to do: add video and more photos
Finally: mountains again.
My first impulse was to climb Kebkenaise. Of course. Considering that I had hurt my knee just from walking 13 km previously, and it still aches, I came to the conclusion that a 30 km hike is not the smartest move which I could do.
But the region around Nikkaluokta looks so lovely. All those different features of beautiful Swedish nature: rivers, lakes, birch trees in bright white and fresh green and finally: real mountains that are topped with snow.
So I picked to closest hill to Nikkaluokta that seemed accessible by hiking, suited for launching and provides a glide ratio for a paragliding flight back.
I could not find a name for that hill. But on the highly detailed Windy Maps I found a trail that leads up to the plateau just beneath the top:
Also the wind was promising: somewhere between south and northwest, which all seems possible to launch on the hill, as far as I could tell from the terrain model. And low windspeed (2-4 m/s) is just perfect for Kira + myself on the large (tandem) wing.
I was still not confident whether this hike would stress my knee to much. But I really wanted to see the world from above and also test whether some exercise perhaps has a postive effect on the knee.
At Midsommar there is absolutely no daylight constraint and the weather forecast predicated no significant change in windspeed nor wind direction. So I could be as slow as I wanted.
Kira and I began hiking by 18:30. The trail through the forest was beautiful. Mosquitoes constantly pushed me forward. The knee was OK.
After 5 km, on the plateau we saw individual reindeer and also a small herd. Kira had lots of fun with patches of snow. I took off my shoes to cross a little river of melting water. Then I climbed the remaining distance barefoot. Stepping even more carefully, slowly and delightfully was actually a good therapy for the knee.
On the top I deeply enjoyed the view around, took many deep breaths and some photos. Then we prepared for the launch. Both the wind and the slope of the terrain were just perfect. Wind was just enough to launch without running and also without too much force.
Very smooth tailwind took us back to Nikkaluokta. There was even a small lift (convergence?) so I could fly one full circle and gain 3 meters of altitude 🙂
The knee was actually better after this tour. One additional reason to hike more in the future!
Later at night I grilled and we enjoyed some leftovers that other hikers gave to us, at one of the incredible Naturrastplats that have public picnic tables and fireplaces. This is where I am writing this post now, one day later.
What a happy day.
Thank you, Universe, for all your awesome resources!
Thank you, Sweden, for your openness and for the great infrastructure!
And thank you, dear friends and readers, for sharing these moments with me virtually. It feels good speaking to you…
Touring Test 