Nissonjokk to Abisko, Kungsleden - September 2019

The Abiskojåkka River passes through a spectacular gorge as it approaches Abisko.

I slept pretty well last night, no doubt being a bit more relaxed than normal as my Kungsleden journey was almost over. Wanting to give myself plenty of time to sort out and clean all my gear before I left Abisko I’d been keen to try and arrive fairly early in the morning, the theory was that it would give me the best part of an extra day to organise everything. Once I boarded the train at Abisko on Thursday afternoon it would be the start of a journey that would only end when I arrived back home in Melbourne late on Sunday night, so I needed to clean my gear up here in Abisko before trying to get past our border security back in Australia.

Leaving Nissonjokk this morning I stopped to admire the picnic table....they make them to last in Sweden!

It had been a fairly humid and dewy night last night so I once again had a fairly damp tent to pack up this morning, not that it mattered as all going well I’d be sleeping indoors on a comfortable bed tonight. Once I’d eaten breakfast and packed up I pulled on my boots for the last time on this walk and shuffled off towards Abisko. Almost as soon as I left camp the Kungsleden crossed the Nissonjokk River on the last suspension bridge of my walk, up until I’d done this walk I’d thought that New Zealand had a lot of suspension bridges, the Kungsleden is next level though!

I'm about to cross the Nissonjokk River.

Nissonjokk River.

The bush was a riot of colour up here.

Another early morning on the Kungsleden.

I followed the Abiskojåkka River for most of this mornings walk.

Now I’d had my share or inclement conditions on the Kungsleden so I suppose it was only fitting that trudging the last few kilometres into Abisko I once again felt drops of rain falling on my head. Not that this mornings shower even had me thinking of pulling on my wet a wether gear, really only causing my to reminisce about wetter days;) After a bit more forest walking the Kunglseden once again broke out onto the bank of the Abiskojåkka River, which I’d now follow all the way to Abisko.

It wouldn't be a day on the Kunglseden without some rain;)

The big mountains were now receding into the distance.

Kungsleden

Abiskojåkka River

Abiskojåkka River

Another of the meditation spots.

The river walk was a good one too as the track followed the river downstream above a very rugged rocky small gorge. Wish the rushing water of the Abiskjåkka River being funnelled through this rocky choke it was one of the more impressive river views along the whole walk. With not much further to go I rock hoped along the huge rock slabs beside the river checking out at the different view points, if anyone reading this waffle actually ends up in Abisko one day then even if you are not walking the Kungsleden head south along it for ten minutes or so to check out this gorge.

Whilst I was rocking hopping my way downstream I started to run into a lot of day walkers. Figuring that must mean that the end must be near, I looked up to see the slightly surreal sight of a huge iron ore train crossing a bridge over the river a few hundred metres ahead of me, yes my walk was quickly coming to its end. The water gushing through the gorge was a beautiful turquoise colour and the wet granite was also multi coloured which reminded me a little of the gorges over in the Pilbara back home in Australia…well maybe I was a bit homesick!

Abiskojåkka River

I even squeezed a bit more boardwalk walking in this morning.

Hey...it was a loooong 5 kilometres!

The Kungsleden approaching Abisko.

Abiskojåkka River

Strangely enough the red paint markers that I’d been faithfully following all the way up from Hemarvan now seemed to disappear and I meandered the last few hundred metres north not 100% sure that I was still on the Kungsleden (talking to other walkers I wasn’t the only one to notice this, a few of the other walkers emerging from the bush at Abisko by other routes and having to back track to reach the official end point). Thankfully I managed to stay on track though and soon arrived at the impressive monument that marked the finish (or start) of the Kungsleden. They certainly know how to celebrate the milestone of finishing the track in Sweden, the finishing spot had me walking through what was virtually a long curved tunnel of wood, the sides decorated with information and places that I’d passed over the last three weeks on my journey north, this tunnel was virtually an art installation. I’ve done longer and more famous walks over the years, however the end of the Kungsleden with this monument really gave the ending a sense of celebration, something that our track managers back in Australia and New Zealand could learn from I think.

Abiskojåkka River

Abiskojåkka River

I guess the end is near....

Standing at the end of the walk taking a selfie I had an old timer wander over for a bit of a chat. The old bloke was working as a guide out of the fell station and he was very interested in my Kungsleden experience, after reassuring him that I’d loved the Kungsleden and I was loving Sweden he kindly took a decent end photo for me, complete with me holding his dog!

Check out this little gorge if you ever find yourself in Abisko.

With the official walk over I climbed up to the huge Abisko Fellstation and thankfully got myself a private room, complete with my own bathroom and comfortable bed! The fell station at Abisko sleeps well north of 100 people and has all the usual facilities like a shop, a restaurant, drying rooms, bastu and plenty of communal lounge areas. With my own room I was able to successfully sort out all my gear before my long journey home in a couple of days, well sort and clean my gear in between snoozing on my comfortable bed and chatting to my trail friends who continued to filter in over the next couple of days. Life was very, very good!

Well that's me finished!

It was a very impressive way to mark the end of my stroll.

I even found myself a friend :)

Heading into the huge Abisko Fjällstation - I was ready for a shower and a soft bed!

The Dirt.
I walked around 5 kilometres and climbed 10 metres (yeah, but it was a hard 10 metres!) on today's very easy walk on the Kungsleden. Over the 21 days I’d been walking the Kungsleden I’d walked 447.2 kilometres and climbed 10,584 metres, these stats were mostly collected from my GPS however when the GPS occasionally dropped a cog I took the statistics from maps. The distance doesn’t include kilometres covered on boats or in a bus, they are just the kilometres that I walked. There was no camping or accommodation options today except for those at Abisko. Once again I used Cicerone’s Trekking the Kungsleden guide book and the topo maps from my GPS.

So, what to make of the Kungseden? Well it was a slightly unusual walk for me in that it required sorting out a lot of logistics like accommodation, boat crossings and bus trips. Now if it had of been back in Australia it would of been easy enough but in Sweden, with me not having a phone it proved a little more problematic. As it turned out though it all seemed a lot more daunting than it actually was, as I progressed north I was generally able to nut out each obstacle fairly easily as I approached it. There were a couple of things that made this easier for me, the first one being that most Swede’s speak better English than me and they are generally happy to help out a walker, the second one being that the overwhelming majority of walkers on the Kungsleden are from Europe and they all had their phones with them, so it was normally possible that another walker could make a call for me.

Speaking of logistics I lived off the land (so to speak) on the Kungsleden. By that I mean that I didn’t bring any food from home and just bought my supplies on trail. With most of the stugas having a little shop, the fell stations also having a shop and small grocery stores in Hemervan, Ammarnäs, Adolfsström (limited for walking supplies though) and Jäkkvik it wasn’t hard to buy some food on the Kungsleden. The longest section that I did between supplies was the 88 kilometre section between Jäkkvik and Kvikkjokk, I did that section fairly easily in 4 days and that was the most food that I carried along the total length of the Kungsleden (you can actually buy some very limited supplies at Vuonatjviken at the boat operators office if needed).

I guess I’d rate the Kungsleden as a medium grade walk. While I haven’t done a lot of multi day walking in Europe the Kungsleden would sit in-between the West Highland Way and the GR20 when it came to difficulty of the walks that I have done I guess. The track itself is extremely well way marked with a combination of red paint, stones and winter markers. While there are no super steep grades or huge hills to cross there was enough in the way of ups and downs to keep my heart beating. The track itself can get a bit rough and rocky in spots, especially on the lakeside walks, the track above the tree line was generally pretty good. I never got really wet boots on the Kungsleden, managing to cross the wet areas either rock hopping the creeks or using bridges to cross the bigger streams. Most of the very swampy sections had boardwalks across them. You need to watch the boardwalks a bit though as they can be extremely slippery when they are wet.

If anyone is reading this waffle and thinking of retracing my walk then keep in mind that due to work commitments I did the walk fairly quickly, a lot of people would take an extra week to complete the Kungsleden and indeed I would of too if I’d been able to get the time off work. All that said though I really pulled the handbrake on a little on the last third of the walk. Now don’t forget this story is told through the eyes of a mid 50 year old, overweight and unfit man, obviously there would be plenty of punters out there that could complete the Kungsleden quicker than me if that was their goal.

So what were the highlights…well I’m glad you asked! I think for me the fell walking and wild camping, along with the great people I met along the journey were the things that I’d look back fondly on. There wasn’t really a lot in the way of negatives, if I was going to be very fussy then I suppose that I’d say that the crowded fell stations didn’t fill me with joy. The popular northern sections of the Kungsleden were also starting to show some environmental problems, particularly relating to peoples toileting habits out on the track, I was very careful where I grabbed my water from up here. Once I finish a walk I always run the question ‘would I do this again?’ through my head, the answer when it comes to the Kungsleden was that if I’m ever lucky enough to get back to Sweden then I’d do the Kungsleden at the start of season in order to see some more snow and ice.

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

This is the stuff that I carried 450 kilometres without using....not too bad I don't think as I'm not going to do the walk without a compass or without patches for my thermorest. The bowls and cup maybe could of been left at home...but then again hindsight is 20/20!

It was so nice to have my own bathroom....although the sink might never be white again!

There are plenty of communal areas around the fell station.

Being a little creative I was able to knock up a nice breakfast - they even had bacon here!

The fell station restaurant.

The views from the restaurant were 5 stars.