Category: Planning

Camping or hiking

On By Småland OutdoorIn 2019, Lightweight philisophy, Planning, Trips2 Comments
Hyperlite Mountain Gear Ultamid 2 HMG Ultamid 2

I begun my interest in the outdoors with hiking. I had traditional heavy weight gear, and though I enjoyed the outdoors there was too much discomfort with it. I learned about Ultralight backpacking and gradually reduced my base weight, one item at the time and I did quite a few hiking trips. I found a perfect balance between camp comfort and hiking comfort. This last year, and the trips this year too, has mostly been camping trips though. Trips with heavy gear, focused on comfort, and that’s been really nice too.

I’ve been less inclined to leave my wife with all the kids at home, even though she’s ok with it. And I do love to bring C with me (the only one in the family except me who enjoys the outdoors), but I really miss hiking. The trip with Brian last November was very much needed. Camp comfort and munching on a big fat load of good food is nice, but as a remedy for the soul, hiking does the trick better. I like the monotony of hiking from dawn to dusk, barely stopping to eat, but just snacking on route. Pushing myself, clearing my head and emptying my brain of thoughts. It’s a meditative state and a form of mindfulness I guess. I’ve gone back to watching UL hiking videos on YouTube, and I long to get back into hiking, and I miss the mountains.

I hope I’ll go to Hardangervidda this year, and I’d really like to hike the Arctic Circle Trail soon. We’ll see what the future has in store.

Summerplans – solo or with company

On By Småland OutdoorIn 2018, Planning, Trips1 Comment

Every year me and my childhood friend Fredrik use to do a hike in the mountains, and this year we had planned to spend a week in Hardangervidda, Norways largest national park, in mid August.

Unfortunately Fredrik had to cancel this year, and from the looks of it I’ll go on a solo hike. It’s bit sad that he couldn’t join me this year, but I still don’t mind doing a solo hike. I’ve never been on a week long solo hike before, so it’ll be a new experience.

Since I had free hands to go wherever I liked now, I thought about going back to Sarek. But it’s so far away, which means spending a lot of time traveling back and forth, so I’ll probably stick to Hardangervidda.

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Initially my plans are to drive up to Middalsbu in the southwestern part of Hardangervidda, and hike on the marked trails east towards Hellevassbu, and then hike off trail and on unmarked trails for a week, and just see where I’ll end up. I don’t know if I’ll do this when I’m going to hike solo though. I hike faster when I’m on my own, as I tend to take shorter and fewer breaks, which means I can plan a longer route. Maybe I’ll make a route on some of the numerous trails in the park and then try to push myself a bit.

I do want to avoid the most crowded places though, so I’ll probably skip Preikestolen and Trolltunga, despite the amazing views. Hiking on Besseggen felt like hiking on a busy freeway at times, and though the scenery was spectacular, it felt too crowded for my liking. But nothing is carved in stone, and I might change my mind.

I’m looking forward to the trip. If I end up doing it solo it’ll be fine. If someone decides to tag along that would be fun too, as it’s nice to get to know new people.

Now I’m going to go back out in the sun and enjoy the beautiful weather we have here. Next week I’m going on another two-night trip with C. I haven’t decided whether to hike in Skåne or go canoeing in Halen-Raslången-Immeln yet. But I don’t have to decide until Friday.

Plans for next week

On By Småland OutdoorIn Planning, TripsLeave a comment

Spring has finally arrived in full force, and even here in this northern corner of Europe the trees are getting green.

Next week there’s a holiday which leaves me with four days off from work. That means hiking time, and I’ll bring my two-year old on this trip too.

I haven’t decided any details yet, but my plan is to quit a little earlier on Wednesday, pick Corinne up from Kindergarten and then drive to Skåne. We’ll then hike off-trail,  set up camp somewhere in the forest and then spend Thursday exploring the area. We’ll spend one more night there, and then drive home on Friday morning.

Like our last trip, we’ll mostly wing it, and just go where ever we feel like for the moment.

I plan to use basically the same gear as last time, but use the Storminstove instead of the Trangia. I think it will be stable enough, and Corinne is calmer around the stove now than last year.

I’ll bring better food this time. We had lots of snacks on our last trip, but used Knorr Snackpots for lunch and dinner. They weren’t a success, and I’ll bring home dried food this time instead. I’m thinking of trying some new recipes, like falafel with Ajvar or maybe a noodle recipe from Ultralight Dandy.

I hope for nice weather and a great trip with Corinne.

Starting to plan for the summer

On By Småland OutdoorIn 2018, PlanningLeave a comment

I’m slowly starting to plan for the “big” trip this summer. Me and my childhood friend Fredrik go on one longer trip in the mountains each year. We’ve been in Jotunheimen in Norway a few times, and last year we spent 8 days in Sarek, in northern Sweden.

I wrote earlier, on a post about my plans for 2018, that I wanted to do a canoe camping trip in Femundsmarka this summer. Fredrik wasn’t interested in canoe camping though, but wanted to do a hiking trip instead. I can’t get away on two 7+day trips this summer, so I’ll have to postpone the Femundsmarka trip. I’ll try to do a 3-5 day trip in Halen-Raslången-Immeln this spring, so at least I’ll get one longer canoe camping trip done. These lakes are only about an hours drive from home.

The trip with Fredrik wont be as far away as last year (where we spent a total of four days in the car) but we’ve planned to hike for a week in Hardangervidda in Norway.

Hardangervidda is the largest mountain plateau in Europe, and the national park is the largest in Norway.

From what I’ve read, the terrain isn’t as dramatic as Jotunheimen, which is covered with steep mountain tops. Hardangervidda is covered with treeless moorland, and not that much change in elevation, at least on the east side.

There are numerous trails in the park, and I haven’t even begun to plan a route yet. I don’t even know if we’re going to follow any trails, or if we should make a whole new route instead. As I’ve understood, the terrain makes it pretty easy to hike off-trail, and the thought of doing that appeals to me. Maybe we’ll make a route to begin with, but end up just choosing a new direction each day, like we did in Sarek.

This is my Lighterpack for now. I do like to tinker a bit with it, so this might change from when I write this post. (This is my Ligherpack for Sarek last year. Despite a much heavier shelter this year, the base weight doesn’t differ that much.)