to go or not to go.... home

I'M OUTTA HERE

On the 17th of July I found myself completely balanced and satisfied. What I just had decided earlier that day was paramount to any decision on the whole trip. To call it all off and exfiltrate the wilderness. Never would I have thought that the choice of leaving my hiking-experience would settle so quickly, but it did and it left without doubt. Let me take you through why;

Contradictory to ending my journey i had ctually just a few days before reloaded my bag with food supplies. Was heading out for 10 days aiming to cross through all of blåfjella skjæker national park. The idea was to end my journey when I met civilization again closer to the west coast of Norway. But half way through my 10 days I ran into two guys. They where on their annual fishing trip. This encounter changed it all.. 

To sum it up, suddenly I was given an opportunity to leave the wilderness with these guys. Not only leave, but also really enjoy the wilderness and share good moments. A magic shortcut out of the huge blåfjella skjæker national park. They had arranged two boat rides of about an hour in total. A "national park guard" would pick them up. They offered me to join them and I could even drive with them pretty far down south in Norway afterwards. Close to Trondheim  airport. Everything seemed to lead me to Copenhagen at that moment. It felt right. It felt like finishing "on top of things". I stayed with them in their cabin and we went fishing all night. Good times. Thanks guys!

CIVILIZATION VS NATURE

The reunion with society, friends and family is a chapter alone.. Once I got to the metro in Copenhagen I lost my camera bag. Fuck. Luckily, against all odds, I got it back with the help of service staff and my brother picking it up for me. What a thrill. What a... fucked up situation to put myself in? Guess I got distracted by overstimulation. The perfumes in the air, all the corporate branding everywhere, the sounds of the city that never stops, the smiles from the beautiful people of Copenhagen, the sexy summer ambiance of an earlier "corona locked down" city, cigarettes and graffiti, the statues and huge buildings. All the magic that we as a species has created. Oh how I love the Copenhagen life for its endless free falling diversity.. an ever going flow of creativity channeled by humen into a playground, workspace and living facilities. Can't  help that I just love the "copenhagen life style" for its free spirited safe environment just as much as I love the wilderness for its hazardous neutrality. In the city we choose how we want be be (seen) - in the wilderness I am actually just me. 

THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES 

Another dimension of finishing an adventure is that life continues afterwards. Last year I finished my biking tour the day before beginning a course at the university. What a huge mistake but important lesson to learn. It was the biggest empty hole of boredom I've ever experienced. I didn't reestablish myself at all. I was not ready to be part of something. The urge for daily dopamine rushes of adventure dimensions was too big and made it hard for me. This year I want to gradually go back to the more regular life and have time to reflect. So far, it really does feel better.

PHOTOS FROM THE LAST WEEKS

DO DIFFERENTLY NEXT TIME?

the further north I got, to wilder and more endless the wilderness felt.. Something that calls for me to come back an continue up north in the future. What will I do different? I will spend the money and time it takes to send out food deposits. Should allow me to stay away from civilization and bring a better flow in the experience. What wouldn't I change? I would never go ultra light and stress about moving forward. My mixture of traditional slow fishing adventure with thruhiking felt so good and much safer. It's nice not to be a bit more independent..

the countdown

Many days have passed and blessed my life with new nuances of the outdoor life. Two months of diary written and everything I wanted to achieve has happened. I've made it further than I ever hoped for and my old broken foot is now stronger than the other which still suffer from a weak inflammation. But still, i have open mountainous land in front of me. Need determination when it comes to finishing this adventure. A ticket to Copenhagen on a final date. The key to the last motivation.

How should I finish this trip.. well, with pride and glory I suppose. I keep telling myself "not to give up and give in to the bad weather!"

My considerations
1) Continue north? If yes - how?? I finally found a recipe that just requires a few maps and weather that I can do proper orientation through.
2) Turn around and go south toward Oslo but move through the inland? That requires the will to break my direction and focus on just living the good classic outdoor life.
3) Stop soon because of the inflammation in my left foot and find something else to do? That requires me to be 100% satisfied.

4) hike on the E1 trail up north spending a bit of money on the DNT huts to try to resupply through them? And see how far it takes me?

Hiked with Sandra for a bit. Interesting to meet the lightweighter hiker from france who completed the Pacific crest. The bad weather bothered her enough to choose to travel home up here in Scandinavia though.

got to hike around with this fella, Johan, for some days. He had just started out on his improvised journey when we met. Saw him go through all the same challenges that I went through: walking too aggressively, heavy pack and no real plan.

little storm in the mountains gathered hikers in an emergency hut. Two girls came later who biked almost 40 km soaked all the way through from sleet and wind. One of them had even fallen over during a river crossing.. good company through those tough days :)

weather incoming 

The whole journey has turned upside down weather-wise; it's cold, snowy and rainy with lots of wind. Norway has set new cold records for July and some places they had 40 cm of fresh snow. The terrain ahead of me is much more demanding when it comes to orientation and I plan to do many, many kilometres off-trail in order to be able to get to shops. It will be wild and adventurous. And wet and cold. And so intense when I'm all alone. 

I've finaly decided to switch my pot and burner to a lightweight stove setup. Gear wise I feel it's about time to dedicate a bit more to lightweight and gas seems to be sold even more places than petrol. I've saved much money on not using gas so far but the last three weeks I will use gas as a little treat to myself.

these guys managed to keep up the spirit and that was an inspiration! Nice to meet you :)

up and down the mountains.. just what I've trained for the last two months :)

it doesn't rain all the time. In fact some days it's just rain showers every now and then :)

Okay, my decision is to go as far as Sørli at the northern end of blåfjella skjæker natonalpark. I'm not sure wether I'm able to do it, so I have a plan b and c. Honestly, now I'm just going for it and doing my best to move and keep up the spirit, but I'm ready to stop a little earlier than 1st of August if my foot and position allow me.

Revitalised

Martin and I got above tree line after some days in the forest. More wind equals less mosquitoes!

Went up at 3:30 to take a piss and was greeted by this. Had to go grab the camera.

Oh I can't keep up with time flying by so super fast and documenting it at the same time. I suppose it's exactly how it should be and it consolidates the deep happiness I feel from within and through all of my body lately. Physically. Like some kind of drug. Life as drug itself. Beautiful!

Martin reading his book in the sun set

Martin, my cousin, came to visit me for 9 days. We both were first timers when it comes to living with tons of mosquitoes and other biting flies. From two days before he arrived and the next days the intensity of flying annoying insects were increasing. The greatest heat wave so far seemed to hit at the same time. A hot cocktail that we both had to swallow. Two days after his departure there was a big very heavy rainfall and drowned many of the flies. Seems like only the mosquitoes survived.

All though high temps and swarms of black devils in the air were dominating we had 9 good days. During Martin's stay we had my old high school buddy, Emil, come by on his motorbike. He did the 1000 km both ways just to visit one day, but that one day felt like a day back in the days. I hope for him it was worth it. Me and Martin definitely appreciated his effort!

The change from being on the move all alone to having company was huge. All the new dayli  laughter and all the high moments to share. Saying good morning and good night. The fact that I no longer was on my own quest but on vacation took a while to settle. In the end it was difficult for me not have my thoughts constantly falling back on my own track and the wilderness that awaited me. Moving slowly around and enjoying the moments -  but still; all the time being able to see my future direction in the horizon was distracting me. However, we had many epic days with amazing sunsets, beautiful hikes, some good fishing. I felt very rested after this little holiday and motivation to continue my own mission rose.

back on my mission after some social days 
For the moment I've added a new spice to my diet: ibux! Or ibuprofen.. or painkillers? I'm trying to kill inflammation in my left foot. Plantar fasciitis I think it's called. Dayli stretching and this medication will hopefully do the trick.

mosquitoes still there, last day of the heat wave that lasted 3 weeks I guess. My face mask/net is not dealing with the insects well enough. They manage to come through and bite my face!

I'm still in Femundsmarka. The landscape here is significant. Have never seen anything like it. Big blocks if stone everywhere. Very difficult to move around in. I'm in the most remote area of the national park with about 25 km any direction to slightest civilization. After all I have concluded that from this day I will only walk on trails and focus on moving on. Probably do some time through Sweden. The terrain is too difficult to go through with what I had set myself up to. 

doing 15-20 km a day in this kind of terrain with weather change into rain in mind is too big a risk. I will cross Femundsmarka and go around it through Sweden

the rare poisonous wolf lichen!

The weather has changed to 3 degrees in the morning and tops at 10 throughout the day. The wind is cold and there is rain in the air. Oddly, it feels delightful. Finally the cool down after numerous heat waves. But I won't go through with the off trail adventurous route I had in mind, because the huge stones are slippery as they were coated with soap. So I find myself forced to think differently and I think I found the solution. To make it even more complicated then my place for food deposit much further north seems to close down due to death. All in all it makes me look further east. I'm already on the border. The  result might be to do some weeks in Sweden. My direction will still be north and the adventure is far from over. 

on the border to Sweden this group of German tourists on a guided gourmet man-tour invited me for a three course breakfast. Wow! Sharpened my taste sense like never before.

my own gourmet meal of fresh caught greyling