A weekend stroll through the local woods

This blog has been a bit quiet lately. Being on parental leave with three small kids tends to take up a bit of time and also a fair amount of energy. Luckily however I managed to squeeze in some time for a weekend walk in the forest close to our summer house north of Stockholm. The plan was to spend two nights outdoors and to have a nice time. There was not really any gear to be tested and quite frankly still my pack ended up a lot heavier than usual due to poor planning. On such a short trip however that didn't really matter.

A female moose near lake Largen spotted from the car on the way out

We started the walk a bit late on friday night since we were delayed by the pleasant company of my parents. So late in fact that when we started to walk through the forest next to the beautiful lake Malmsjön it was already getting dark. Finding a good site for the tent when night is falling is seldom a good idea. Luckily we managed to find an OK spot for our two tents and soon the night was filled with the noise of amateurs in the woods: breaking twigs in the darkness. I also had to use my new lightweight Muela pocket-knife to clear my tent spot from aspen saplings that would otherwise threaten to ruin my sleep. I'm sad to say the knife did not pass the test. When used for serious cutting duty the handle was simply too uncomfortable due to it's rectangular shape. I will switch back to my beloved Opinel. It has a rounded handle and is beautiful in it's simplicity.

A nice roaring campfire

Luckily our chosen campsite was full of dry wood (As is most often the case in the boreal forest) and within minutes we had a nice fire to warm ourselves by. It was quite welcome since the evening was in fact a bit chilly. As always the fire got us in good mood and my hiking buddy Jesper skillfully prepared marshmallows which we washed down with some nice Serbian šlivovic.

A master marshmallow roaster at work

After a large amount of banter it was time to retire to our tents and I found good use for my head-torch.

The Canon S90 working at iso 12800 conveys the darkness. I find the noise adds realism in this case.

I slept reasonably well under my Gatewood Cape. One of the pleasures with sleeping in the woods are all the sounds. This night we were treated with the characteristic cries of a Tawny Owl (Kattuggla, Strix Aluco) just a few meters from our tents.

A bit of condensation on the Gatewood Cape, but nothing too bothersome. I find the Gatewood Cape to be quite ideal for lightweight forest camping.

In the morning we packed up early and left without breakfast in the "Ultralight style" propagated by Mike Clelland!. It was still pretty chilly and we did not feel like lingering around. Jesper even had frost on his tent. It was the first time I tried the postponed UL-breakfast technique and I think it has some merit in cold weather. After an hour or so we had warmed up from the hiking and sitting down was a lot more pleasant.

 Birches in beautiful spring light (not properly conveyed by this photo I'm afraid)

We hiked north along Malmsjön and then turned northwest towards Långsjön by compass bearing. We had no trails to follow on this hike. I just used my Iphone maps and sometimes took compass bearings to keep the course through the forest.

Remnants of a more agricultural age

From Långsjön we just had a few hundred meters to our intended breakfast spot, the lake Mörtsjön in the nature reserve with the same name. Apparently this lake was used by a fly-fishing club. They had installed jetties on several places around the lake. I found that this took away some of the untouched charm from this nice typical forest lake with no road access, but I guess it makes it a very nice place for fly-fishing. There are thousands of lakes like this in Sweden so there is not much harm done.

Preparing hazelnut boosted blueberry soup oatmeal on the Bushbuddy

Jetties or no jetties, the lake was still a nice place for cooking breakfast. I prepared my favourite hiking porridge on the Bushbuddy. I still have some things to learn about this. I managed to severly burn the bottom of the pot. I still haven't managed to properly clean the pot. I must learn to simmer better. Any hints are welcome. I guess one thing I could have done was to put the pot in the pot cozy a bit earlier when the porridge was boiling.

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Homemade pot-cozy made by padded aluminium from Bob and Rose doing it's work

The pot cozy really is a nice invention. It saves fuel, time and energy since you don't have to maintain the fire. The extra weight is negligible. In this case we prepared the coffee while the porridge was having a nice time.

Breakfast is finished

After breakfast we walked through the forest roughly following the old boundary between two properties. Somewhere east of Mörtsjön we found what was likely wolf droppings.

Wolf droppings?

This trip took place at the end of April and there was an abundance of spring flowers around. 

Tibast?

Blue anemone and Wood anemone (Blåsippa and Vitsippa)

Vätteros, Lathraea Squamaria. A strange parasitic plant which feeds on it's host.

The sun was shining and we weren't the only ones enjoying it. I nearly stepped on a poisonous black adder in a forest clearing. Lots of dogs have been bitten by these this year. Unless you are allergic their bites are not dangerous, but you should go to the doctor if bitten. From what I've heard you get an an extra tetanus shot.

Black adder

Soon after the snake encounter it was time for lunch. We found a nice place near a hunting tower close to a moss. Out came the frying pan and we had a delicious meal of Nurnberger rostbratwurst and homemade french potato salad (prepared in advance before the trip.). Frying on the Bushbuddy is a bit of a technique as the flames are normally too hot for the pan. You need to hold the pan a bit above the flames and move it around a bit to cover the whole area. When using a normal fire the best thing is to fry over embers, but this doesn't work with the Bushbuddy since the embers are too far away.

Luxury food

After lunch we continued walking. My chosen campsite proved to be quite far away and we noticed that my route was perhaps a bit too long for one day, 20-25km off-trail through forest is quite a distance. The wind was also picking up and it was getting a lot colder. Anyway we plodded along towards the lake Däningen where I had intended to camp. Here we ran into some trouble. The water in the lake really didn't look or smell nice. We had almost run out of water, we were tired and it was almost cold even when we were walking. The lake itself wasn't too interesting either and we didn't really feel like putting up camp there. Maybe I'm starting to become old, anyway we decided to go back home. The last few kilometers to the car we realized just how tired we were. Next time I will research my route better and reduce the distance. Better research as to reliable water sources would also be a good idea.

Even though we aborted the trip a bit early it was great to get out and a great way to switch environment. 

The Bushbuddy as a multi-fuel stove

Heating water for coffee on a hot summers day in the Stockholm archipelago

The Bushbuddy is a superb wood-burning stove. This is a well known fact. However, what is less known is that just the pot-stand can work well with alcohol burners and Esbits too. The big advantage of this is that you can have a backup solution if the rain is just pouring down and you don't feel like testing your fire-making skills just at that moment.

The Bushbuddy pot-stand

I've read that some hikers used the Trangia alcohol burner with success. I have only tried with a homemade Pepsi-can stove and that worked very well and also has the advantage that it is extremely light.
When using either alcohol or Esbits, a windshield becomes much more important than when using just wood as fuel is not unlimited (I tend to use a windshield with wood as well to decrease the boil times.). I simply use a folded piece of aluminium from a take-away dinner package. Those who find that too simplistic can probably find themselves some nice titanium at a premium.

 Setup for Esbit use - note the use of the stone and aluminium foil to get the flame at a good distance from the pot

For the Esbits to work best it is important that the burning base is at a good distance from the pot. I don't know what the exact distance should be, but around 3 cm seems good. See this review of Esbit stoves for more info. In order to achieve this I put the Esbits on a stone and a piece of aluminium foil. A more sophisticated solution would be to use something like a Gram Cracker, but frankly this is such a simple thing to build yourself.


Esbits or Alcohol?
What fuel to take as a backup system is a tricky question. Alcohol is easy to find, but it is a more complicated setup and can also add quite a few grams if you have a heavy burner. The Trangia burner, and I guess others as well has the advantage that they can be used for simmering though. Esbits have the important advantage that you can use an Esbit tab as a firestarter in combination with wood. You can also fly with Esbits checked in as far as I know (I have asked and done so on an international flight with the Esbits in the checked-in luggage, but that is no guarantee that all airlines will accept it.).

Field testing?
When it comes to proper field testing on real hiking trips I'm afraid I have to leave that as an exercise to the reader. Even though I bring Esbits on my hiking trips I haven't needed them yet, but I haven't been on any longer trips either. So far I have always found wood even above tree-line in wet conditions. Nevertheless my backyard testing seemed to indicate that the boil times for around 5dl of water was about 6-7 minutes with four small Esbits and probably something similar for alcohol. Perfectly acceptable for solo use I think. It would be nice to know what other peoples experiences are.

Happy new winter year - try a Quinzhee!

In order to burn some calories and have some fun in the snow after christmas I decided to build a Quinzhee snow shelter. You can't get much more lightweight than that since the shelter only requires that you bring a shovel. It's also a lot warmer than a tent since the snow is a great insulator. The downside however is that it requires lot of energy and time to build, but it's also quite fun. It goes without saying however that you should not leave your tent at home unless you are very experienced.

Compared to other snow shelters the Quinzhee is less demanding of the snow conditions. You don't need very deep snow (as is required by a Snow cave or Snow trench for example.) or hard packed snow which is required for Igloos.

The snow heap freezing before being dug out

The process of building a Quinzhee looks like this:

1. Pile up as much snow as you can in a heap using a shovel
2. Compact the heap  a bit by pounding it with the shovel
3. Let the heap freeze for at least 30 minutes
4. Insert 20-30cm sticks evenly into the heap all around the top so that you will not dig through the wall when digging out the living compartment
5. Dig out the living compartment and watch carefully so that you don't dig through the wall when you hit the sticks
6. Optionally create a door of some kind

Step one is by far the hardest one. It took my about 45 minutes with a big shovel and this was for a heap that would probably only fit me in curled up position. It should help to have several people do the shoveling. It is very important to let the heap freeze properly, otherwise it will collapse. Especially when build out of cold powder snow like this Quinzhee. I let this one freeze for 2 hours.

The biggest reason to build a quinzhee - The fun factor

I have heard that those who have tried sleeping in Quinzhee say that it is quite comfortable and very warm, but also a bit damp. So far I have only built mine just outside the house for fun purposes. It's a great activity for the kids, especially the digging. I must say however that the hard work makes me long for the ICEBOX Igloo Tool.

Happy digging - observe the sticks on the roof

Divčibare - Daytripping in Serbia

In the middle of September the whole family went on holiday to Serbia to visit family and friends and to have some needed rest at Hotel Maljen in Divčibare west of Belgrade. This time no serious trekking activities were planned as our youngest was now only 6 months old and would accompany us on all walks. Nevertheless we had an excellent time and it was nice to spend a lot of time all together outdoors in a pleasant climate. The temperature during the day was around 20C and quite optimal for leisurely walks up to the mountains ridges of the mountain Maljen ( around 1100m above Sea level).

Divćibare is an old mountain resort that has seen better days, but my impression is that the small village is now slowly recovering from the economic crisis and many hotels and villas have been renovated in the last 5 years since I was there the last time. The natural beauties of the location are still very well preserved and there are well marked footpaths to nice vistas of the Serbian countryside.

F and S safely escorted by "čika Milan" (uncle Milan) on his trusty horses Klara and Sara

To me, the traditional agricultural landscape and society are among the things that attracts me the most in Serbia. It may not be the most efficient, but free-ranging sheep and cattle as well as manually mowed meadows sure create beautiful scenery.

Each day during the week we went on shorter walks for about 1-2 hours. The hiking was very easy with only about 130m climbs which suited us fine since we were also carrying our baby in a BabyBjörn-carrier. The Baby-Björn works, but I must say that it's quite uncomfortable for my back. My wife however seems to be better trained after all the time spent with the baby and doesn't complain at all. The advantage of short day-trips is also that you really do not need to carry anything more than your rain clothes and some snacks and water. 

S was able to carry all our gear with ease

The kids really enjoyed the walks and it was nice to not worry about bad weather and wet clothes. I don't know if it is just my imagination, but my impression is that the children really start to enjoy a nice scenic view as well.

The view east from Crni Vrh (Black ridge)

Look! He's barefoot and it's only 25C. He will catch pneumonia in no-time!

Having lots of practice by now we don't see any difficulties in bringing babies for a walk. Diapers can be changed virtually everywhere and it's even easier to find a nice secluded place for nursing outdoors. A tree works well as a back support. With our first child we used to bring a dedicated nursing chair! If there is a chance of rain the children can also sleep under my Gatewood Cape.

Little M slept comfortably on the Gossamer Gear Nightlight torso-length

F finds the perfect spot to take in the scenery in peace alone

Oh no, here comes little brother and disturbs

Look a lizard! It's not so bad with company after all

Not so easy to catch a good picture of this beauty

Not all days brought good weather, but the fog has it's charm too.

The Gossamer Gear Murmur pack traveled to Serbia as cabin baggage and still shows no signs of wear

Back in Belgrade to enjoy the vibrant atmosphere of the bohemian quarter Skadarlija

All in all we really enjoyed our holiday in Divćibare and we will most probably return again. Serbia and especially the capital Belgrade, is starting to become a tourist destination and if you are an outdoor enthusiast it is nice to know that only about 1-2 hours from the capital you also have nice hiking areas. If you go further away south there are also other really interesting areas, such as Zlatibor, Kopaonik, Mokra Gora and Stara Planina.

Kids on the mountain - The gear

When I was about to hike with my kids I felt a bit insecure as to what to pack. Consequently prior to leaving I solicited some good advice from fellow family outdoorsmen in Sweden on the Utsidan Internet-forum. They gave me the following good gear list which I more or less followed:

1. Sleeping bag or Winter overall
2. Windproof fast-drying pants
3. Rain clothes
4. Insulated jacket or fleece
5. Rubber boots or sneakers
6. 2-3 pairs of socks
7. Base layers 
8. Plastic bags for carrying soiled clothes
9. Windproof jacket
10. Baseball Cap
11. Warm cap
12. Mosquito repellent and headnet
13. Mittens
14. Good food with deserts
15. Huge amounts of sweets and nuts
16. Extra pairs of underwear
17. Backpack

The kids clothes

For some reason it was absolutely impossible to find fast-drying pants the week before I left. Everything was sold out during the summer sale. I was forced to pack the thinnest cotton pants I could find instead. This worked since we had fairly nice weather with no rain, but I would definetely not recommend it since the pants took a long time to dry and I needed to pack several pairs of pants. In the worst case however, they could always have hiked in their merino long-johns and rain clothes. 
Rain clothes by the way is probably the most important piece of kit. I found very light jackets at Decathlon in France. We had such good weather however that they were not put to the test on this trip. As pants we used the kids normal rubberized pants. More so than the jackets, the pants really get a beating, so I'm a bit hesitant to try light pants. The concept of hard wearing shell pants could perhaps be interesting, but they can be a bit pricey and in addition to that I'm afraid the kids will sweat too much in them if they would wear them all the time. I know I do.

Drying lousy cotton clothes while getting some precious rest

The sleeping bags


A part from finding good pants I found that the biggest problem was finding good sleeping bags. Most children sleeping bags are not made for temperatures as cold as around zero degrees. There are expensive alternatives for sure, but since the kids are growing fast I find it a bit waste of money. In the end I opted to use their normal toy +5-10C bags and complement with another +10C bag on top of them. A big problem with this approach however was the bulk and to a lesser extent weight. Keeping the third bag on top of the kids was also a major problem. Although this system kept us warm and alive I'm not satisfied. Next time I will probably try the winter overall system and/or make/buy proper warm sleeping bags for the kids.

The backpacks

One thing you quickly notice when you pack for any trip with small children is that you need a lot of space. They cannot carry all their belongings, so you will have to pack most of the kids stuff. The Gossamer Gear Mariposa Plus really is very handy for this purpose since it is very voluminous without much of a weight penalty. The outside mesh pockets are also very handy for drying clothing and quickly stuffing items (it seems you are always busy packing and unpacking stuff for the kids.).

Gossamer Gear Mariposa Plus fully stuffed with three sleeping bags, tent and cooking gear

The kids can however carry some things themselves. Of course, out of principle, I wanted them to have ultralight backpacks. The market for kids UL-packs is however small, not to say non-existant. Luckily I found a good and cheap solution in France: The Decathlon Diosaz Ultralight runners packs in size 10L and 5L. For around 20-25€ these are good light packs that also come with hydration bladders (They weigh around 250g without bladders.). I'm not very fond of hydration bladders myself, but the kids quite like them. As an added bonus I can use the packs myself for running (It has only happened twice, but it is nice to know the possibility exists.). The shoulder straps are too wide for the kids, but this was easily solved using a carabiner to bring the straps closer together.

Simon is happy with his brand new Quechua Diosaz 5L ultralight pack

Observe the carabiner attached to the hydration-tube holder straps. It is needed to make a good fit for the shoulder straps

In the small 5L pack you could just about fit the rain clothes and a fleece jacket. In the 10L pack you could almost fit a sleeping bag (but no fleece-jacket). In hindsight, Filip the 5-year old could have had a larger 15-20L pack.

Filip with his sleeping bag protruding from the too small 10L Quechua pack

The footwear question

Few questions elicit soo much debate in the lightweight-backpacking area as the question of wet feet. Of course I don't want my children to have wet feet if I can avoid it, but the fact is, you mostly can't. Even with completely waterproof footwear such as rubber boots, the likelihood of water finding it's way in is very large, even close to a certainty. By the way, the same goes for all the kids clothes.

Hazardous activity

In the end we tried both rubber boots and sneakers and both worked. Simon had to switch to his new sneakers since his rubber boots turned out to be too small (It would have been a good idea to try them at him first ; ). Filip is older and it seems already more set in his ways and did not want to try the wet feet concept. I have heard of other parents kids who hike in sneakers. One advantage of doing this is that it can reduce the likelihood of blisters. I would not use normal boots in Scandinavia since they will most certainly get wet the first day and then stay wet the rest of the trip. With bigger kids normal boots might work.

Simon in sneakers and Filip in rubber boots

Shelter

An advantage with small kids is that they are small in size too. A roomy two-man shelter can funtion well even with two kids and two adults. I had three choices here: My Bergans Kompakt Light 3, The Tarptent Cloudburst 2 and the Six Moon Designs Lunar Duo. The Bergans was out of the question mainly because of the bulk. If I had chosen it I would have had to switch to my traditional 80L backpack. That would have been a capitulation. The fact that it weighs 3kg is less of a concern on such a short trip, but the total effect of taking it would have been a weight increase of around 3-4kg (+1,6kg for the tent and approximately 2-3kg for the backpack.). The choice between the Cloudburst and the Lunar Duo was harder. Anyone of them would have worked. The Cloudburst is probably better in high winds and it's surface area is very big when lying down, but the ceiling is lower which makes it more awkward to change clothes inside. On the plus side it's less bulky and ca 300g lighter than the Lunar Duo. In the end I chose the Lunar Duo partly because I wanted to test it and mainly because of the higher ceiling. Another factor was that the Lunar Duo fly can be pinned to the ground and thus reduce draft better. I was quite afraid that the kids would be cold in their simple sleeping bags.

Lunar Duo pitched for siesta

Conclusion

Compiling the ultimate gear list might seem daunting, but in reality the important thing is to get out there and see what works for you. If you stay reasonably close to civilisation you can always turn back if the trip gets unpleasant. Most of the time with the small kids the challenge has nothing to do with gear, it is managing attitudes (your own, as well as the kids) that's important and difficult. It is however comforting to know that with light gear you can get by without being too overburdened. I would guess that my pack for this overnight trip did not weigh much more than 12kg.

Kids on the mountain

Having three small boys, aged four months, three- and five years can make it difficult and challenging to get out into the wilderness for longer times. Most probably I will not be able to do any longer trips the next few years. Most parents just give up and wait for better times when the kids are older. This is a pity though, and I did not want to give up so easily. A short trip with two kids should be within reach. Preferably I would have liked to go with the entire family, but even an optimist like myself has to realize there is a time and place for everything. The effort - satisfaction ratio is not favorable when also including a 4-month baby in the equation. Luckily some of my good friends wanted to come along and a trip to Hemavan in Lapland was booked.

Training
In order to make a trip more enjoyable and to judge the kids capacities I thought some training close to home should be useful. Since we got kids I have read about everything I've seen on the topic of hiking with small kids. It seems most people do not hike with kids as young as ours, but those who do seem to say that around 3-5 km is a reasonable distance for a day. Consequently I planned an overnight hike with some friends in order to get a feeling for what was possible and enjoyable.


We bushwacked around 3km to a nice location by a lake close to our summer house. All went very well and everyone seemed to enjoy the outing. 

Simon climbing over a fallen log - walking on unbeaten paths worked well, but it can require a lot of extra time

Filip outside the Cloudburst-tent on a shorter field exercise

Later on during our vacation we also got the opportunity to do some high altitude training in the alps. With the right motivation and in good company of their cousins, the kids actually managed to climb no less than 170m of altitude in less than two hours. It was now quite clear that the kids where certainly physically ready for a hike and that the challenges would be mainly psychological.

Filip looking for marmots in the Parc National de Mercantour, Boréon, France

Route planning
Since I wanted to get up on the mountain as fast as possible and avoid long stretches in the forest it suited us perfectly to take the ski lift up to the start of Kungsleden in Hemavan. This would provide an interesting start of the trip as well. Having gone up the mountain we would then just follow the trail a few kilometers towards Viterskalsstugan and then put up our tent right next to the trail. This way I figured it would be easy to get help should any accident occur.

On start of Kungsleden a few kilometers from the ski lift

Out on the mountain

Finally the big day arrived, the weather report looked favorable and we boarded the lift and enjoyed the scenery as we climbed to just above the treeline of Norra Storfjället. We started to walk along what we then thought was Kungsleden. Soon it became apparent though that something was wrong. The kids were feeling tired and where not in a good mood. With the help of some candy we however managed to climb up to to a nice spot for lunch. I learned an important lesson: Don't postpone food! Not even half an hour! In order to have a nice trip with kids (and to a lesser extent adults as well) everybody needs to be well fed and the mountain gives you a big appetite.

The PocketRocket temporarily replaces my Bushbuddy

Luckily, with the help of the efficient MSR PocketRocket canister stove we had hotdogs within just a few minutes. On trips like this with hungry kids my trusty old Bushbuddy simply isn't efficient enough. To have food the kids like is of course also important. It also helps if it is easy to eat.

Simon eating Tortellini - a very practical dish

After the feeding everything seemed easier. We explored a nice snowfield and tobogganed on our rain pants. Quite a nice activity, however the reindeer also like snowfields and later in the tent I discovered a strong smell originating from my rain pants.


The weather was quite OK and we could start to enjoy the walk and there was no rush for anything. At this point we had discovered that we had taken a wrong turn at the trailhead when we got off the lift. The kids and I were really navigating through the wilderness off trail! It felt a bit scary though since I was now completely on my own. If something happened it would be a bit more difficult to get help. The Kungsleden trail was only about two kilometers away however and very easy to find.

After awhile the kids became a bit tired again and we decided to put up the tent for the habitual afternoon siesta. A nice spot with small waterfalls was identified. A perfect place for the kids to explore. It was also a nice place for me to relax while they were sleeping.

Taking a siesta and drying the perfectly lousy cotton pants

Having rested we continued our slow walk towards the trail. The two-three kilometers would in fact take us almost half a day! It was good to know we were sleeping in a tent and there was no big hurry to get anywhere, except reasonably close to the trail.

Filip making his way down to Kungsleden with his sleeping bag protruding from his too small 10L ultralight pack

Waiting for dinner

Finally we arrived at the trail and we were lucky to find a perfect campsite right next to it. It was already time for dinner so wiser from the experience in the morning, we started cooking right away. Two packets of Knorr Spaghetteri Bolognese filled our hungry stomachs. The tent was put up again and I could watch the beautiful play of light when the sun broke through the clouds on the other side of the Syterbäcken ravine. Having done away with dinner and with the tent up there was some time to spare, so I decided to try out using willow as Bushbuddy fuel and prepare some hot drinks. The smaller sticks burned quite well even though they were a bit damp.

All set for sleeping time

But not for the mosquitos!

All now seemed well set for a calm bedtime. This was not to be however. Big-time crying started: "I want muuummyyyy!!" , "I want to go home. Now!". It was a trail for a tired father. In my opinion the children's  complaints were mostly not due to the camping experience, which they are very fond of, but more due to the fact that this was the first time they spent such a long time without mum in an unfamiliar setting. I also believe their longing and bad mood was triggered by their fatigue. Later on during the week when they had got used to the situation they were a lot easier to handle.

Keeping small kids in their sleeping bags is not always easy. Pulling the draw-cord on the hood helped some, but little Houdini Simon managed to crawl out anyway. Some parents therefore use winter overalls instead.

Finally they fell asleep and slept very well until morning. I could not quite say the same for myself. The triple sleeping bag system I had devised seemed to work, but Simon slid out of his sleeping bag a few times and I had to adjust the extra sleeping bag lying on top of both of them several times. It seemed to  me that the kids slept quite warm and the third sleeping bag was not really necessary.

In the morning we had an energizing breakfast consisting of Tortillas and Nutella and set off for the ski lift. The going was a lot easier now that we were on the trail. We saw quite a few families with kids on the trail. However, none of them were hiking alone as I were and none of the kids were as young as Simon. After last night's bedtime experience I wondered to myself if I'm the only one that is crazy enough. 

The small scale of the streams was most appreciated. Small waterfalls were often the main attraction.

Everyones spirits were higher now however and it was not without a certain sense of accomplishment that I arrived at the skilift. It IS possible to hike even with small children and most of the time it is even fun. I'm also convinced that the more you do it, the easier it will become.

Next time in Sarek?