In the mean time, it is already time for the first real multiday hike of the summer. Tomorrow early morning me and my ever-present hiking partner Matthias will go about six hours northwards by train to go to a region called the High Coast (Höga Kusten). The landscape in this region is somewhat different from the rest of the east coast. After the end of the last ice age and the retreat of the glaciers from northern Europe, the land in this area has rosen over 200 meters compared to 10.000 years ago, creating a unique landscape marked by forested hills and small islands. It’s a very accessible region by public transport and a trail called Högakustenleden enables you to walk through easily.
Somewhere in the middle of the region is a small national park called Skuleskogen and this is where we will be staying for the next 5 days. We’ll get off the train in Docksta and walk in the park from the south entrance, following the coastline. set up camp on one of the islands of Tärnättholmarna. Afterwards we’ll be heading land inwards to go through the park’s famous crevass and to the hills in the west. All by all we’ll be gone for five days, hiking about four of them.
This hike will be a fairly easy one. The terrain is not too difficult, trails are well-marked, there are shelters and huts in the park and weather forecast looks all good. For us this will be training for the journey we have been planning for August to the far north of Sweden: Sarek. Sarek will be challenging and hard for both of us, just as Kungsleden in the beginning of June challenged us last year. I’ll be telling you about both more later on. So now we have a good chance to see how are food ratio is turning out, what we should take extra or leave at home, to warm up our muscles and get used again to carrying around the backpacks. Very much looking forward to the upcoming days outdoors.
Lost in the Hills 