Tours › 2009 › Kutjaure: Day Tours › 30/8

Sunday 30/8

Gårssåjávrre

Horizontal distance:	10 km
Vertical distance:	+240 m, -240 m
Time:	5 h 15 min
Lunch break:	15 min
Dinner:	–
Night accommodation:	–
Stage classification:	Easy

I walked along the northbound trail in the wind jacket and gloves, since it was not too warm. In the band of forest the leaves had caught some wetness, and the dry heath had acquired a fair bit of color. There was some sun on and off, but over Sarek it was raining again. I took the older path across Allakjågåsj, at the other side of which it got clearer. Back on the trail a light rain approached quickly from behind, but it was short-lived. Just after the high bridge I broke away and followed the stream, going over a low rise and coming to Gårssåjávrre at an angle. I walked along the shore checking the depth, and when I reached the outflow of said stream I turned back to the best place I had seen along the way and started to fish.

Rain in the Swan valley

Light Guvtjávrre

It comes

It left

It came again...

...and left this behind

Color patterns on Muvrratjåhkkå

Upstream

Vastenjávrre in the distance

Gårssåjávrre just ahead...

...with Allak on the other side

Varying lures and locations did not yield any catches other than "seaweed", but all the while the weather was improving, even though it was getting windier as well. Out on the lake there were some birds which from later close study of photographs and bird books together with the sound they made I have concluded to be red-throated loons, and an unknown bird of prey passed by overhead. After a quick lunch and some more fruitless spinning I leapt across the outflow at a narrow place just below which it was both deep and wide. On the other side was a nice beach, but the adjacent grass was too wet and/or bumpy to make a good or even possible campsite.

I tried fishing some more here but since it was too shallow for comfort I soon moved on, tracing the inside of a little cove. The wind was getting stronger, so I had to go out on the next little promontory in order to attain a suitable orientation for my hurling. I remained in this place for some time and then made a few other attempts around the promontory and a bit into the following cove, but also here the shallowness was an issue. I then came to a deep and not too insignificant "mire canal", and rather than looking for a place to get across I returned to where I had left my pack, but not along the shore this time. I fished some more at that place while the sun was coming back from its hiding place, and there was a pretty light in the midst of all the wind.

More sun...

...all around

Them birdies

Gasskatjåhkkå

Allak lit

Up the valley

Outflow

Following the shore...

...with the little "beach"

Grass!

Light!

Islet with Sarekkian background

Gisuris

Eventually I decided to call it quits and walked over a nearby wet patch to drier ground further from the water. Here I found a few cairns, but no path or anything like that, but after passing some pools and scaling a low hill I ran into a small group of reindeer out on a larger mire. Rather than going straight across this wetness I turned east towards another pool, and then tried the crossing at a narrower place, which went well. For some reason the reindeer were bouncing to and fro in my general direction, but when they got close they headed off. After the mire a nice mix of grass and heath took by, and before I knew it I was back at the trail at about the same place where I had returned to it on the way up.

Rather than walking across the smaller bridge I went out onto the little cliffs and made that leap across that I had thought about earlier. While I was walking in shadow most of the time it was sunny and fair out on and beyond Guvtjávrre, but at Vastenjávrre it was raining. In among the trees all wetness had evaporated, and then I went up onto a hill next to the trail that I had thought looked interesting. Its top hosted a sizeable, roughly ellipse-shaped area devoid of trees, and my beforehand guess had been that this was an old reindeer corral. Since I found both some (really) old building material and even a bit of rusty mesh I judged my hypothesis confirmed, and I walked around the edge of the clearing looking for other traces. The southern rain was getting closer, and just as I stepped onto the trail again the first drops came, which rather quickly increased in frequency. I therefore hastened my steps, reaching the cottage after 15:15 in a growing haze infused with sunlight.