails

Now the trail joined a 4WD track with boardwalks for the vehicles across the boggy bits.

I followed this trail for 1.8km then seemed to have missed a marker as I stopped seeing footprints and came to a river with no bridge. I looked right and saw a pedestrian bridge 50m away so cut across to this bridge. This bridge also had no handrails and was arched so it felt weird being exposed.

After the bridge was a sign saying 3km to the hut, and this was uphill. My energy was low again so I plodded along, knowing I was stopping soon.

Looking back at the lake

Just sort of the hut was a bridge and here I filed up all my water and water for camp, twice as much as normal as I needed a lot of liquid. As their were houses upstream I filtered the water. Then across the bridge was the hut in a fantastic location. I took my shoes off and went inside to put my intentions in the hut book then shoes back on There were two people outside the second hut sitting in the sun and they made a comment about not stopping. I just said ”I cant afford to stay in huts for 3 months and will cam a few km along”. They seemed surprised but wished me luck.

Fom the hut it was downhill on a gravel road, past a cute information board, over a dam and through a carpark full of people preparing quad bikes. I guess there is a rally tonight.

Over the dam

Once through the carpark there was a bridge and then a junction with no signpost with one track going up hill, with lots of boot prints, and a track going right, with no boot prints. I started to go straight but after 50 meters checked my map and confirmed it was going in the wrong direction so I went back to the other track which lined up better with my map.

Now my focus was searching for a campsite and after around 800m I found one of the few flat spots on the hill and set up camp.

There were less insects but still enough that once in my tent the door stayed shut. Cooking in my tent is now the norm.
I had a big serving of mashed potatoes and a desert, though it did not set, I thing it is part of the strange batch of coconut milk powder. It was a little warm in my tent. I had both doors open but there was not much of a breeze and the sun was still getting my tent through the trees.
For wanting an easier day I still ended up doing a good amount of km.

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