Beyond the Arctic Circle
Having friends working in beautiful, remote areas definitely has its perks. You got to visit them! With two Copenhagen-based friends, Ania and Liz we decided to make our way up to Abisko, Sweden to see what Emily is up to (and to do a little bit of hiking). After the 24 hour train ride we arrived at the little town with less than 100 inhabitants, a tourist station, a shop and a research station, where Emily works.
The first thing that caught our eyes was the famous Lapporten, the U-shaped valley which is 'the gate to Lappland'.
This year the snowmelt came late and it rained a lot. During our visit though the weather was amazing, but we did have some struggle on our hikes with muddy paths and snow patches. It was also interesting to experience the midnight sun, which made it difficult to fall asleep even after a long day of hiking.
There’s a range of activities for the adventure-thirsty tourist in Abisko and the surrounding area like hiking, kayaking, climbing, skiing and Northern Lights watching, just to mention a few. But what do the Arctic residents do? There’s intensive research activity at the Abisko station. The long-term experiments and the data compiled over decades are invaluable for climate change research. The land, however, is owned by the Sámi, who are most know for reindeer herding. In summer, they take all the reindeer further north, so sadly we couldn’t see any.
One of the most common animals we came across was the moose. Well, we only actually saw two of them, but their signs were everywhere. Wolverine, lynx, bear and many species of birds live in the area as well. Unfortunately, our most common wildlife encounter was with the mosquitoes.
One day we crossed the border and went for a short drive in Norway. Again we were lucky with the weather and could enjoy some spectacular views as the rays of the sun were piercing through the cloudy sky above the fjords. I found the colour of the brown algae in the water against the blue sky particularly beautiful.
There are only a few species of trees that can endure the harsh conditions here. Short birch forms forests and willows grow on river banks. Otherwise the landscape is dominated by low-growth, sturdy plants, mosses and lichens. As we learnt there are many edible berries that you can munch on. The jam made from the rare cloudberry is quite tasty too. For my surprise there are even carnivorous plants (top left) growing here trapping insects with their sticky leaves.
