📷 The time I went outside |
Sälfjällsturen, 2020 I've never been much of an outdoorsy person, sure I enjoy my summer days out in the sun (the few we get here in Sweden), but in the autumn/winter time I don't really go outside unless I have to. However, a month or so ago, my cousin ask me and my boyfriend if we'd join her on a hike. A hike? Yes, a 14 km long trail called Sälfjällsturen, the hike was supposed to take approximately 4 hours to finish. It seemed like a fun trip, just the three of us, exploring nature. And off we went! We left on Tuesday afternoon, it was about a four hour drive from where we live to Sälen. We arrived at the hotel at 8pm, ate some dinner and played cards in our room before going to bed. Wednesday started with breakfast at 8.30. It was cloudy outside but the sun was supposed to come though during the day according to weather apps. Our hike took off at 11 am as we began walking the footbridges! The trail was a mix of these footbridges and rocky grounds, so it was important to keep an eye out. Luckily we managed to get through the day without any falls or injuries! This was the weather when we first got going, a lot of dark clouds on one side and some sunshine on the other side. A normally beautiful sky got even more beautiful when we got up on some hights. About two thirds of the way up we reached a smaller peak on the mountain, there we found a lake called Stensjön (Stone lake). In the lake there were these stone towers that people have built over the years (assumingly). The view was absolutely gorgeous from up here and we could see that it was raining below us. The rain filled clouds that we'd seen below us quickly got up to us on the mountain, and before we knew it we got hit with the first snow of the season! It was nothing that stayed on the ground and it moved on just as quick as it had arrived, but it was pretty cool to experience the weather of all four seasons in such a short amount of time! Shortly after this we made it to the halfway mark. We arrived at Hemfjällsstugan, a small cabin where we could get away from the wind and eat something. Not gonna lie, at this point I was pretty tired of it all, and the thought of having the second half left was quite discouraging. There was two ways to go after this midway point, we could either climb another mountain (a much steeper one with a rocky path) or we could go around and see something called Storfjällsgraven. Unfortunately I got voted down, so much to my (at first) disappointment we went the climbing route. It was a hellish walk to get up that mountainside, but oh my god was it worth it. I didn't take a lot of photos though because I really just wanted to get back to the car hahah. But the sun came through as promised and we were in awe over the beautiful nature during the last hour. "Golden hour" was about to set in just in time for when we came down on the other side. So this last picture was one I took on my phone when we only had the last kilometer left to go. We got back to the car, exhausted but happy that we accomplished this hike. It took us just over 5 hours if we count in the fika-break that we took. We could probably have cut down on some time if we didn't stop to take picture every step on the way, but that was half the fun of going in the first place. Hopefully we well go on some longer hikes in the future, preferably in the spring instead. Until then, I'll just look back at these photos and enjoy the rest of my autumn and winter indoors Special thanks to @Melk who encouraged me to make this blog. Melk, I hope you're happy with experiencing the outdoors that I delivered through your computer screen! |