Rávgga to Kvikkjokk, Kungsleden - August 2019

I was able to glimpse the rugged mountains in Sarek National Park from the jetty on Sakkat Lake.

After the fairly average ending to yesterday’s walk I was looking forward to getting down to the Kvikkjokk Fjällstation this morning, grabbing a room, having a shower, resupplying and generally just having an easy day. I estimated that as I’d walked a bit further yesterday than I’d planned to then I only had around 8 kilometres in front of me today before I’d reach the next boat crossing. With the boat scheduled to leave at 10:30am it meant that I wasn’t under much pressure this morning.

Things were still a bit grey and overcast as I set off first thing this morning - although I was blessed again in that the rain more or less held off.

The light showers had continued on and off over night, however I got lucky this morning. After listening to the pitter patter of the rain as I packed up and ate breakfast in the tent I emerged blinking into a grey and overcast new day, but one that wasn’t dripping water on me! I wasn’t too sure how long the showers would hold off, so I didn’t muck around getting the tent down now though. I was pretty well packed up and on the track within fifteen minutes.

After climbing over a ridge I started to get some long range views.

I had one last climb over a forested ridge before the Kungsleden started a fairly long descent down to Sakkat Lake this morning, although this climb was a fairly quick and easy one. Reaching the top of the lightly forested ridge I got a bit more of a look at the country to north west. What I saw made me pretty happy, the cloud was starting to lift a bit revealing a vista of rugged snow speckled mountains and lakes. I was getting pretty close to the famous (well for trekking trainspotters like me;) Sarek National Park now and I was wondering if the jagged mountains in the distance might be in the park.

The more that the Kungsleden dropped down the better the weather got today.

I'm guessing that those mountains in the distance may be in the famous Sarek National Park.

I was dropping down to Sakkat Lake this morning.

I was hoping to catch the morning boat.

While the descent down to Sakket Lake was a fairly long one it wasn’t a hard one, the only real need for caution being the usual slippery boardwalk sections. As I was losing height this morning the weather was getting better and better, by the time the Kungsleden started to level out down near the lake I was walking under a blue sky. The Kungsleden passes close to a small waterfall along here which I stopped to check out, with a couple of hours before the boat would go I was really pulling on the hand brake now.

It was amazing not only how much better everything looked in the sun but also how much better it made me feel too!

The Kungsleden was a pretty easy walk this morning.

Kungsleden

The boardwalks were still a bit slick after last nights rain.

Approaching Sakkat Lake things level out a bit.

There is a nice little waterfall along here - and here is a very average photo of it!

Arriving at the Mallenjarka emergency shelter I was greeted by another through hiker that I’d been meeting on and off, a young bloke from Luxumbourg named Laurent. I’d first bumped into Laurent whilst waiting for the boat way back on Riebens Lake I think and I would end up crossing paths with him all the way up to Abisko. Like most long walks that I’ve done there was a lose, but fairly close, community of walkers that had formed on the Kungsleden. These transient communities actually do a lot to keep spirits high as there is nothing better than seeing a smiling face and hearing a friendly ‘hey hey’ when you have been battling a bit mentally, especially when you know that they are going through exactly the same conditions as you.

There wasn't a lot of camping opportunities near the track this morning.

Kungsleden

The Mallenjarka emergency shelter is situated in the trees a couple of minutes from the southern shore of Sakket Lake so after chatting for awhile I wandered down to the jetty to check things out while I waited for the boat. The jetty providing not only a great place to view the rugged mountains of Sarek but also making a great spot to dry out my tent. These boats tend to act as choke points on the Kungsleden a little bit and it wasn’t long until I joined by some more trail friend friends from Singapore and Sweden. Looking at all of the walkers sitting and chatting on the jetty I was hoping that it was a big boat that was coming!

The Sakkat Lake Jetty was a good spot for a bit of tent drying this morning!

Sakkat Lake was fairly low.

We'll that's the packs loaded onboard....

....and we were away! Including the skipper I think that there was ten of us onboard!

We’ll the boat was big enough….just! With everybody onboard we were just able to push off from the jetty without bottoming out on the rocks. The trip across Sakkat Lake is a very scenic one, with the towering mountains of Sarek at the head of the valley and fairly calm water it was a very pleasant way to finish the days walking. Once we got close to Kvikkjokk we motored through a shallow delta, with the level of the lake being very low we were very close on bottoming out as we followed a convoluted series of channels, the boat providers partner actually came out in another boat here which I presume was to help us if we did get stuck.

Our little cruise gave us some more great views up towards Sarek National Park.

We motored through a series of shallow channels through a delta.

Arriving at Kvikkjokk we got a look at the spot that the Gamájåhkå River cascades into Sakkat Lake.

After we safely docked back on dry land again and unloaded our gear it was just a matter of meandering through the small village up to the fell station. For anyone of my Australian readers who is wondering what a fell station is they are what we would probably call a mountain lodge. These fell stations are fairly big establishments that can sometimes sleep well over 100 people, they have electricity, a shop, a restaurant, drying rooms and a sauna. The more common stugas that I’d been passing on the track are more like a mountain hut or a refuge (although some a very flash, even having shops and wood fired saunas). The Kvikkjokk STF Fjällstation was my first experience in an STF (Swedish Tourist Association) fell station and it was quite an eye opener. I’d been expecting somewhere quiet to recharge a bit but this place was heaving with people, on my walk so far I’d only been seeing around twenty to thirty other walkers a day so I’d figured that the fell station shouldn’t be too busy, what I hadn’t counted on was that these fell stations generally fairly easily accessible to the general public and it appears that a lot of ‘normal’ tourists use them for accommodation as well.

Arriving at the Kvikkjokk STF Fjällstation.

The fell station had everything a walker could need really...although I needed to keep in mind that it wasn't just long distance walkers that are attracted to these places.

While they were a little more crowded than I expected the fell stations and stugas were all  incredibly clean and well run.

Arriving at Kvikkjokk Fell Station I was suddenly surrounded by more people than I’d seen in the last week and a half of walking. Luckily for me I’d made friends with some Swedish walkers that I’d first met back at Riebens Lake as I think that if it wasn’t for them I may not of even got a bed for the night (remember I was there by about 10:30 am). Thankfully I got put in a share room with my new Swedish mates so it all turned out pretty good, it was a real bonus sharing with people I knew as I’m definitely not someone who is comfortable around strangers.

This is my room at the fell station which I guess was typical. There was clean showers and toilets just down the hall.

Yep, I'd moved a few inches!

After checking into the room I spent the rest of the day kicking back a little, this was the closest thing to a zero day as I’d had since starting my Kungsleden Walk and my feet really appreciated being out of my boots for a day. Once all the mundane cleaning, re-charging, re-supplying chores were sorted then the rest of the day was spent checking out the delightful small village of Kvikkjokk, eating and relaxing with new friends.

There is an interesting old church in town.

The Gamájåhkå River cascading down below the fell station.

The Dirt.
According to my GPS I walked 7.9 kilometres and climbed 103 metres on what was an easy day on the Kungsleden. These stats don’t include the boat trip or the walk through town. Over my 11 days on the Kungsleden so far I’ve walked 269.9 kilometres and climbed 6751 metres on my journey. There were bugger all decent camp sites on the track between where I ended up camping last night and Sakkat Lake although I’m sure if you poked around for awhile there would be something a little off the track. Like Riebnes Lake the crossing of Sakkat Lake is a paid motorised service, there are no STF row boats to use, the scheduled service was running twice a day when I walked through. Once again I got by with the Cicerone Trekking the Kungsleden guide book along with my GPS topo maps today.

Relevant Posts.
Day 1 on the Kungsleden, 2019.
Previous Day on the Kungsleden, 2019.

The view from the from the fell station was pretty good this afternoon.

The forecast was actually a little better than it had been when I'd left Hemavan. Although thankfully I'd worked out that these forecasts weren't always the most accurate.