Northern Sweden – Kungsleden

Myles,

that a tricky one. I cant give a recommendation but I can provide some information.

Many people bring shoes for stream crossings and camp, many does not. I don’t.

The bridges are there to provide safe crossings not dry feet, but often you get across most smaller streams dry on Kungsleden. Now however with snow melting on higher altitudes probably not.

But then again, if it is a lot of rain everybody will have wet feet at the end of the day in some way or another. And if the weather is fine, wet feet are not really a problem.

It is a long time since I walked any of “your” parts of Kungsleden, I don’t really recall what the smaller streams was like, so this is based on “general observations”.

Speaking of finetuning, if  you have decided already in Kiruna to go with the Vistasvaggi alternative you may choose to start from Nikkaluokta to walk Vistasvaggi with the best views in front of you, not behind you.

Thanks Gunnar. I imagine the route that we take may have some influence over whether we take sandals. We’ve been tracking the snow cover through the NASA website, and the Kungsleden Facebook page, and it looks like it is unlikely that we will hike our original route. Instead, we think we’ll go with Vistasvaggi. However, since that route is only 3-4 nights (Abiskojaure, Alesjaure, Vistas and maybe somewhere between Vistas and Nikkaluokta), we’d like to do another side trip to add on a night. This could be a day trip from a basecamp, meaning we would sleep at the same site for two nights.

Sone add on hikes we are thinking about are Abiskojaure to Unna Allakas (which we worry might have to much snow), Vistas to Nallo, and day hikes near Alesjaure. Curious to hear what you know/recommend about these routes.

Myles,

There are now reports that that even though there is still a lot of snow at Tjäktja, its only for a few kilometres and there is a path in the snow so they have very few people turning back. And its still a few days before you get there.

Having said that…

I have tried to answer your questions rather than state my own preferences, but now I have to say that I would prefer your backup plan with Vistasvaggi myself, specially now when you have started to think about interesting daytrips. To go to Nallu (Stuor Reaiddavaggi) is an excellent way to go into one of the more narrow valleys without difficult water crossings. There is a crossing just before Nallu but that should normally be an easy one, suitable if you are inexperienced with crossings. Remember that you cross where it is wide and that if snow is melting it may be a bit more water on the way home. You only cross if it feels comfortable, and if not, you have already reached a long way into the valley and close to Nallu, not to far from where you would have to turn anyway. Check with the manager of the Vistas-hut about snow in the valley but it should be ok I imagine, the valley floor is not that high up. A recommended day trip.

An alternative from the Vistas-hut is to follow the trail to the Mårma-pass up on the other side of the Vistas valley. It is south facing so it should be relatively snow-free. you will a view into the higher mountains and valleys on the other side of Vistasvaggi more than worth the effort. (But don’t decide to continue over the Mårma pass…) That is a shorter trip.

But there will be good day trips along the whole way, so you can stay flexible and decide based on weather and mood. (Though not many as good as Stuor Reaiddavaggi.) My best advice is to ask the managers of the hut about day trips. Most of them will be very helpful and they have a lot of knowledge of the current conditions to base their advice on.

Stockholm is well worth a couple of days. Don’t miss Gamla Stand (Old Town) and if you have time and want to see something different from the city centre, go to Fjäderholmarna where the archipelago starts, its only 30 minutes by boat. (But I understand you probably don’t have the time for that.)

https://www.stromma.se/en/stockholm/excursions/day-trips/fjaderholmarna/

What ever you go for, I hope you will enjoy your days in Sweden and in the mountains, and please give some feedback how you found it, a trip-report maybe?

Gunnar,

I think we may do the Nallu route. We’ll consult hut managers as you advised, and make a final decision when we’re on the trial. I like that the Vistasvaggi route is so flexible.

We’ve had a good time in Stockholm since arriving this morning. We explored Gamla Stanl  as a well as Djurgårdsbrunn. I am so impressed by the generous amount of natural space right outside of Stockholm’s center! We’ll have a couple days back in Stockholm after our time in Lapland, so hopefully we can get to the archipelago then.

I’ve been planning to post a trip report, and my friend and I thought we might meet you for a fika to deliver a trip report in person. Let me know if that interests you, no worries if not.

It would have been great to meet up with you for a fika, but I went to the island of Gotland yesterday and will stay there until thr end of July when I go up to Lapland myself. So I wll have to do with a written report. Again, I hope you have a bit of luck with the weather and a fantastic trip.

Happy travels Gunnar, I’m sorry we’ll miss you in Stockholm.

I returned to Stockholm a couple days ago after a fantastic trip. I leave Stockholm tomorrow. I’d like to post a thorough trip report, but I might not be able to until August, as I’m traveling without a laptop. Im so thankful for all the advice I received from the BPL community and especially Gunnar and Sven :)

Myles,

Glad it seems to have worked well for you. Looking forward to the trip report even if we have to wait a little for it. Enjoy your remaining travel.