Category: Friluftsfrämjandet

Family hike and April overnighter in Åsnens national park

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On Saturday Friluftsfrämjandet organized a family hike in Åsnen National park. These family hikes are very popular, and they’re shorter hikes suitable for families with smaller kids.

A lot of families came, and me and C came as participants.

Christoffer and Henric led the hike, a roughly 2 km circle trail with exciting nature. C and her friend E stayed together the entire time, playing, gathering sticks and climbing rocks.

After the hike was done we came back to the entrance of the park, started a fire and everyone made dinner. Some brought cold food, others used stoves and a few of us grilled sausages and burgers. After dinner most went home, but me, Christoffer, Mikael and our kids stayed to camp a night in the park.

You’re only allowed to camp in one specific location in the park, and it’s not a very good one. The shelter is pretty poorly designed and there isn’t room for more than a few tents. As it is with many of these southern national parks, they don’t seem to care much about campers.

But we set up our camp. Me and Mikael in tents with our kids, and Christoffer with his kids in the shelter. The kids played by themselves more or less the entire evening.

When we drove towards Åsnen in the morning there was rain. I wasn’t too psyched about the prospect of the entire weekend outside, but once there the rain stopped. And by the time we went to the campsite we had sun. The entire evening was amazing. It was warm, sunny and in every aspect great to be outside.

We made dinner on our stoves, but made a fire afterwards, and sat by it til late in the evening.

The kids used glowing sticks from the fire to spin fast and make glowing patterns in the dark.

We had a really nice evening by the fire, and almost exactly after we decided to go to bed it started to rain.

It kept raining on and off during the entire night, but by morning we woke up to sunshine. The tent was still wet though, and I waited for the wind and sun to dry it up. But the moment it got dry and I was about to pack it up a short rain shower came. It didn’t rain long, but enough to completely soak the tent again. I wiped some water off, waited for it to dry again in the sun, that had returned, only to have another short rain shower come in. I gave up and packed it up wet.

We made breakfast and a fire by the lake, before packing up the rest and leaving the campsite.

It was a nice trip and it was great to finally be out in some spring weather. The campsite isn’t that good but it was still a really nice time outside.

March overnighter with Friluftsfrämjandet

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The “Sleep outside” project with Friluftsfrämjandet continues. In March we had another overnighter on Skälsnäs. There were 16-17 people on this overnighter, despite the cold weather.

Me and C were the first ones there, and we set up our tent and eventually started a fire. We went back and forth to the parking lot to welcome the participants.

We had a great evening by the fire, and Henric, one of the leaders, made a really good tortellini stew for all of us. I had planned to make outdoor-sämlor as a dessert for everyone, but we were all too full after his excellent dinner.

A few of us brought kids, and they had a great time together.

When it got time for the kids to go to bed most of us adults did too.

The next morning I woke up to the sound of a fire already going. It was a beautiful sunny morning, and we all made breakfast at the fire before packing up and heading home.

February overnighter with Friluftsfrämjandet

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(Disclaimer: This post contains an affiliate link to backpackinglight.se, which means I get a small commission for purchases made through the link. The gear is bought with my own money though and I have not been asked to review any of the gear.)

On February 17 we had another overnighter with Friluftsfrämjandet. Both December and January had been cancelled due to too few participants. But on this overnighter we were 9 participants+ 1 dog.

While packing my car my neighbor got really interested in the idea, and when we were out on the camp site she texted me that she had bought a new 1p tent, joined Friluftsfrämjandet and wanted me to give her a heads up the next time we got out.

Since my last trip with C had been cut short due to her getting the stomach flu and throwing up all over her sleeping bag we brought the hot tent gear this trip too. So I packed my Tentipi packing frame with the Safir 5 BP and a dry bag with the rest of the gear, and brought the canvas bag with the stove and cooking gear.

The time set on Friluftsfrämjandets website was 18.00, but I planned to get out there at around 15.30, to set up before the others arrived.

When C and I got there, one of the participants was already there. I set up the tipi and the stove, and before long more people arrived. Peter, another of the leaders also arrived. It didn’t take a long time before C had soaked her gloves on the beach, so I fired up the stove and hung them up to dry. We stayed outside the tent though, and gathered around the fire next to the lean-to shelter.

The few of us that had arrived hiked around the peninsula, where there had been a pretty elaborate bushcraft shelter before. There were only remnants of it left now though.

When it got dark all of the participants had arrived, and we were 3 leaders; Me, Peter and Mikael.

All of us stayed by the fire, cooking food and chatting. C used her new Trangia Micro for the first time. She got it for her birthday earlier that week, and was super stoked.

C wanted to watch Melodifestivalen, the Swedish music contest to decide the participant for the Eurovision song contest. She used my phone, and sat in the headed tent with loads of snacks.

By the time Melodifestivalen ended most of the people wanted to go to sleep, and it was a good time to put C to bed. She brushed her teeth, and then danced and goofed around with Mikael to get the heat up before getting into her sleeping bag. She asked, a bit worried, if I was sure I got all the vomit of her sleeping bag.

I loaded up the stove to the brim with firewood, closed the vents enough to get a slow burn and went to bed.

I drifted in and out of sleep in the morning, and heard people get up and get a fire going. After a while I woke up enough to get up. Other than C, who were still asleep, I was the last one up.

I hadn’t been up for many minutes before C woke up too.

I made Krabbelurer by the fire, and the others made bacon, eggs and oat meal amongst other things. Everyone seemed to have enjoyed the overnighter, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they show up again.

After breakfast we all packed up. It had gotten colder during the night, and C complained about cold feet and wanted to go home.

It was a pleasant trip, hanging out by the fire and meeting new people. The next overnighter is on March 16, and if you are in Sweden sign up and tag along. This was probably the last hot tent for me this season, and for March I’ll probably bring the Hilleberg Helags 3 instead.

Next overnighter is on March 16. Sign up and join us! It’ll be fun.

First overnighter with Friluftsfrämjandet “Sleep outside for a year” project

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Last fall me and three other leaders in Friluftsfrämjandet started a project where we organize camp nights once a month for a full year. It was Mikaels idea as first, but since it could be difficult to get away every month we added two more leaders, Henric and Peter.

At first we planned to have the first overnighter on “Nordic night in nature” in early September, where people all over the Nordic countries spend a night in the outdoors. But we didn’t get the project going in time, and instead we had our first overnighter in late September instead. Me and Peter were the leaders for September.

We have planned to combine some of the overnighters with hiking trips from the hiking section, or canoe trips from the canoe section, but this time it was just a camp night without anything else added.

We chose to have the overnighter in Skälsnäs, on the northern side of Helgasjön. Me and C have camped here a few times before, and there’s a lot of room for tents, a lean-to shelter and a few different fireplaces. C joined me on this trip, and there were a bunch of people joining us, both a family and a few solo persons.

We had brought a lot of firewood, and me and Peter started a fire right away. We set up our tents, and for the rest of the evening we mostly stayed by the fire, chatting, making dinner, snacking and sharing tips about gear and sleeping in the outdoors.

We had good weather and it was a nice evening with a great group of people.

Eventually I had to put C to sleep, and she fell asleep on my shoulder.

The next day I woke up pretty early, but I wasn’t the first one up, and a fire had already been started. It was great to get up and come to a warm fire. I fried eggs, bacon and toast for breakfast.

After breakfast we all packed up and left camp.

Next time is Saturday on 17th February. If you want to join us, but aren’t a member in Friluftsfrämjandet, just send us an email that you want to test it. It’s suited both for rookies, that want to try camping with experienced leaders, but also people with a lot of experience who just want to spend the night outdoors together with great people. If you lack some equipment, just let us know and we’ll see if we can scramble something together to lend out.

My first time leading a group paddle

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I’ve been active in Friluftsfrämjandet for a couple of years now, as one of the leaders in C:s outdoor group. Up until last spring she was in the age class called Skogsmulle, where it’s more playing in the woods, learning about taking care of nature and similar stuff. This fall the group started Strövarna, for ages 7-9, where we introduce more outdoor techniques, like knives, fire, outdoor cooking, more hiking and overnighters.

But I also started to get active in other groups, and together with Joel, another member of Friluftsfrämjandet we started a canoe section, with the focus on group activities for adults. In September we had our first canoe trip. The hiking section had a family hike at Åsnen national park the same day, and they had close to 50 participants.

We only had four participants though, but we had a great time and they were really nice people to spend a day paddling with.

Our plan was to paddle in Tolgasjön, starting in Åby, and paddling north. We made the plan in sections, with options for a longer or shorter trip, depending on the skills and speed of the participants. On the day of the paddle there was a somewhat strong southern wind though, so we made the last minute decision to start in Tolg instead, and paddle south, so we would have the wind in our backs on the paddle back.

We met up in the canoe storage in Växjö, packed the canoes together and drove to Tolg to put the canoes in the water. For the first section me and Joel decided to paddle one canoe together, to be able to quickly come to the rescue if one of the other canoes would be on trouble. The skills on the other paddlers varied from some experience to almost no previous experience.

It was a nice day to paddle, and it was a small group with great people. We paddled along the canal that combines Asasjön to Tolgasjön, before we came out on open water. Our first goal was to reach an island in the middle of the lake, where C and I have camped a few times.

The paddling went great, and once we reached the island we took out our cooking gear and made lunch.

We didn’t know how long it would take to paddle to the island, and had prepared to turn back after the island. But we also had another section planned, to continue south to a campsite for Värendsleden, the canoe route that goes through Tolgasjön.

Since we had reached the island in good time, we decided to continue south. We changed paddlers for the next section, and I paddled with one of the paddlers who were less experienced, and I sat in the back. We paddled without any problems though, and she did great.

Once we reached the camp site we took a longer break, relaxed, and had some coffee and snacks.

When it was time to paddle back, I asked my canoe partner whether she wanted to sit in the front or in the back. She wanted to try sitting in the back and steer the canoe.

Paddling back was a bit trickier though. She did a great job paddling, but I learned that it is much more difficult sitting in the front when you are helping with turns with a less experienced paddler in the back. I’m also not that used to paddling in the front, since I usually paddle alone, with C or with my wife, who prefers to sit in the front.

But we got back to Tolg in good time, and packed up the canoes. Everyone seemed to have enjoyed or trip, and though we didn’t have time to plan another trip that fall, me and Joel will meet up soon to plan a couple of trips this spring.

If you’re close to Växjö I recommend checking out Friluftsfrämjandet and our activities. The hiking section has a lot of both longer and shorter hikes and overnighters planned for the spring, we will organize canoe trips and we also organize overnighters once a month all year around. Other than that there’s a lot of activities for kids, from newborns up to late teens.