When Rivers Say No

8:51 AM

Tuesday the 27th, morning. I had 6:00 AM in my head, but I woke up at 8:00. Packed up quickly—there’s a tough stretch ahead. I was looking forward to it and felt good.

9:29 AM

A nice trail, even a small stretch of snow that’s completely compacted.

10:16 AM

Until……

Sigh. No bridge, no stones—how am I supposed to get across? I stuck my trekking pole into the water to gauge the depth. About 1.20 meters—that’s just above my waist. That would mean putting everything into my pack and holding the pack above my head. And then still staying balanced, because the current is strong. I took my pants off… felt the water… hahaaaaahaaa that is cooold!!! I must be crazy. Put all my clothes back on and started walking upstream. Nowhere—absolutely nowhere—did it widen enough for the current to ease. Nowhere was it narrow enough to jump across. There was nothing else to do but turn back toward the road. Many hours later I reached the endless asphalt road and decided to detour.

2:27 PM

After a few hundred meters of walking on asphalt, a car suddenly stopped. Did I want a ride? I’m not going to say no to that—it was a 20 km detour after all. They started talking in Sámi and Norwegian, but I couldn’t make sense of it at all. I showed my iPhone with the map and where I wanted to get out.

A very old woman in traditional clothing sat in the passenger seat and asked all kinds of questions. The female driver translated in very broken English, but when I answered she didn’t understand what I said. I switched to speaking in single words—that helped a lot. The Sámi are very kind people, very engaged and interested in this E1 trail. They love talking about their reindeer. I was dropped off at their reindeer farm, which was under construction. The approach route to the E1 was still 5 km, where there should have been a hut.

2:54 PM

And then you get there—and there’s a code lock on the door. This really should be a DNT hut? At some point I saw a sign saying the hut must be reserved in Kautokeino! Or call? I’ve had zero reception for two days. Right—let me just walk back to reserve it!!! It’s only 44 km.

I keep walking, then I can set up the hammock as soon as I find a nice spot.

4:42 PM

To reach the mountains I could already see there was a large marsh in between. And sure enough—after a few kilometers of slogging, there’s a wide river. We sit down and start pondering what the wise choice is. Walking alone is nice and quiet—you can choose your own pace and breaks—but in situations like this it would be nice to discuss together what the best way is to cross such rivers. I think I sat there for about two hours, watching the rushing water, birds sounding the alarm because I was too close to their nest, watching raindrops fall from the sky……

At 6:00 PM I decide to return to the road. On the way back I meet one of the German guys—he also decided to detour. The other guy pushed on, but he doesn’t know whether it went well. I warned him that the next river is 20 times as wide.

There are no cars on the road anymore. That means walking, and as soon as I find a good place to hang the hammock, I’ll stay the night there.

11:56 PM

Tuesday the 27th, end of day. After 10 km of walking on asphalt, a van suddenly appears and stops. Where do you want to go? To a hotel in Kautokeino! He spoke good English, which was nice. The busiest hiking period is late August—no mosquitoes and low water levels. This summer is cold, but the winter was normal, he said. The average winter temperature is -40.

At 8:00 PM he dropped me off in front of the hotel. At 9:00 PM I went to eat something at a gas station. At midnight I collapsed onto the bed. 38 km walked and 45 km hitchhiked. Sore shoulders, cramped feet—what more could you want? Sleep well!