Trip report? Not quite.

Sorry folks but the trip report from the packrafting trip is still under construction as I have been busy with things like life and will be starting my wilderness guide school in about 8 hours…

Instead of a real trip report, here is a bunch of pictures from the second trip. The trip included hiking from the western shore of Kilpisjärvi around the big fell massive, thru the valley of Isdalen, back to the eastern side of the massive, packrafting part most of the Kummaeno river back towards the Finnish border and then some work along a dirt road back to the main road and hitch hiking back to the village of Kilpisjärvi. It was a six day trip done with my long time girlfriend and one Alpacka Denali Llama packraft.

The trip also included sleeping about 16 hours for the first night, over 12 hours on the following and about 12 hours on the third night. Maybe I was a bit tired after the previous trip? 🙂 There was also few hours when we got lost of each others and it was quite scary but ended well.

The packraft was a tight fit but it’s possible. Though I wouldn’t recommend it as a primary way of travel if decent hiking or two packrafts would be an option. But for difficult river crossing, long calm water crossing or floating a river on a difficult terrain it’s a nice lightweight option for two. Rocky rapids simply don’t work with the load and skills we had.

So, here are some pictures. Hope you enjoy them!

We took a boat trip across Kilpisjärvi instead of walking through the Malla nature reserve.

Way to get lost right in the beginning. 😉

In the start we passed the point where the borders of Finland, Sweden and Norway meet.

The views while walking towards the Gappohytta. We didn't stay in the huts but the trails pass be them.

Having a break. The views back towards the Finnish side.

Crossing this was harder in April 2010 with skis and pulka...

The lower slopes of the Barras fell and Stordalen behind it.

We had our share of angry Long-tailed skuas trying to take our scalps.

Cloudy morning after a good 16 hours of sleep. Apparently I was tired...

The morning views through the clouds.

This is where we were coming from...

...and this is where we were heading: Mordor. No, I mean the valley of Isdalen.

Quite a scary camp site we found in Isdalen. According to the "best before" dates in the food packages the remains of the camp are from around year 1997. That's what you get if you use runners. 😉 I got an inflamed achilles tendon.

The tongue of the glacier on the Isdalsfjella.

The Southern wall of Moskkugaisi fell.

Walking out from the Isdalen. Last moment without the bugs. At 1000 meters with patches of snow and decent wind.

We saw several rainbows as we had some rain on every day except the last day.

Views to Rostadalen in the West.

Big sky country. Moskanjavri.

After Isdalen we had quite enough of bugs. That would be the "ambient bug intensity". Luckily not all of them were on the mood for some blood. The worst bugs were later on a camp near the Kummaeno river.

Juoksavatnjunni.

Pältsan.

The waterfall in Bealcanjohka near the Pältsastugan hut.

Notice something weird? The bronze lady in the lower right corner weights about 35kg and the artist carried her there for 24 kilometers. Not quite UL style to travel? 😉

I made a fire to fend of the bugs and it started to rain heavily just when I had got it finished... Made from one dead and very wet birch with the little knife and few matches.

I don't have too much packrafting pictures from this trip. One of the long calm sections of the Kummaeno river.

And one of the very rocky rapids between the calm parts. The rocky rapids require swift and precise maneuvering which is impossible with my skills and a big load.

The apparently abandoned farm at Kummavuopio.

The final march along the dirt road from Kummaeno. Not what we had originally planned but felt like a good solution.

The evening skies were magnificent!

The "Good Morning Cafe" at the bridge offered a nice breakfast of hard bread with salami, poptarts, coffee and fresh water. (Unfortunately they had runned out of fresh apples the previous morning...) And all this with a gentle breeze to keep the bugs away!

The hitchhiking was hopeless! But luckily we talked a ride from a nice Finnish guy after he had driven first some 15km to Kilpisjärvi and then came back to get us! Thanks!

The trip report will be online next weekend after my first week in the school. I may send an update or two from the school and those will be via Twitter as we will spent the week on a river canooing. Or at least I think so…