Woke up with sunshine and a dominantly blue sky. Unfortunately, the tent is still soaked from condensation. I took off the other fly to dry and slowly started to pack up. Decided that tonight I would camp on higher grounds to spot reindeer up close and have a beautiful view (plus fewer mosquitoes).
The route at first was a bit slow going and I was happy I didn’t continue yesterday. It’s astonishing how green it is. In every possible place, plants are growing. Forming green blankets over the rocks. As it had rained a lot the past few days, there was no way I could keep my feet dry. So much for cleaning my socks and shoes yesterday in the river.
Soon I was at the big river. It became immediately clear that the river was majestic. With the additional water, it roared deep and my earth science heart beat a little faster pure out of enthusiasm. I had an early break to take it all in. Plus I knew I would finish after 25km.
During the break, I got company from a Swiss guy (think his name is Joel) and we had a nice chat. He wanted to go a little bit further than I planned. I finished my break before he finished his but he soon passed me on trail. The track was along the lake, but it wasn’t as taxing as I on beforehand thought.
after the lake section, the climb would start and so did the rain thinking that I would be hot during the climb. I decided to only wear my rain jacket… when I was putting on my rain jacket, I saw Joel picking a lot of berries. we had discussed this during our break, and he said he hadn’t picked any yet so apparently our talk unleashed the berry-picking fanatic in him.
the rain came down much much much harder than I thought, turning the path into a small river. Which, as an earth scientist, I still enjoy. Seeing structures and flow dynamics on a micro-scale. The rest of me enjoyed the rain, much less, but I’m trying this new attitude to just accept the things out of my control as they come and not waste energy on it. I’m not yet there, but I found that I dealt with the rain pretty well. After an hour the rain stopped and I slowly dried up. On the verge of being completely dry, new rain clouds appeared. Oh well….
In the distance, I could see other hikers and their colourful rainbow protective covers over their backpacks. Walking steadily in the rain. No one stopped even though it was well past lunchtime.
At three I made my first attempt at lunch for new raindrops, which made me cancel. Luckily 15 minutes later, the Sun actually came through and I had lunch. The rest still continued, making me realise that all the possible camp spots near the boat crossing for tomorrow will be taken plus I already decided yesterday that I wanted to camp up. I chose to go a little bit further than the planned location but kept a longer distance left for tomorrow.
I did not regret that decision. I have a beautiful view good weather, and most importantly, when I was in my tent very early on two reindeer, came very close to my tent. Yes me trying to take a photo of them scared them away but it was still awesome. Loved it!!! Got me so hyped!!
I also called to the next boat, which I could catch at 9 o’clock in the morning. I still have 10k left to do with an average pace of 3 1/2 km/h plus some extra time to be safe, which means my alarm is set at 5 😦
Zilla-in-the-wild 