The midnight sun

---

Sussie had a THIRD boat trip planned, so it was time, and absolutely necessary, for me to head to the Arctic. Not on a boat. On a train.

The timing was perfect. The advice I was getting was confusing and constantly changing. The thaw was late this year... there was too much snow still to go hiking where I wanted to go... The snow was melting... there was too much water where I wanted to go... I wouldn't make it through...

There was one way to get clear information - I headed into the hills. The thaw was certainly fully under way, the river was pounding at over 100 cumecs. The track was certainly boggy here and there. From a kiwi point of view, there's something that isn't immediately obvious to us... In the Arctic, with it's 24 hour daylight, when snow starts to thaw, it can thaw continuously - it doesn't stop or slow down much at 'night'. And it's spectacular the rate at which the snow comes off the hills and pours down the valleys.

The trip I had chosen was called 'Kungsleden' - the King's Way. It actually goes for weeks along a big chunk of the length of Sweden, but I was only ever going to do a short section of the northern end of it

I was hoping to see a bit of cool wildlife, this year is a 'lemming' year in the Swedish Arctic. They weren't everywhere, but they were in dense population patches. In some places, where large patches of snow caused me to go off the path, walking back to the path across the heather could result in an occasional 'squeak' indicating a hidden lemming in a shallow burrow (sorry about that, lemmings).

At the first 'hut' - called 'Abiskojaure' (which includes a sauna and a small shop), a brave vole clambered over one of my gumboots to cuddle up to my other boot and wait to be photographed.

The second day's walk was across an area that a hut warden suggested problems were possible. He had recommended people to just do a day-trip, then head back. Jenny -a Swede from Malmo whom I'd met on the track the previous day, took that advice. But I took all my gear, in case it were possible to walk right through. In fact I found no water more than knee deep across the track. The snow was slushy, but not impassable, and the air-temperature was consistently between 5 and 10 degrees. I still hadn't seen any reindeer though, and no bears, wolves or moose either. Just before she turned back, Jenny showed me an excellent photo of a rare snow owl. She had seen it from the track, and it had dive-bombed her as she walked past, about 10 or 15 minutes in front of me. Unfortunately, I saw no sign of it (other than her cool photo).

I did see some Arctic skua though. They dive-bombed me, but without much active intent. They're not particularly scary birds.

Many birds were nesting or had chicks. Some hid, or tried to hide, some faked the 'broken wing', and some dive-bombed as I walked past.

Snow patches increased as I approached the second hut (Alesjaure), so too did ice floes floating on the lake. Alesjaure itself boasted stunning views. Another sauna, and another comfortable 'night' of perpetual daylight.

---