Friday 16/8

A quick'n'light shower was followed by a good night's sleep, which was followed by a semi-clear morning, and I arose when the sun emerged from the clouds and started warming the tent. I spent some time in the open air before settling down for breakfast in the same, sheltered by some rocks behind the tent; the wind had turned 180° compared to the previous day. Just as I was finishing up a few drops fell from the sky, but after another short burst it got lighter again. I packed up my things in intermittent sunlight and left at 10:00 with the rain cover in place over the rucksack, just in case.

I walked straight to the trail and then headed for the middle ford, which turned out to consist of an easy portion of stones followed by a deeper and swifter course with a slanting rock face on the other side. After moving some stones to provide better footing I could get across without trouble – and without removing my boots – but that rock face is probably problematic when wet. The connection trail was clear on this side, but I soon left it and headed straight up the slope, first to the west of and then upon a large protrusion. The ground was easily trodden, with grass and moss between the stones, and the weather was still good. Abiskoalperna et al were capped by cloud, but were emerging more and more. I followed the hollow of a not-quite-a-stream, where the stones were larger but also flatter, so walking was easy – and then it was back to moss.

Upstream

Ford (before)

Ford (after)

Structure

Downstream

Abiskoalperna over there

The lower ford

Green

Whence I came

Higher up

Stonier

The wind grew as I got higher, and suddenly a familiar shape appeared behind a crest – the peaks of Storsteinsfjell. I passed east of the lake at border cairn 264 and then very easily crossed the stream between the pools that make up the source of Ruovssokjávri. I climbed the stony slope a bit to avoid the precipice right at the border line, but still ended up in a steep section with loose rocks, so I had to exercise a fair bit of caution. The views were very good, however, both over Ruovssokjávri and the fjelds to the east, and the sun was out most of the time. After a slanting snowfield and some more tricky bits I came to a large outcrop some time after noon where I found shelter from the wind, and stopped there for lunch.

Storsteinsfjell...

...beyond the lake

Rr 264

First view of Ruovssokjávri

Ruddy

Blue

Stony

I rounded the dell at mostly the same contour line, but it involved a passage that required a bit of, shall we say, mettle, but I had to give up before another slanting snowfield, as the surface was too hard and icy to provide safe footing. I navigated between small ledges until I was up on the little plateau that houses border cairn 263A, where I proceeded up onto a rocky hill to get the best possible view of the lands beyond. These were as nice as expected as such, but at the moment lay partly in shadow. At the edge overlooking the valley of Čunojávri the wind jumped up a whole series of notches, and I had to hold on to my hat lest I lose it.

Colored

Nearing the edge

Ruovssuk and beyond

Čunojávri and beyond

This was just the "crest effect", though, so once I started to descend it diminished by a fair amount. I zigzagged my way down, scaring a couple of elks in the process, and when I had come down a quarter of the way or so I recognized some features from my previous cave hunt, and I now wanted to make another attempt at locating the main cave. Specifically there was a rock hill consisting of the telltale limestone that I had seen last time around which I now headed over to; I left my pack there and started exploring. But, no luck. I went round the hill, down to the next one, even further away to another rock formation, back around, over the top – and still nothing. I'm starting to wonder if that cave is but a legend...

As I moved off in the direction of the "corner" formed by Ruovssuk's southern outrunner the sun shone on the land, but half of the valley was still shadowed. There were a few reindeer about, but I had not seen any other hikers all day. I passed a couple of brooks where flowers bloomed still, and then came to a nice li'l dell I had seen on my previous excursions in the area, and proceeded to round the outrunner, thereby passing back into Sweden where for some reason the wind was weaker. I followed reindeer paths above the low shrubs, eating a good many blueberries that grew right along the way, and then set off straight for the Unna Allakas cottage, which had been visible since the border. I knew the way well, of course, and came up to the warden's cottage around 14:45.

Čunojávri and reindeer

Storsteinsfjell back in view...

...like Abiskoalperna

Little hills

Pale Ruovssuk

Goal

Rájdečohkat

My home of old

Emma was there, as was Björn, a man she had recently befriended due to his spending many nights in the area. After a semi-brief hello I went to have a shower(!) while she tended to some day visitors' shopping needs; the water could not be called warm – the sun had been clouded for too long – but neither was it freezing. Since a large group was expected and I had my tent I left my stuff outside for the time being, in case of crowdedness, and went to talk with Emma and the shoppers, who were sitting outside, and we were soon joined by Björn and his dog.

When the others left, Emma, Björn and I retired to Emma's cottage for some tea'n'talk, while the weather finally decided that "fair" was the way to go. A group of five Polish-Belgians (don't ask) then came from Alesjaure, but their Plan was to tent right on the Norwegian border, so they soon went on. Since it now seemed that there would be no shortage of space inside I took my stuff in and chose a bed. The interior of the kitchen/common room had been refurbished since my custodianship, and was looking very fresh – and the exterior of the buildings had also been repainted (courtesy of Janne, the warden whom Emma was filling in for).

Just after dinner four Norwegians arrived, intending to stay the night, so they placed themselves in my room which had six beds. Now the previously announced group started to arrive as well, and I realized that it consisted of young Germans whom I had seen during the train/bus journey at the start of the tour. I sat outside in the fair evening with Björn and, when she had time, Emma – and promptly forgot about the dishwater I had put on. A bit later Björn and I answered an invitation of Emma's for vegetarian tacos (again, don't ask), which were followed by some blueberry-filled pancakes brought by the Norwegians as thanks for some butter Emma had given them.

Needless to say satiation ensued, and we remained around the table talking for a long time, broken only by the other guests' shopping requests and a couple of campers who wanted to utilize a level spot right next to the woodshed. As clouds were easing themselves onto the Norwegian peaks the conversation turned to bad puns (gotta love those), and dusk started falling slowly. At last it was time to think about bed, which turned out to be unexpectedly troublesome – the Norwegians had closed the door, as the Germans were still up, and the handle had come loose to the point that it couldn't be opened from the outside. After some fruitless attempts to save the situation with what tools were at hand the occupants of the room were simply woken up, and I could join their ranks. It was almost 23:45 when I finally turned in, appreciative of the cool air coming through an open window.

Sunny

Great location

The famed shower

Evening light