Introduction

What is it?
The Kungsleden trail is about 440km in total. This blog includes some general information that might be useful to someone preparing for it. However if you are thinking of doing the entire trail as a through hike then there will be some significant logistical issues to deal with as regards food resupply. We don't tackle those here other than to suppose that breaking the trail up into sections and dealing with each separately would help in this regard. As would a large budget. This blog deals with the northernmost section. 

How long did it take?
We walked from Abisko to Vakkotavare (about 160km) between the 8th and 18th of August 2017. We added a side trip to summit Kebnekaise (Sweden's highest mountain) as an optional (but highly recommended) bonus. I was only given the tip to do this directly from the trail (via a cairned route not the main tourist trail) when I was already on the journey. It made much more sense and made the trek fit nicely into the time we had. While we wished we could have stayed longer in fact we had plenty of time to do what we set out to do. 

What can I expect?
In terms of landscape it is beautiful, pristine, awesome and severe rather than sharp and dramatic. The drama comes with the weather and the ever changing light.

The route is fairly flat with gentle rises and descents. It largely follows a couple of wide U-shaped river valleys. This is a landscape sculpted by glaciers. There are hanging valleys on all sides. 

There is nothing technically difficult in summer conditions. Winter may be another matter entirely. The track is very easy to follow. There are no difficult river crossings (with the water at the levels we encountered - YMMV). There's lots of boardwalk on the boggier sections. 

There is not a great deal of wildlife. We saw quite a few reindeer in herds on a couple of occasions. Not many birds but several people we saw carried binoculars. Maybe they spent the time to see more. To make up for this there are lots of mosquitoes. These are more prevalent in the lower areas where there are trees. Generally in the middle section we weren't much troubled by them. 

How far in one day?
If you are carrying all your food then you'll probably be going slowly and some sections are rocky which is also a bit slower. As a rule of thumb you could say 2.5km per hour is a good "planning speed" for the first four days. After that you might plan on 3-3.5km per hour. So a 15km day might comprise 6 hours walking with say two hours of breaks. That's a 9-5 job. Plenty of time (and essentially unlimited daylight) to set up camp and enjoy the evening. Nearer the end that same day might cover 20km. 

We took 11 hours on the summit day carrying only light daypacks. (5 up, 5 down with an hour near the summit). This was going gently but steadily with few breaks. We did take an hour long break after the summit. It's not really necessary to leave very early. After all it's not going to get dark. Mostly it'll depend on luck as to when in the day it is calm, or clear, or windy, or raining/snowing. 

Why go?
One of the chief delights is the sense of being so far away from the rest of the world. A total lack of phone signal helps a lot here. Going slowly becomes something to savour and enjoy. And it puts off the evil day of arriving at the end. It is immensely refreshing to spend a period where the only people you encounter are also hikers (including canine ones) and where all communication is done face to face. Your ability to set up camp and cook in testing conditions will inevitably mature during the course of the trek, and thus your comfort zone expands.

In summary
It's tougher than it looks on paper, but also more deeply rewarding. If you feel like "stop the world, I want to get off", then this is as good a place to get off as any. 

Download

Click here to download a zipped bundle of files (3.7Mb) containing:

1. Jpeg image of the map
2. PDF document of the map
3. KML file of the map
4. KML file of the route

Clothing

Conditions
As mentioned in the Hazards section the weather is highly variable. This requires flexibility, fine adjustments and appropriate packing.

I constantly try and maintain an even temperature so that I am warm enough to be comfortable but cool enough not to sweat. When clothes drying is potentially limited this latter is especially important. Also to save weight you may not have much to change into.

I kept my rain gear at the very top (under the lid) at all times when it wasn't being worn. I usually have a light fleece beanie and a buff in a handy pocket as nothing helps control temperature like getting your head gear right. 

I only wore the down jacket around camp, and even then was careful to keep it dry. Fleece layers are less susceptible to moisture and the thick fleece with a hood was an especially good choice on this trek. 

Layers
Lots of layers is the answer. Preferably starting with an Icebreaker merino base layer that never comes off outside Stockholm. That's actually better than it may sound. 

Upper body
Icebreaker long sleeved zip top
Sherpa Trekking T shirt
Sherpa light fleece top
Sherpa heavy weight hooded fleece top
Mont Bell Down jacket with hood
OR (Outdoor Research) Goretex Pro shell jacket

Lower body
Marks and Spencer lightweight quick drying briefs
Quechua stretch trekking shorts (I really like these and cycle in them too)
Sherpa trek pants
OR Goretex Pro Alpine pants with full zip legs

Often I wore all four lower body layers. It was comfortable and warm, but that's a lot of zips when you're in a hurry. 

Extremities
Quechua trekking cap
Quechua light fleece beanie
Outdoor Designs windstopper fleece hat
4 buffs (1 of them a polar buff)
Quechua silk gloves
Lightweight fleece gloves (lent to my companion)
Extremities Goretex mitts with heavy duty fleece liners

That last item seemed overkill when packing back in May, until it saved me from frostbite on the summit. My hands were warm, dry and comfortable in these monsters. Well worth it.

Footwear

Socks

I took six pairs of socks. Three were Quechua lightweight ankle socks. Three were wool (1 Quechua and two heavier Bridgedale ones). The latter were expensive but are starting to prove better value than cheaper ones. Still going strong after 5 years. 

I'd go with more wool and less lightweight ones next time. But I'm constrained by what I have for the bike trip. In an ideal world I'd keep two pairs dry for night time use (2x5 days and 4x3 day's for the others). All the others will get wet. You may or may not be able to dry then. Recommend double sealing used socks in zip lock bags and hope they don't escape before you can launder them. 

Shoes
I wore Salomon X-Ultra NON Goretex shoes with Superfeet green inner soles. These were fine for the conditions EXCEPT on the ice on the summit. That was a very short but rather sketchy section. Otherwise very good. 

That said, most people I saw wore boots. And probably had wetter feet for longer as a result. But they probably felt comfortable and secure in familiar footwear, so each to their own. The exceptions to this were the odd ultralight hiker and some mountain runners. They also used Salomons. 

I mostly did river crossings in bare feet unless I could easily rock hop across. The water was cold but frankly after Iceland it seemed pretty mild. That's the benefit of having one's comfort zone stretched a bit. Still it was way too cold to even consider bathing. 

Food

Aside from being a very personal choice, the food you will need depends on your style of doing this walk, of which there are several. While it is probably possible on this northern section to opt entirely for staying and eating in huts, for many people this would be difficult financially, despite the evident appeal of comfort and convenience.

We did the entire walk unsupported, carrying and cooking our own food. We carried a bit too much for a few reasons. Firstly, I prefer to err on the side of caution, especially in unknown climates; the colder it gets the more I eat. Secondly, we had relatively little time together before the trip to really go through what we had got collectively. And thirdly my food dehydration and repackaging project is still in the future.

Still with the benefit of hindsight this is what we might have carried. It should be also noted that I have a relatively high capacity for repetitive menus on the basis that "food is just fuel". However in contradiction to that assertion I must mention that for me Chai is an essential and quite a bit of weight was dedicated to ensure a liberal supply.

Another pot of "Kebnekaise stew" is ready

Packaging
Packaging, or rather repackaging, is important for three reasons: weight, volume and convenience, and this trek provided a good opportunity to reflect on this process. 

There are a number of ways of organising one's food: randomly, in bulk, by meal type, or by menu. Obviously the first thing to do is remove all unnecessary packing (perhaps it's useful to take a photo first of any cooking instructions with which one is unfamiliar). Also if you are doing this at home it is helpful to have a digital scale to check weights, so you are sure of exactly what you have. Labelling is also good. Bulgur makes a poor substitute for cane sugar, but admittedly better than salt for white sugar.

I have for a while repackaged food in ziplock bags by meal type and have a dry bag for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and drinks. This way I can ensure that lunch and drinks are on top when I pack my single compartment sack in the morning. In an ideal world there is everything one needs for a given meal in one pack, but then there are things like salt and pepper or milk powder which may be used across multiple meals.

A slight modification to this regime occurs with snacks (I put the day's ration into a convenient pocket) and for Chai where I have a bulk supply bag and a "next few days" bag. The latter uses more convenient small screw top plastic jars, which are much easier to open and reseal with powders. This imposes a small volume penalty but if they are topped up regularly this is minimal.

On the whole this worked pretty well and certainly helped with stashing and finding things in the tent.

However I am not convinced that this system is optimal from a time point of view, and have been thinking about building single day food packs as part of a broader project to move to more self-dehydrated food. Rationing supplies becomes a lot easier and the current day's bag is always packed at the top. Basically this is transferring some of the organisational time to a period before the trek, but this is quite efficient as one could pack many day packs in just a few hours. After that packing for a trek of X days becomes very simple, and at the same time more variety can be built in - assuming you have labelled the contents.

The cost may come in slightly increased numbers of bags, but as these would be used over again it results in less waste. A nice innovation would be if the packaging itself were edible, or perhaps some could be waxed paper which might be burned safely. Looking at the waste that we produced over 11 days all of it was food related; 90% was packaging and the balance was composed of the empty gas canisters and a few baby wipes.

Further time savings on the trail could be achieved by having most meals pre-cooked and then dehydrated and packaged into meal-sized packs. And while it is nice to sit and prepare an evening meal together with someone under good conditions, there certainly are moments when you would much rather just get a good meal down and go to sleep. Just boiling water and adding to a bag also cuts down on washing up, which is always a good thing.

Shopping Check List*

Breakfast: Oats (800g), Muesli** (250g), Raisins (500g), Milk Powder

Lunch: Bread (125g/day), Cheese (100g/day), Jam (in plastic tub 200g) Packets of soup (1 per 2 days)

Dinner: Rice (125g/day) or mixed grains (200g/day) or Bulgur (125g/day) or Pastas (150g/day), Red Lentils (500g), Salt, Pepper, Olive Oil (250ml), Spices, Tomato concentrate (3 x 200g tubes), garlic (3 bulbs)

Snacks: Muesli bars (16), Chocolate (300g), Dried Fruit (2x250g)

Drinks (for TWO): Tea bags (85), Milk Powder (1kg), Sugar - cane or raw (1kg), Fresh ginger (300g), Chai spices (100g of own mix), Cocoa (200g)

Other: Baby wipes, Hand sanitiser, Batteries*

* This is for ONE person for 12 days (ten days trek plus two journey days)
** Given the allergies of my companion this was the only item containing nuts.
* There is little need for a headlamp in summer

Photos

Just a few hints. There is plenty to see elsewhere, but personally I prefer to come at it unencumbered by too many images.

Day 1: First view of the Arctic from the train

Day 1: Map of Abisko National Park. Note the shelter at Nissonjohka

Day 1: The first stretch is along this magnificent river

Day 2: Boardwalk empire

Day 3: Campsite in the early morning

Day 3: Approaching Alesjaure lake

Day 3: Leaving Alesjaure lake

Day 4: The trail is very easy to follow

Day 5: The view from camp for two nights

Day 6: Above the col on the way up Kebnekaise

Day 6: This shelter is a short distance from the summit

Day 6: The clouds parted as we descended

Day 6: Our camp comes into view at the end of a long day

Day 7:A windy pitch a short distance off the trail

Day 8: Looking back up the valley

Day 8: There were several waterfalls on this stretch

Day 8: The bridge shortly before Kaitumjaure Hut

Day 9: After the rain

Day 10: The fire is more against mosquitoes than for warmth

Day 10: View from the camp site

Day 11: The end of the trail

Map

Here is a Google map of the trek.

The route follows the Kungsleden track as shown in OpenStreetMap.

Note! This is not a recorded GPS track, but was created using Graphhopper, saved as a GPX file then converted to KML using GPS Visualizer.

The places we camped were recorded by us close to (or indeed from inside) our tent.

Route

The route for the Northern Section of the Kungsleden.
There is really no navigation problem on the main trail. It is both well marked, well worn and well frequented. Several of the significant points on the route are the various mountain huts which are roughly a day's walk apart.

The side route
The side route is well marked with cairns, and is more or less obvious anyway as it follows a couple of river valleys. There is a gentle climb of around 350m from the main trail to where we camped. The climb to the summit from there is about 1000m. Our return trip with plenty of time for food and hot drinks in the shelter near the top took us 11 hours going gently. Daylight is not a restriction in mid August.

From north to south the main points are:

• Abisko Turiststation is where you would most likely arrive if coming by train.
• The gateway to the walk itself is about 700m away from the station.
• The first campsite we used is one of only three places where camping is permitted in the National Park, which lasts less than the first full day of walking. Helpfully it has a small open shelter.
• There is a shelter at the northern end of the second big lake (Alesjaure) which we found useful for lunch on day 2. It is where people taking the boat wait. If you want a boat you need to raise the Yellow flag.
• Alesjaurestugorna
• Tjäktjastugan
• Sälkastugorna
• The junction between Kungsleden and the side track to Kebnekaise via the Western route. This is not the traditional tourist route from Kebnekaise Fjallstation.
• From our camp 5&6 we took three hours to reach the junction between the Western Route and the main route up Kebnekaise. The trail from this point is marked with red paint on the cairns.
• From the col the route to the summit is clearly marked, although the summit itself is snow-covered and very likely icy (see Hazards).
• Singistugorna has very picturesque toilets 
  
• Kaitumjaure - according to the friendly host there is a small beach on the river near here - downstream from the bridge - where you can swim!
• Teusajaure is on the edge of the lake that must be crossed by boat. You can either row yourself (free but you may need to do it three times to ensure a boat is left on both sides) or in a motor boat (100 SEK for a 10min ride).
• About 150m from the southern landing place there is a small shelter with a woodstove.
• Vakkotavare is on the road to Gällivare. There is a bus stop, a toilet and a carpark.

Hazards

Weather
Without question the major hazard on this trek is the weather.
You need to be prepared (both in clothing, shelter and food) for cold, wet and potentially windy conditions. And that's in summer. On the other hand it can also be mild and sunny. Sometimes these follow one another within minutes. Changeable is the word. As there is no phone signal you would be well advised to get a good weather forecast before starting, and if you have concerns check with Hut Wardens who may have had a radio forecast.

On Kebnekaise itself the wind and cold combination can be severe, and you will need to dress accordingly.

Kebnekaise summit

Almost all the trail up Kebnekaise is very straightforward (at least under the conditions we experienced) BUT the summit itself (the last 25m or so) was a bit sketchy. It really merited crampons and an ice ax. Indeed we saw someone putting on crampons as soon the snow started. There was a high wind with very low visibility, and a slope on either side that disappeared into nothing. It required a deal of care in normal hiking shoes. On the other hand this was barely 300m of walking in 160km, and probably on a fine day would be pretty straighforward.

River crossings
We did not encounter any difficult river crossings, though as always these need to be executed carefully. On day 9 there was the option to take a bridge but most people we saw went straight and walked through the river.

Mosquitoes
These can be a major annoyance in particular seasons. However there is some relief. They don't much like cold and wind. They were not present higher up. They are very slow. The bite doesn't seem to itch much. That may be purely personal, but certainly they seemed less annoying than either midgies in Scotland or sandflies in NZ. I used a head net a few times and was very glad of it; also a strong DEET repellent when necessary. This wasn't as bad as I feared, but it can make cooking outside the tent a bit testing if it is warm.

Getting help
We had no phone signal for the entire trip, but then we didn't try on any summits. The Mountain Huts are the obvious contact point in the event of an emergency. Some (all?) of these have radios. There are no access points other than Nikkaluokta between the start and finish. However this northern section is well frequented in season. Further south that may be a different story altogether.

Gear

Pack

This was the first trek with my new pack - a Crux AK70 70 litre angle compartment climbing sack. It's key features are light weight (1.5kg) and drybag level waterproofness. Both were really nice to have on this trip. I attached an Ortlieb drybag to the exterior with some strong shock cord. The tent and the foam mat clipped neatly onto the sides and yet it still felt like a neat narrow bag. 

The first few days with maximum load were hard but soon it was down to a reasonable level and it became very comfortable.

I'd still like to take this through a few more journeys and treks before I can feel totally confident about its durability. This is because I had some major failings with an earlier model AK57, but this seems to have been a major upgrade since then. Let's hope so. 

Tent

I used the Tarp tent Contrail (750g plus a trekking pole) that I'm currently cycle touring with. We somehow fitted in and survived quite well. This tent has already crossed the Pyrenees, Iceland and Scotland with me as well as a little use in the Himalayas, so it has form. However I wouldn't choose it if I had all my tents available to select from. I'd go for something a bit more four season. If we had had the rain we had on day one combined with the wind on day 6 for all ten days then that would have been a bit testing. 

I'd go with something really designed for wind and rain together. Still kudos to the Contrail for getting us through this in good order. My experience in Iceland was put to very good use here when siting our tent. Happily because I was anticipating wind I bought extra tent pegs (11 in all compared to the miserly 4 that come with the tent). This was a very good move. 

One big plus of this tent is that it's very fast to put up and take down provided that the ground takes pegs (not a given) and you can find a loose rack as a hammer. As a result we often put the tent up at lunchtime to enjoy some respite from wind for cooking and from potential or actual rain while eating. In an hour long break it adds a bare 5 minutes so is well worth it. 

There's a good argument for having a freestanding tent on this terrain. 

People with hammocks need not apply! Once again they are useless. Evidently I'm not a fan, but in truth most of this is open treeless terrain with low rocks at best, and high wind at worst. 

Sleeping

In August the temperatures were very moderate (0-20°C). It only froze one night. Wind and rain were more significant than cold. My Exped bag (rated to -1°C) is about 6 years old. It has been badly treated with high use and has deteriorated significantly in the upper half. Notwithstanding that I was always comfortable provided I wore the correct number of layers (and head gear) to bed. This varied considerably from 2 light layers to everything I had short of my shell layer. 

I prefer a lighter bag and extra clothing as a more flexible solution. My rule of thumb is "On the coldest night you should be comfortable with all your clothes on in your bag, otherwise you are carrying too much". So on that basis this was perfect. 

That said I'd like a new down bag rated to about -5 (and about 1kg). 

It was fortunate that we had periods of dry weather but in fact I seldom needed to dry my bag beyond what occurred naturally with body heat.

Underneath I used my trusty 3/4 length Thermarest ultralight mattress. To this I add a square of closed cell foam mat in the upper half. Not only is this useful as a sitting mat, but it also adds some insulation and protection to the Thermarest. Importantly it also stops the Thermarest from sliding about on the tent floor. Very handy when on even a slight slope. 

Cooking

We used gas with an MSR Superfly stove (Note: this is one of only a few stoves that fit both canister types - screw and click). We used one 460g and two 230g canisters. We emptied the last canister after the last breakfast. So perfectly judged but not much leeway. Another half small canister would have been wise in the event of worse weather. 

But then I'm far from minimalist with gas. We make chai three (on a bad day four) times a day and cook a decent evening meal. We didn't stint ourselves but used a windshield consistently. I took the stove up Kebnekaise and we enjoyed hot chocolate near the summit. 

We did meet him one guy with a small wood fuel stove. Good luck with that project in the wind and rain above the tree line (or in a hut!). Still they are great in their place. And to be fair there's a lot of Sweden that's ideally suited to them. Just not the central 7 days of this trek. 

The rest of the "kitchen" consisted of

• 1.8 litre Primus pot (with integrated heat exchanger)
• 0.5 litre titanium mug
• 2 spoons
• 1 plastic mug
• Opinel #8 knife

Note! The huts have gas cookers (and possibly utensils) for those that are staying there. 

Technology

• iPhone 5s for navigation and some photos
• Canon S95 for most photos
• Charger and cables (can be used in trains)
• Two battery packs (only one needed)
• Spare batteries and extra camera card (not used)
• Suunto vector watch
• Steripen (not used)

There was no internet at any point. This was one of the great blessings of this trek.

Storage

• Large plastic bags to divide top and bottom sections of pack. 
• Several stuff sacks for food (organised by meal type)
• Many ziplock bags
• Ortlieb drybag for extra clothing (attached to rear of pack)

Miscellaneous

• Headlamp (Petzl) *
• Baby powder and Cream *
• First aid kit *
• Repair kit for mattress *
• Spare sunglasses * (optimistic, but it's one of my rules)
• Lighters (another rule - I took four plus matches)
• Fine cord and some small carabiners (used as clothes lines)
• Hiking pole (in addition to the one for tent).
  In fact I walked using only one pole but used this one for the tent "vestibule" which was very handy
• Toothbrush and toothpaste
• Baby wipes
• Water bottles (1 litre Nalgene, 1.25 l and 0.5 l sports top)

* Not used

A note on water
Water is abundant. Often excessively so. Almost off of it appeared drinkable (depending a bit on your standards and level of caution). In practice I carried barely 0.25 l whereas my companion carried 1.5 l and drank it all. While I filled my drinking bottle directly from flowing streams, most of the water I drank was boiled and in the form of tea.

Logistics

The logistics for this trek are extremely simple. It's Sweden after all.

Getting to the start
For most people coming from the south the train to Abisko is the easiest way to get there. And by far the most civilized. There is a fine sleeper service, with a restaurant car. It takes 18 hours on the night train from Stockholm and arrives at about 14:30.

Getting back (however reluctantly)
In season there are one or two buses a day from the Mountain hut stop at Vakkotavare to Gällivare from where a train runs overnight to Stockholm and the outside world. Luckily the train is full of hikers which provides a bit of a buffer from the shock of returning to what is known as "the real world".

Notes
Both these trains can be full in season so these need to be booked well in advance. We booked in May for August. 
A small pack of water is supplied. There are power sockets in the sleeping compartment.