Guoletsbäcken River to Bäverholmen, Kungsleden - August 2019

Hmmm

I was up and packed up by 6am this morning, although with the sky starting to lighten at around 4am that wasn’t as onerous as it could of been. The reason for my alpine start was that it looked like the weather was again on the change for the worse. In the back of my mind I had a vague plan that if the day turned out too bad then I might have a chance to make it to Bäverholmen where there was a chance to buy a meal and more importantly, I might be able to organise a room for the night. To have any chance of getting to Bäverholmen though meant that I’d have to get away fairly early.

Conditions didn't look that promising as I set off this morning.

Leaving last nights camp down beside the Guoletsbäcken River it looked like the dodgy weather might have already caught up with me as the suspension bridge was slowly being engulfed by the cloud. Crossing the bridge the Kungsleden climbed a little over the open fell as I made my way towards Lisvuolávrrie Lake and somewhat oddly the cloud lifted a bit. Where it had looked like I would be slogging my way through dodgy weather from the get go, in actual fact I was able to put my waterproof camera away and break out the DSLR for awhile.

I had a bit of luck initially this morning when the cloud lifted...for awhile.

I was even able to break the DSLR out of it's dry bag.

The country today made for fairly easy walking for the most part.

I'm sure I got one of these guys in focus...maybe.

Early morning on the Kungsleden.

After passing Lisvuolávrrie Lake the Kungsleden continued to climb for a bit longer and I was making the most of every good minute today. Apart from a couple of quick stops for a drink or to try and get a reasonable photo of the Reindeer herds that were out enjoying the day. While I’d been lucky so far today it looked that my luck with the weather could run out at any minute really, and just after climbing over the high point of my mornings walk my luck did indeed run out and the rain arrived in earnest.

I was pretty keen to get as many kilometres under my boots before the inevitable rain arrived.

Kungsleden

Approaching Lisvuojávrrie Lake.

Once again I couldn't shake that feeling that I was being watched.

Heading north on the Kungsleden.

All the big rivers are bridged and there is generally a way to get across the smaller creeks that aren't bridged with dry boots.

Dropping down a long moraine ridge towards the lakes near Tjiegnatisjávrrie it was time to pull on the wet weather gear. The rain and wind hit fairly hard initially, a situation not helped no doubt by me being on a very exposed section of track. Still with everything wrapped up in waterproof gear I wasn’t too uncomfortable, the cold temperatures and downhill gradient actually helping keeping me cool so I wasn’t sweating up a storm under the Gortex. Once off the moraine the Kungsleden tracked just to the west of a series of lakes, the track itself was now starting to get a bit rocky and those rocks were slick now that they were wet.

Dropping down this moraine the rain and wind caught up with me.

I was still smiling...although at this stage I'd only just pulled on my waterproofs!

It was still fairly early in the morning as I made my way past Tjiegnatisjávrrie, however with the  open county not giving me much in the way of protection it meant that I didn’t linger at what I’m thinking would be a very pretty spot in good weather. The Kungsleden now continued heading north across a vast watery valley. Occasionally the track would climb over a low wooded ridge, however for the most part I was crossing some fairly boggy ground as I made my way through the labyrinth of lakes down here. Grasping for positives about this bit of the walk I suppose that I could say the at least the cold rain was keeping the mozzies at bay….like I said, grasping!

The Kungsleden skirts the left side of these lakes.

Kungsleden

Some of the walking infrastructure on the Kungsleden is looking a little the worse for wear....which is not surprising  really considering the harsh climate.

At around lunch time I passed the turn off for the Snjulttjie shelter, apparently this shelter is particularly insect prone so I wasn’t overly keen for a visit today though. Continuing on conditions continued to deteriorate a bit as I slowly started to climb slightly and leave the wet swampy country behind. Arriving at a wide ATV track on top of another slight rise I kept my head down and set off to the right along the track in the direction of Bäverholmen. I’d been walking in some fairly average weather for the best part of five hours now and it was starting to wear a bit thin so I was pretty keen on the Bäverholmen option now.

Reindeer fence approaching Tjiegnatisjávrrie.

I crossed a few wooded knolls in between....

....in between some fairly damp sections.

I still had some kilometres to put under my boots before Bäverholmen though. Following the ATV track the Kungsleden started a fairly long, but generally pretty gently descent down to the Bárasjuhka emergency shelter. Now I say ‘pretty gentle’ but the descent had it’s moments, particularly as the rocks now had a similar grip coefficient as wet soap. Back down in the Birch forest again now I arrived at the emergency shelter after around 7 hours of walking in steady cold rain so I was reasonably happy to open the door and find that some walkers had set up camp in the hut for the day and had the fire going. Pulling off my now dripping wet jacket I enjoyed a bit of a break as I steeled myself for the final push to Bäverholmen.

I was struggling to keep the lens dry now.

After warming up in the emergency hut for awhile it was time to set off again into the gloom, although thankfully conditions were now starting to improve marginally. For some reason I’d mistakenly thought that Bäverholmen was fairly close to the Bárasjuhka emergency shelter, however after crossing the large suspension bridge over the rushing Bárasjuhka River a signpost soon deflated that thought. Four kilometres to go wasn’t really what my feet needed today but the thought of a hot meal and a dry room kept my going. The walk now follows the river flats along a broad valley so at least I wasn’t doing a lot of climbing, although the rocks and boardwalks still needed to be treated with respect so I wasn’t exactly flying along.

Leaving the dry Bárasjuhka emergency shelter the rain started to relent....a bit!

With well north of 30 kilometres under my wet boots today the last few kilometres didn't come easy.

Crossing the Blassaselet River.

I was around 1 kilometre from Bäverholmen when the rain finally relented.

Not before time the tiny collection of buildings that is Bäverholmen came into view ahead of me and I was soon shuffling my way across the lawn to what looked like the entrance door. Dropping my pack, scrapping some mud off my wet boots and taking off my ringing wet ‘wet weather’ gear I headed in. Well if fortunes can change in an instant then today it was as I walked through that door. From slogging my way through mud, water and rocks in the wind and icy cold rain, soaked to the bone with my feet aching, all on my own - I was suddenly in a warm dry room, with lovely people, organising a room and hot shower, not to mention a superb hamburger (two actually). I also had a bit of a serendipitous occurrence here when I met up with a young Australian couple, Matt and Alex who were just about to continue their journey after having a feed. I didn’t know it at the time but our paths would cross again over the next couple of days.

The Kungsleden approaching Bäverholmen.

Bäverholmen - the rain had mostly cleared by sundown.

I highly recommend staying (and eating) here.

The Dirt.
I walked 37.4 kilometres and climbed 551 metres on what was a hard days walking on the Kungsleden. Over the 6 days of my Kungsleden walk so far I’ve walked 149.4 kilometres and climbed 3785 metres. If the weather was cooperating then there would be many opportunities to camp today though in todays conditions camping only held limited appeal. There is a hut just off the Kungsleden at Snjulttjie shelter that is pretty basic apparently, then there is the emergency shelter and finally Bäverholmen (which I highly recommend). Once again I used Cicerone’s Trekking the Kungsleden book along with the topo maps on my GPS.

Relevant Posts.

Day 1, Kungsleden, 2019.
Previous Day Kungsleden, 2019.

It didn't take me long to make a mess.

There were plenty of heaters around to dry my gear out.

Bäverholmen....time for bed I think. It had been a fairly solid day.