Day 34 – 23 Jul, Gautelisvatnet Lake to Sitashytta Hut

(32 km, total 859.5 km, 9h 10m, 0730 to 1640)

Today started really bad and finished really good.
As the porridge had not tasted nice yesterday I decided to boil some water this morning to try and have the porridge cook that way. I had just finished boiling the water and was doing something inside my tent and my stove fell over, with my water spilling. Thankfully I was doing this outside my tent so no mopping up to do. I put another cup on to boil and tried to open the porridge sachet. I had struggled yesterday but managed. This morning part of it gave quicker than I was expecting and I spilt a lot of it, half on the ground and half in my tent- Grrrr The one good thing is that the porridge did taste a lot better hot.
There was no mist this morning so I had great views. The track started descending , crossing some little streams and a reindeer fence. There was someone camped by the stream and reindeer fence but they looked to be asleep still so I did not disturb them.

The track went around the end of the lake, over a concrete dam through the rocks and over a bridge and up to a gravel road.

The gravel road climbed steadily, crossed a dam and climbed some more. The views over the lake were pretty eith the lake glistening silver under the grey clouds. There were two large reindeer silhouetted against the lake and lots of birds tryi g desperately to distract me from their babies, not always successfully.

The trail turned away from the lake there was a signpost indicating where the trail to Skoaddejavri Hut was.

Good luck trying to pronounce these names

Now it was a big climb of 200 vertical meters up to a pass. It was a neat climb with the track winding through the big rocks and taking a nice logical route. It was really well marked. I kept looking back at the view of the lake. There were heaps of snow patches and this increased as I climbed.

As I went around a small lake there were reindeer prints in the sand. When I reached the plateau at the top of the pass I saw the small herd of reindeer. They seem to float over the rocks that take me an effort to negotiate.

Reinder tracks

The track started dropping back down and thankfully it was easy going. I could see a lake below me and knew the hut was just around the corner at the end of the lake which was good motivation to go a little faster.

I reached the hut, Skoaddejavre Hut, at 1100 and decided to have an early lunch. The views from the hut were fantastic and it would be neat to just hang out at this hut. It was really rocky and it was big slabs of rock as opposed to lots of small rocks.

After lunch I put on my wind jacket as I had just started feeling cold before getting to the hut. I was ready and pack on but when I open the door I see it is raining so wind jacket off, rain jacket on. I left the hut and it was light rain but 5 minutes later it turned to heavy rain, thankfully from the side rather than head on.
It was a really neat path through the huge rock slabs and boulders with lakes appearing at regular intervals. The visibility wasn’t great in the rain but it was enough to appreciate this new terrain. There was a lot of ups and downs then a longer descent started and the rocks gave way to alpine grasses.

The rain now stopped, thought there were occasional showers. At one point I had to cross a snow patch and the end of it was a steep bank so I was having to dig steps to get down.

Straight after that was a small climb and then I could see the lake below, way way below. There was a 250 vertical meter drop in 1.5 km which means it was steep. The route taken was strange and I kept wanting to go a different direction to the route. There was a large patch of snow that the trail went over but it was steep and I did not want to risk sliding as it was a long way to slide. I crossed the snow at a different location where it was short and then climbed down the rocks beside the snow patch. Most of it was ok but there were a couple of places where I was on the edge of cliffs trying to keep balance. On the very last rock before getting to the bottom of the snow patch I slid, landing on my bum. Unfortunately I made a small tear in my raincoat.
By the time I got to the bottom of this hill my legs were jelly and my knees were really sore.

I was now on a gravel road for 14km and I was actually thankful for the chance to rest my legs, for the first 5 km, then it got sore from pounding on the hard road.
My toes were taking it in turns to hurt. I could understand the one where the nail is about to fall off but that one came right and another one hurt, then again with another one. Just my body letting me know I am making it do more than it wants. The road climbed, crossed the boarder into Sweden, climbed some more then dropped to a pretty turquoise lake.

Border crossing

Still not quite sure what this sign means

I followed one edge of the lake then climbed over a hill and dropped to a really big lake. The hut was now only 5 km away at the other end of the lake. I made good time arriving slightly before my estimate.

I did not think I had done many km so I was preparing to have a quick snack at the hut and keep going. I saw boots outside the hut and as I entered was greeted with big smiles and introductions were made. They immediately started talking about making room for me and I said I may not be staying. We started chatting and I immediately knew these people would be good company. I quickly checked my map and saw I had done 32km so decided to stop and make the most of good company. I set up for sleeping in the other hut and just took my food bag and cup to cook dinner later. I ended up not touching the food bag.
Firstly there was a lovely red wine salami, then a toast with a lovely Cognac, and then another shot to sip. Then coffee. Then I was talking about my issues with resupply and the supermarket meals and they insisted I have their spare Real Turmat. I did go against my trail philosophy of not saying no but they insisted and I happily accepted.
We sat and talked for ages about a wide range of things. Hiking and the outdoors featured prominently but also shared some things about our countries. The two girls, Malin (16 years), and Elise (13 years), had disappeared to their room and I sat talking with Stine and Frank. I thought it was nice to see the family doing this sort of thing together.
The next offer was red wine. It came in a tetra pack like small fruit juices but still tasted good. Then we prepared our meals, by pouring boiling water in them, then talked while we waited for them to cook. I was really hungry and my beef and potato Real Turmat, accompanied by red wine, tasted fantastic. After dinner we played Yahtzee and with a late come back I won with beginners luck. To be clear there is no skill involved, just the luck in the roll of the dice.
Then we continued talking while snacking on Pringles and lollies. It was 2330 before we realised and we decided to go to bed. We ended the night with hugs and I feel lucky to have met these lovely people.