Waiking up on the lakeshore of Alesjaure turned out to be thrilling, scary but in the end very funny. While still laying in our sleeping bags, weird noises started to appear just outside the tent. Our first thought was BEAR!!! We had no coin to flip in order to choose wich one of us should go out first (or in our minds it was perhaps- the one that would be eaten up first), so in the end Mr Aether showed his courage and went to have a peek. This is where the funny part starts…
Ducks. Yes, sweet, curious ducks were hanging out outside the tent, nearly scaring us to death.
Presence of snow on the mountain side
Just after our breakfast, the rain started to drip. We headed (ca 5km) towards the Alesjaure cottages where we had our first break. The scenery around Alesjaure is beloved by many and there are great opportunities for making day excursions. Wide range of alpine flowers and over 70 species of birds, attract biologists and nature lovers for a longer stay here.
The mountain hut has a large provision shop where we bought freshly brewed coffee and a bag of cinnamon rolls. We talked with the hut warden about the weather and it seemed like the rain was there to stay, at least for today.
Lake we passed before reaching the Alesjaure huts
View from the Alesjaure huts towards Tjäktja
A large bridge just under the Alesjaure huts led us to the east side of the water (Alisätno) and a straight pathway showed the way, direction Tjäktja.
Alesjaure huts
Our first encounter with a reindeer
The walk between Alesjaure and Tjäktja is not long, approximately 13 km, throughout a delta landscape, with high mountain walls surrounding the valley. Many say that the Tjäktja huts are already visible from a 10 km distance, but we did not experience this due to the rain. And rainy it was, all day, all the way.
Lunch break while looking back northwards. The rain did not take away our enjoyment.
When the huts finally emerged in front of us, we saw that it was set high up on the mountain Muorahiscohkka and that we would have to give our last strengths to come to our goal. The sky had opened all of its pores and the rain was getting more and more intense. For a second or so, we thought of sleeping in the cabin for a fee, but our stubbornness and our wish to experience the whole package of Kungsleden (even the rain,wind and wet clothing), had us putting up our tent in no-time. The tent place, or actually the whole area around the Tjäktja huts, lay on a plateau, so that the wind strokes very hard and cold. This, along with the rain, was the reason of us spending a sleepless night, the worst night ever (it felt like we were in the Hobbit movie, when they, scared and exhausted, climbed those mountains looking for the dragon).
Laying in the tent we realised that the steep and rocky climb that led us to the Tjäktja huts gave a hint of what was waiting for us tomorrow, the Tjäktja pass, the highest point of Kungsleden.
This post is a part of the following article: Hiking Kungsleden in Autumn