Kungsleden Day 6 (Final Day!)

Kungsleden Day 6 - 66 miles hiking, 0.5 miles rowing

After a 9 hour sleep at Saltoluokta Mountain Station, given the first boat out wasn’t until 10:20am, I woke up with a red and puffy face- puffy eyelids and bags under my eyes. It’s almost as if the extra rest allowed my body to go into full inflammation/repair/recovery mode.

I had my first meal not out of a sealed bag or a can in a while, fresh-baked bread which I slathered with a thick layer of butter and orange marmalade. Why does the bread and butter taste so much better here than back home??

I took the ferry with a bunch of other hikers under a clear blue sky then hopped on the bus with everyone to our next destination, Vakkotavare where the trail continues. I saw two rainbows on the way. We drove away from the blue sky and right into a pocket of rain to start the day. I felt energized and ready to take on the final 67ish miles. I bounded up the steep ascent, feeling motivated and excited for what lay ahead.

I was treated to three more rainbow sightings in addition to the first two. Rainbow world record! I was treated to an equal amount of cold rain showers. I’ve never taken my jacket on and off more times in one run. The temperature drastically fluctuated depending on whether the sun was out.

I descended down to Teusajaure lake, the final lake crossing! This one you could row yourself, or wait for the 9am or 5pm motorboat crossing. It would be 2:30pm or so when I arrived, so I was determined to row. Like my first rowing, I got lucky and had two hikers this time that I’d go across with. None of us had much experience rowing, so I volunteered since I had tried rowing a few days ago. It was very windy out and the water was very choppy. There was also a strong current that sent the boat spiraling once or twice. I worked very hard to keep us in the right direction. A day later and my left arm is very sore! Halfway through one of the hikers volunteered to switch with me, and I was happy to be relieved. We carefully switched places and he rowed the rest of the way, through the worst of it.

Once we were safely ashore, I zipped off to the next section. I was in such a good mood to start the day, but now I was in a foul mood. I think the rowing stressed me out more than I realized. It was a large lake for a novice to row across, and in rough conditions. I’m glad we did it, but I didn’t feel excited or empowered this time. I felt shaken up. I put on some music to take my mind off of it, and it helped.

It was a late start to the day, noon exactly when the bus dropped us off at the trailhead. By 4pm, many hikers I passed by were already setting up camp. I was in it for the long haul, ready to hike all night and then some.

As the sun slowly lowered, I was treated to maybe the most majestic part of the trail, a valley lined with sloping mountains on either side. It truly felt like the trail’s namesake, the King’s Road. I got inspired and put on Handel’s Messiah “Comfort Ye” and “Ev’ry Valley”. Very stately, very fitting!

The night portion was the most challenging part of my entire journey. The trail was strewn with rocks, the footing similar to the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania, plus the occasional boulder field reminiscent of the White Mountains. It rained off and on, making the rocks slippery, plus it had rained hard the night before so there was lots of mud. The night involved a lot of stumbling, toe stubbing, splashing, and way-finding. This part of the trail is the most popular, so much that it’s being loved to death. The trail looks like six parallel trails, as it has been widened due to so much foot traffic. This made it very difficult to follow at night. I had to occasionally turn my headlamp to a brighter setting to make sure I could see the next cairn or red-painted rock ahead, ensuring I was going the right way. This made for a slow going and frustrating night.

At midnight I noticed some light coming from behind of me, turned around and was actually scared for a split second. The full moon was peeking out from behind the clouds, but it was the most full, bright, shining moon I’d ever seen. It almost looked like an eclipse! I felt in awe and actually a bit spooked! Coincidentally I had been worried about the cold draining my headlamp battery, and now the full moon was shining brightly, illuminating everything. I said out loud, “You really want me to finish this trail, huh?”

I had started the day in shorts, but it was wet and cold and I knew I needed to change. My socks were also very wet. At the highest point of the night, and the entire trail, I ducked into an emergency shed meant for chopping wood. It was small and cramped with equipment and wood shavings, and to my dismay there was human poo someone had deposited in the corner of the shed. Yuck!! I quickly recharged my headlamp, changed my tights, and changed into another pair of dirty, but dry, socks.

The next section down from the high point was equally a slog, and my core body temperature seemed to be down. I was getting cold and needed to warm up. I had more layers in my pack, but the on and off rain made me reluctant to stop for anything, because stopping even for a few seconds meant getting cold.

Finally I came across a mountain station around 5 or 6am. I tried one building, locked. I tried another and found it open, with a kitchen and clothes-warming room inside. I took off my shoes at the entrance, went into the warming room which had a bunch of clothes hung up in it, took off my socks and put them in front of the heater, then I laid down on the floor in the sauna-like room, put my legs up on top of my backpack, and closed my eyes. This is really hard. I was ready to be done but there was still a long way to go, at least 22 miles on top of the 40+ I’d already gone.

After this brief stop, something changed. My body warmed up and I was immediately sweating in my layers and pulling them off to stuff back into my bag. I think the short “nap” was the reset I needed, almost like I tricked my body into thinking it got sufficient rest. Suddenly I was moving well and running again. It helped that it was light out again.

The rest of the day was dreamy. I cruised by beautiful glacial blue lakes, and the trail gradually descended over the final miles, getting warmer and warmer with the lower elevation. After a cold and blustery night high up in the mountains, I found myself surrounded by green- and yellow-leaved birches, the sun warming my skin, the sky blue again, and everything very pleasant. I couldn’t believe my body seemed to still happily be running after all the miles of the week, and still going almost 24 hours later from where I’d started my “day” in Vakkotavare. I’m usually very reluctant to push myself in this way. I think the usual me would break it up into two days, 40 and 26 mile days. Sometimes you just try and see what happens- you never know what you’re capable of unless you try. I ran as much as I could in the final eight miles, which was more of a run/walk combo. The final meters to the finish are in a wooden tunnel, with a fun map stretching along the walls on either side. To the left, the map showed every town and hut from Hemavan to Abisko. I hiked all of that! I reached out and touched the Abisko Kungsleden sign at 12:16pm, making my total time on Kungsleden 6 days, 7 hrs, 50 minutes. The first established women’s self-supported fastest known time on Kungsleden, and fourth-fastest self-supported time overall.

Thank you to everyone that’s been following along, thank you to all the kind people I met up and down the trail, and big thank you to Mountain Hardwear for providing gear and support for this trip. I was so happy with my set up and felt prepared for all the elements, and was especially glad I could trust in my equipment to keep me safe and warm.

I video documented this trip and can’t wait to share the vlog series which I’ll post on my YouTube account YouTube.com/PinkFeathersLiz in the coming weeks.

Now, sleep!!

Liz