Siv & John in northern Lapland - July 2002

           View north over Torneträsk from Nuolja     
             
Abisko - Part 2

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So - on our second day in Abisko, we took the chair lift up on Nuolja, had some warm food in the cabin (with a very friendly host) at the top of the lift and set out to explore the mountain side. We walked south thinking that we would get to the edge of the mountain where we could overlook the valley. Well, on a mountain the shape of Nuolja it's just about impossible to get to what can be considered an edge.  But we had a wonderful view of Lapporten, the U- shaped pass that has served as a north-south passage for as long as this country has been inhabited, and which has become the unmistakeable emblem for this part of  Lapland. 
    
The view was impressive, and the moor we were walking across was covered with brightly colored  moss and flowers.  We never did get to an 'edge' but the view towards the south was magnificent with the little stream that trickles through the valley - most likely to join the Abiskojokk. After realizing that we were practically on the way to Abiskojaure, the first STF hut on the way south towards Kebnekajse, we turned and walked in a semi-circle over towards the north, following the eastern side. The view  over Torneträsk was impressive. This marvelous lake ranks among the foremost beauties of nature in Europe.

The area was discovered by tourists already towards the end of the last century, and at  the beginning of the 1900's, the tourist station was founded by nature lovers when  STF got a
  chance to take over the house, which was abandoned by the railroad workers, after the work on the Luleå -  Narvik railroad was finished.


From this rocky outpost overlooking the tourist station, we cut across the swampy moor to get back to the top of the chair lift. The amazing thing this year though was the near absence of mosquitoes, even in the valleys and around the cloud berry swamps in among the birch forests. There hadn't been much rain in the spring and the early summer and that accounted for the unusual scarcity of mosquitoes. Buttercups were all over the moor,  as well as fjällglim (moss campion - Silene acaulis - Stengelloses Leimkraut) - on the right, which we knew well from the Austrian Alps. Another old friend from the Alps was Sumpf- Herzblatt - (Parnassia Palustris - Slåtterblomma and, in English, parnassus grass) - below  left.

The one flower that we were missing was fjällsippa (Silberwurz, mountain avens - Dryas octopetala), which is an eight-petaled rosaceae flower, and not a ranunculaceae, as the Swedish name might make you  think. We have constantly found, whenever we get to the Alps a little later than usual, that all that remains of the Silberwurz are the jagged leaves close to the ground, which are all over the high valleys and mountain sides. Here it was the same - we saw some leaves, but no flowers were left at the end of July.   
                                                                                       
On our way down by the chair lift, we had a beautiful view of Torneträsk. 
                            
The last day in Abisko, we went for a short walk to discover where the Abiskojokk runs into Torneträsk. The path went through the low birch forest, birches that were not the dwarf birch that you find up on the mountain plateaus, but a small variety of bushy trees (betula carpatica, probably) and various  kinds of willow trees (vide, maybe ripvide, alpine willow - fam. salicaceae).

The flat-rock river sides surrounding the churning water made for a magnificent view and, in the background, you can just barely make out the tourist hotel behind the forest. Through  the crystal clear churning water, you could see rocks and the slightly moving stones on the riverbed.  We never did find out exactly where the jokk (the Sami word for river, stream) joins the Torneträsk, but we did see a lot of beautiful flowers, especially lots of linnea and fjällgentiana (gentiana nivalis or snow gentian).
 













As we were leaving  the hotel for the railroad station to take the train to Gällivare, we realized that we had a lot to learn about packing for the mountains. Already the first day, we had discovered that we needed about half as many clothes as we had brought. The books we had brought were not superfluous, even though it took quite an effort to read with the evening sun coming in through the window to the north.  But the fairly big bags we had to wheel to the railroad station from the tourist hotel were just too much. You carry your belongings  in backpacks, and  very little else, or you just cannot get around. We were to realize this a few more times in every place we arrived at. With one size bigger backpacks and fewer  things to take along, we could easily get along with one rolling piece of luggage for the whole trip.



On the left is the tourist hotel with, in the front, the one old wooden building left - as seen from the railroad station.







Then a final view of Torneträsk, a photo 
taken from the train leaving Abisko.









Go on to visit  Saltoluokta 1

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