Viterskalet, Day 1

Day 1

Hemavan to Viterskalet (hut) 12 k

Today was absolutely perfect.

But first. I realized I'd left my water bottle on the bus. Then at the mountain station where I'd booked my first night I realized I hadn't packed my little pink pills I take to help fall asleep. At this moment after 2 nights (?) of very disrupted sleep, I felt like falling apart. Yet, I told myself: Forget the pills; you'll sleep. I argued in my head, but agreed because what could I do? It was already past 10 pm. If necessary, I'd run down to the one grocery in Hemavan where the bus dropped me off and buy some in the morning. So lying in bed I quieted myself by saying, It's going to be okay. I slept till nearly 7 a.m.

I was of two minds still about the pills and the water bottle. I got up and made breakfast and sat down with a young man from Barcelona starting the Kungsleden this morning as well. He told me I had enough containers for water: a thermos full of tea, plus 2 flexi-flasks (about .5 liter). The rest I could take from streams. It's hard to believe because in America you don't walk down the street without a huge bottle full of water, but I listened to him. And, I hated having to wait to start my hike because I had to wait until grocery opened to buy the pills, so skipped it. Hopefully no regrets about that decision.

I decided to start at 9 a.m. with the Barcelonian. We agreed to meet at 9. Did I get his name or did we say exactly where to meet? No. At 9 nada. I waited, then turned in my room key, weighed my pack (12 kilo with water), and started.

Complete disaster

It is established fact that on the Kungsleden you follow the orange/red markings. As I started up the gravel weg to the official trail start, there were orange markings everywhere! At one point there was spray painted on the ground arrows. I turned into the woods and was immediately led into a ditch. This made no sense. The Kungsleden is a famously curated trail: How can it start in a single track ditch? I climbed out. Up the weg were more random bits of orange. Some were on poles offsetting private driveways, some were bands around power lines!! I thought: It's so ridiculous that I'm doing this. I wanted to give up, but I spent too much time and energy to get here. I may as well figure this out. You see, it was foggy and hard to see too far down the road, but eventually I saw through the fog the golden-domed tower and a fence announcing the start of the Kungsleden Trail. Crisis averted.

I'm on it. I'm doing it. I'm here. This felt huge. I walked on little bridges through the woods on the outskirts of Hemavan and, little by little, things started to feel wilder and more remote. There were waterfalls and mountains and big pushes to get up.

Before I left my friends all said, Take pictures! As the climb kept going and growing, I frequently stopped to take photos.

At the top or near top is a cable car that brings skiers to the top. I sat and had a snack on a bench. An hour later, I took lunch on a rock beside the trail. Surprisingly, there is little wildlife. No birds or rodents begging for crumbs. Just blue sky, snow-capped mountains, and burbling streams running down around me.

After lunch it was 6 more k, halfway through. And by 2 pm was at the hut where I've cleaned up and washed out socks and soaked up sun and scenery.

Now about to go try out the toilet shed and make some dinner.