Hiking in the mountains

[luzula]

July 20:
Hiked 15 km up through the subalpine forest to the mountains proper. First 5 km on dirt road, then 5 km trudging through mires (it is very reasonable to have the winter trail there, as it is nice open ground for skiing, but who thought it was a good idea to have the summer trail there as well, instead of in the nearby forest??), then fording a stream and 5 km climbing up above the treeline.


That green space is NOT a nice meadow, it is a sloping mire. I mean, I purposely went to this corner of the mountains because it borders with Norway and has an oceanic climate (and thus potentially interesting mosses), so I guess I shouldn't complain that it is wet.


Look at these gorgeous old pines! Comparing the landscape to my trip to the Scottish Highlands last summer, the largest difference is really that here the spruces are an important part of the native ecosystem, while there, the spruces appear only in ugly non-native plantations. But the pines and the mires are similar, and much of the vegetation.


The stream I forded. The red X on the other side is the traditional marker for winter trails in Sweden.


regshoe will recognize this alpine lady's mantle, which we also saw in Scotland! There it was accompanied by wild thyme, which does not grow here.


A cute little heather (Harrimanella hypnoides), along with the willow Salix herbacea. Yes, that is a very tiny 'tree' species, with my finger as reference. I'm kind of disappointed in the flora though; I looked at a geological map before I went here and there seemed to be high-pH rocks in these mountains, but you can't tell it by the flora, arrgh. Maybe I misunderstood. *is not a geologist*

July 21:
I had planned to have a base camp and do day hikes, but I am rained in the whole day, alas. Luckily there is a shelter so I don't have to spend that time in my small tent. The shelter has a sign saying 'you can use this for taking a break in, but only stay overnight in emergencies', but everyone ignores this, lol. Obviously I don't use any of the emergency supplies, but I don't think that wooden bench is any the worse for me sleeping on it. There are two guys in the shelter on the 20th, but they leave in the morning of the 21st. All mine now! \o/ I spend the day reading a tremendously entertaining 170K Elizabeth Bennet/Duke of Wellington P&P AU, and venturing out in the rain once to gather moss specimens.


The view from the window of the shelter. Yes, that is the base of the cloud layer; often it reached the whole way to the ground. Oceanic climate, sigh...


A jewel-bedecked tuft of moss (some sort of Dicranaceae).

July 22:
More rain, sigh. I guess I'm a wimp, but I just don't enjoy hiking in rain--it would have been fun to climb one of the peaks otherwise. Further enjoyable reading. In the afternoon arrive two people, with whom it turns out I have several acquaintances in common, and we sit in the shelter talking. Small world. It clears up in the evening and I climb partway up the mountainside.


The shelter from above. I don't have photo evidence of me skinnydipping in that little lake, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

July 23:
I go down again along the same trail; only a little drizzle and then it clears up. In the evening, I eat a delicious three-course gourmet dinner at a hotel/restaurant in the little village below. Bliss.


A spruce clone above the treeline, where the branches take root and keep a low profile. These clones can potentially be hundreds or even thousands of years old! It used to be thought that spruce had to return to Scandinavia after the ice age from the east, and for sure there are genetic strains that came in that way. But it has been recently established that spruce also survived the ice age on the Norwegian coast and on nunataks in just these kinds of vegetative clones.

Comments

[isis]

It looks like an interesting, albeit wet, time! The micro scale scenery is quite interesting, and I bet if you actually know all the mosses etc it's even cooler.

Spruce and pine make up the majority of the forests here in the Rockies, though alas the ips beetle has really devastated them.

[luzula]

Hmm, is the ips beetle native to the US or not? It's a problem occasionally in Sweden, but that's because of the way that forestry is done, with spruce monocultures--it wouldn't be much of a problem otherwise.

[chestnut_pod]

The absolute miracle of seeing all that green in July *_*

Thank you for sharing your intriguingly misty photos and diary!

[luzula]

The absolute miracle of seeing all that green in July *_*
Ha, that didn't even occur to me as noteworthy! I wish you some rain...

[sanguinity]

Oh, lovely! And it's nice that you had a roof for the time you were rained in.

And yay, mosses! \o/ (I'm reading a book all about mosses right now.)

[luzula]

Yes, I was quite grateful for that roof!

Oooh, what's the book about mosses? *curious*

[sanguinity]

Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss. I'm enjoying it so far; I knew very little about their evolutionary niche and adaptations. I do like a book where someone sits down and explains what they find fascinating in a subject that they love.

[luzula]

Interesting! Well, I'll look forward to your review.

[regshoe]

Aww, that sounds like a great time, despite the rain and mires, and those are some lovely photos—thank you for sharing them.

Yes, those spruces look very different to the plantation trees in Scotland! It's a beautiful landscape, all those tiny plants as well as the wide views. And what a cool bit of botany (and ecological history) that spruce clone is.

How much colder was it in that lake than in Loch Arkaig? :D

[luzula]

Glad you enjoyed! : D

Hmm, it was certainly colder, but it's hard to remember exactly from last summer...

[scintilla10]

Such a stunning landscape. Great photos! Nice to have shelter during so much rain.

[luzula]

Glad you enjoyed! And yes, I did appreciate the shelter...

[seascribble]

Ah yes, the traditional skinnydipping. It looks gorgeous! I am glad you saw many mosses, even if not as many as expected.

[luzula]

I have gone skinnydipping five more times since! And in five new places, too--I have a map of Sweden on my wall where I put pins everywhere I've gone swimming. : D

[mergatrude]

Lovely photos, despite the weather. :)

[luzula]

Glad you enjoyed! : )

[hyarrowen]

So beautiful, if very, very wet. I'm glad you had proper shelter for the wettest part of it. Many of the pictures look like Sutherland - I never did much hiking up there, too many soggy miles for my taste, though I did have one or two glorious days on the hills. And I too love your old-growth spruces - they look so much more imposing than the new little things we have in the UK. The granny pines are lovely, too.

Treees! <3

[luzula]

Oh, how cool that you say 'granny pines', that's exactly what people sometimes say in Swedish, as well! : )

I can imagine that Sutherland is very boggy, yes.

[hyarrowen]

Aw, yay for the granny pines! It's such a good word for them. There aren't many in the UK - they get eaten by sheep before they reach that age, unlkess they're protected in plantations.

[feroxargentea]

Ooh, green and lovely!
One shouldn't laugh about your annoyance re: bogs, but....... :D
I hope your boots proved reasonably waterproof, at least!

(cj2017 were congratulating ourselves at the weekend at having avoided bogs and gone most of the way around our route in reasonable weather (only low cloud and a little drizzle), and then it rained so hard it hurt. Our boots still aren't dry.)

[luzula]

My boots are fairly new and kept out the water beautifully! \o/

Ooof, sorry about your soaking.

[solo]

Lovely pictures! Your weather seems to have been quite similar to ours - when I went out for badminton last Monday I couldn't see the hills at all because the cloud was right down to the ground. Very depressing.

I'm loving the pretty close-ups.

[luzula]

Thanks! : ) Yes, several parts of that trip were reminiscent of when I was in the Highlands. Although actually we were quite lucky with the weather then.

[jesse_the_k]

The jewel-bedecked Dicranaceae is an exquisite picture. Are the white patches snow in the "shelter from above" pic?

[luzula]

Thank you! : ) And yes, that is indeed snow. You can also see a patch of snow in the pic through the window of the shelter.