Wednesday 17/8

Visibility improved considerably during the night and the wind died down. The next morning there was even a bit of sun, but it was also back to windy. Fredrik had suffered a forced entry, where something small with sharp teeth had gnawed through the fabric of his inner tent in search of nuts and/or seeds, but the culprit had escaped. A recurring element in the course, when held in Pårek, is an excursion to Hotel Säkok, which was Hamberg's first building in the area, situated beside Sähkokjåhkå. Håkan himself was suffering from migraine, but the rest of us decided to make use of the improved weather conditions and go for it, so after a quick description of where to find the heap of rubble that now remains we set out around 09:15.

I wore the rain trousers against the wet vegetation, but since things looked moderately favorable (even though the clouds had now slammed shut again) I opted for the wind jacket from the start. The clouds were fairly low but visibility was good, and when some drops started falling a couple of mires off we thought nothing more of it. However, it soon turned into actual rain, and a mist was forming, so everyone put on rain clothes. Soon thereafter Håkan, who had shaken the migraine, and Marita caught up with us, and we walked the path in some semblance of unison. Above the forest there was more of both rain and wind, and the haze grew denser. Among the first brook passages we left the path and headed into the underbrush, which was turning yellow in preparation for autumn.

We crossed both dry (or, under the circumstances, "dry") heath and wet areas, and at the first trees we had to be more careful in our choice of heading. We rounded some more mires, and then came to the brink of Sähkokjåhkå, upon which we walked downstream. Bo and I took up the lead, keeping an eye out for the "hotel", which was supposed to be situated close to the first bifurcation. We came out onto a more open flat area with bushes, but a thorough search there yielded no results. Another rise followed, and another bushy flat, but still no signs of a foundation. Håkan was uncertain about where we had gone wrong, so we turned back upstream, splitting up. I walked by myself back across the first flat area, and shortly after passing the spot where Bo and I had first entered it I stumbled upon the remains of the old building. Figures.

A bit of sun in the morning

Good visibility still

Low clouds

Colorful mire

In the rain

Still on the path

No longer on the path

Goal of the day

I immediately called out to the others, and soon most of us were standing in awe around the Historically Significant Location. The search had taken quite a lot of time, but since this was supposed to be a fairly quick excursion most of us had not brought lunch, so we nibbled on what we had in the rain and wind. Håkan knew of a lower route back to Pårek, which is more difficult to hold in the other direction; it is shorter but also wetter, but since no one was particularly dry at the moment we decided to go for it.

Håkan led the way, starting out by going upwards a wee bit to circumvent several larger mires of considerable wetness, and then turned down towards a marked gravel hill. A brook along the way put up a little bit of a fight, and then we found ourselves in sparse forest, on open heath, in low thickets, on wet mires with or without cloudberries (of which I ate as many as I could, where I could) – one after the other. Both the wind and the rain had subsided, and after another tricky brook passage we came to the western end of Boarekjávrre. Soon there appeared a large cairn among the trees, followed by an old installation of some kind, and then a red roof appeared a short distance ahead at 13:45. Our own local brook was passed without trouble, and then we were finally back.

Some of the others intended to see if they could get the little heater in the outhouse going for drying purposes, while I went straight to my tent, and after changing into dry clothes I immediately gobbled up lunch. It was raining again but there was no wind, and I waited for the former to shrink back before going over to the buildings. Håkan and Marita had made a fire in the hut, and since everyone else was busy in the outbuilding there was space for me to put up my jacket and boots. After talking a bit with Håkan I went to check on the others, and found that they had indeed gotten the heater going – and then some. It was decided that lessons would resume at 15:30, and I returned to my tent in the meantime. It was back to heavier rain when the agreed-upon time came, and once again the warm air in the hut made me prone to dozing off, but conditions improved as the heat dissipated.

Some time later the older couple who had peeked in earlier came to the hut, but this was not a courtesy call – they had left their tent in the morning for a day tour, and had not been able to locate it again in all the rain; they had now been walking for nine hours, and had seen no other alternative than to seek us out for assistance. This we of course gave in the form of shelter, a drying fire and some spare food, so that they could make another attempt the following morning. With this sorted I returned to my own tent and prepared dinner – and now, at long last, the gas was running out. I called the fjeld weather service – contrary to expectation, signal strength was good also at this low altitude – and learnt that even more rain was expected on the morrow. Bummer.

A bit later the rain stopped and visibility improved, so I went to fetch my boots to answer a call of nature while I had the chance. I also picked some more berries to augment my decreasing supply, and although it was misty all around it was kind of nice outside. An evening session involving clouds and precipitation took by, with the couple mulling their situation in the other room. There was no change in the weather as I moved off towards bed, which I was the last one to do at 22:45.