Kapstaden till Kiruna – 11 days in Sweden: day 5

Sun 9
October
2016

Abisko National Park

After getting lost in the fog and dark the night before Jun and I decided that between us we’d use the daylight to find the lake. I made that my first mission before heading off into the park to explore the Kungsleden trail.

The craft place was closed throughout my stay, unfortunately

Turns out that lake Torneträsk was indeed the advertised 300m from the guesthouse – we’d just missed the road in the dark. I followed it straight down to the water and the boatclub.

I loved this lake – it was perfectly still and devoid of people.

On my way towards the park I passed Jun who was returning and said it was very beautiful. I was pausing every few meters to take a photo of something or other when I discovered, to my delight, a whole lot of wild blueberries (well, bilberries technically I think?) growing everywhere.

The Tourist Station was closed for the off-season, but there were a few other people walking around in groups.

Autumn!

Model of the canyon

Coming around the corner the canyon almost snuck up on me. It was immense and beautiful

And of course the obligatory selfie had to be taken

This was painted in the inside of a tunnel, and was joined by a recording of Sami spoken language and music

I didn’t walk the trail, but I was really happy to find the little Kungsleden house

Another eerily unmanned but functioning train station

It was getting late but I wanted to see the Sami camp so headed along a very quiet and narrow path behind the train station. There was no-one anywhere around, it was amazing.

I was going to turn around but on a whim decided to follow the nature path a little further

In that perfect stillness I suddenly had that uncanny feeling of being watched…and my heart stopped when I saw this moose staring straight at me

I stayed very still, then slowly backed out of her way when I realised she was a mother with two young calves. When she started eating they appeared out of the bushes

I couldn’t get over how big they were. The closest animal in size I’d seen before then was perhaps a camel…the mother crossed the path a way in front of me and headed into the camp. I waited for the calves to follow her before I did so too.

They started literally eating the huts, it was amazing! The whole encounter was so special, and lasted nearly half an hour. Totally majestic animals, and completely silent.

Abisko supposedly has a population of around 85. Most of the people there, therefore are tourists. While I was there virtually everyone I saw was a tourist, apart from one old guy down near the lake, a jogger in the morning and a dog-walker in the evening. I’m not sure if it’s the old stoic Swedish stereotype or an Abisko-specific thing but none of these people were particularly friendly…the old man ignored my attempts at a greeting, the jogger positively glared at me and the dog-walker radiated an almost aggressive indifference. I thought maybe they’re sick of tourists, but who knows…

The only open local business I saw while there…a candyshop with a petrol pump. The highway is directly to the left

Abisko hospitality

I enjoyed the Abisko guesthouse, for what it was. It was expensive but accommodation options are limited out there, and overall I’d probably return. The kitchen was great, the dining area was also nice. My (triple, it was the cheapest…) room was dark and a bit cramped and the place itself looked a bit like a maze inside…but again, overall it was pleasant enough and the location (close to the lake and station and next to the shop…even though said shop was closed indefinitely) was great.