Tuesday 8/9

I slept deeply for most of the night, awakening all the way after 07:30 and staying in bed until 8. Now it was cloudy, with rain curtains on the other side of Áhkájávrre, but other than that the cloud base was fairly high. The place was quiet and no one else seemed to be up, and I went for a short walk before starting to pack up. I had breakfast alone – or would have had the staff not been cleaning at the same time – after which the weather improved on the far side of the water. I finished packing and cleaned myself out, changing into the hiking trousers in the process. When I was done I went up to the reception to drop off the key, and then I went out for a longer walk before 10, wearing the sandals and the fleece jacket.

Rainy

Lighter

I walked along the road until I reached the radio mast, during which it started to rain very lightly, but across Áhkájávrre conditions were improving instead. From the mast a marked path goes into the forest, and I started along it. The drops soon stopped falling, but moments later they picked up again, and I went over to a convenient rock formation beside the path to wait it out; it was never very much, but neither was I in any kind of hurry. A sudden increase in intensity was followed by just as sudden an end, and I got moving again.

Up until then the forest had precluded any views, but now windows started appearing, and before long I found myself at a rocky crest. Here an extension to the new trail Rádjebálges – a joint project of the Gällivare and Tysfjord municipalities on either side of the Swedish-Norwegian border – had just been marked, and at the split I turned eastwards along the smaller circuit. From there the view was good, and the weather was not at all bad. The continuation of the path was a bit wetter than before, but I managed alright; a couple of brook passages merited extra caution, though. I was now entering a part of the forest that had acquired a bit more colors, and the sun was making sporadic visits, which made me take the jacket off.

Soon I was out of the forest again, where the path ended close to the start of the Sitasjaure road, which is nowadays closed with a barrier. I walked over to get a closer look at it and then proceeded out onto a ledge beside the entrance to the power plant. It was now sunny and warm, and the clouds were breaking apart everywhere. A nice wind cooled me off as I walked back down the road, passing through the caravan camp and returning to the STF facility before 11:30.

The caravan camping

Another shower

Shelter

Áhkká cut

Sun upon...

...Áhkájávrre

Steep Boalnotjåhkkå

Gállaktjåhkkå coming out

More shots...

...of Áhkká

Down into the forest again

Glacier closeup

Rájvotjåhkkå

The sun approaching

The boat pier

A look west

The Queen of Lapland

Inside the guest building the staff were finishing up in the common room, and I spoke some with two other Swedes, mostly centered upon the ups and few downs of wardenship. As I was preparing lunch it was getting cloudy again outside, and the far-shore showers were back in play as well, but this time they were accompanied by titillating glimpses of sun. Having eaten I read through some collected back issues of STF's magazine Turist until I felt that afternoon tea was in order.

The time to depart was now drawing near, and everyone was preparing to do so. Everyone included yours truly, and with several minutes to go I went out to the waiting bus. The ride along the car road brought me into close contact with the desolated shores of the reservoir, which were now painfully conspicuous, and together with the somewhat dreary weather they really emphasized the horrific transgressions that have occured in this valley, so it was on a note of sadness that I concluded this my fifth warden period.