No Sleep 'til Kilpisjarvi
Kilpisjarvi - Mile 264 - Jul 22nd, 2018
The 10-day hike from Abisko to Kilpisjarvi went just about without a hitch. After spending the bulk of our rest day in Narvik, we spent the night with our friends at NOLS Scandinavia. They provided us with wonderful hospitality, food, and trail advice, and Oscar, one of their staff who's also a professional photographer, took some amazing pictures of the crew before dropping us off at the trailhead.
We started the hike with heavy packs (all upwards of 60 lbs), but it quickly became clear that carrying extra food weight translated into more and better food, and therefore a happier crew. The route from Kilpisjarvi to Abisko (the opposite direction than we were going) appears to be a pretty popular route, particularly among hikers from Thueringen, Germany, for some reason.
The last 10 trail days were marked by consistently hot, sunny weather, which sounds nice until you realize there's nearly no shade on the tundra (due to a notable lack of trees) and that the sunny weather continues through the night. Some highlights included, climbing a 1400-meter mountain, (unnamed on the map, so we named it Mattinglycohkka, since Liam was the first to summit), perfecting the art of making both bread and pizza on the trail, visiting the 3-nation-point where Norway, Sweden, and Finland meet, and some of the most astounding views we've had so far.
The second biggest benefit of the tundra's treelessness (the first being ease of navigation) is that, no matter where you look, there's always a beautiful view. Hiking somewhere that constantly forces you to acknowledge your own smallness is, in my opinion, a paradigmatically different experience from forested hiking. Hiking through a forest, at least the northeastern American brand I'm most familiar with, is a primarily goal-oriented experience. Most hikes I've done in the Northeast have been with the goal of reaching some exceptional location, usually a peak, waterfall, or cliff. You might hike for hours just to get to such a spot.
On the tundra, visibility allowing, nearly every spot has a line of sight to towering peaks, shear cliffs, meandering rivers, dramatic waterfalls, and endless boulder fields. There's no need to hike *to* somewhere beautiful, since you'd be hard pressed to find somewhere that isn't. Unlike in the White Mountains, ridge trails here practically don't exist, since the view from a ridge or a peak isn't dramatically better than from the bottom of a valley. The ceaselessness of the beauty here in the Arctic makes it more possible to hike, not to a destination, but for its own sake.
We've spent the last two days in Kilpisjarvi, Finland, where we've been enjoying such amenities as couches, restaurants, and beer. We've loaded up on such delicacies as tinned fish, rice, and four different varieties of cheese in preparation for our next and final ration period, 14 days long, into Kautokeino, Norway. We're excited to get back onto the trail tomorrow!
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Eli, Liam, Sam, and Kristian
Kilpisjarvi - Mile 264 - Jul 22nd, 2018