Hiking in the mountains
Jul. 24th, 2023 03:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luzulaJuly 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.
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.
