For picture show of Salto2, click here

For map of  northern Lapland, click here

We arrived back in Saltoluokta without any bus accidents this time. People were waiting at the bus stop in Kebnats to take the bus on to Gällivare and look who is here - our new Swedish friends from Småland! Big hugs and 'Have a good trip home' and it really felt like meeting old friends again.

John went for a walk to Pietsjaure that afternoon but I was ready for some rest.
  
That evening there was another surprise when we met our new Dutch friends in the dining room where they were serving exquisite raindeer roast that evening. Wonderfully tasty. We complemented the cook. We had gotten to know this young Dutch couple quite well on our first visit and they were staying in the same house as ours - Laponia, behind  the main building - the two houses separated by a delightful birch grove (picture on the right). It was big hugs again. They hade been back and forth to Sitojaure in two days, about 20 km each way and they were feeling happy and tired. Sitojaure is the first stop on Kungsleden, going south, and it was the way we had arrived in the opposite direction in 1950, arriving from Kvikkjokk. It is, as the name indicates (jaure = lake in the Sami language, from the finno-ugric language group) situated by a lake, on the way to Aktse. That part of Kungsleden makes the eastern border of Sarek and the views are fabulous, particularly from the area around Aktse.

These two young people from Amsterdam, had both spent quite some time in Sweden and the amazing thing was that they both spoke Swedish so well that you naturally took them for Swedes. Actually, the first time we talked to them, they were in lively conversation with the couple from Småland and we absolutely took it for granted that they were all Swedes. They had been sitting on the steps of the house, taking in the sun and giving us a friendly Hej and a welcome wave on our first arrival at Laponia. Actually, their English was also as good as their Swedish. With these two exceptions, we didn't really get to know anyone in the dining room, but most people exchanged a friendly 'Hej' as you sat down at their table. I have been away from Sweden for so long that I find it a bit difficult to get used to calling everybody 'du' and saying 'hej' instead of 'God dag', but I am getting used to it. Actually, having lived for many years in the U.S., maybe I should be used to these new habits, because of 'Hi' and 'you', but it just doesn't work that way. You change countries, you change habits and your whole way of thinking. Times have changed indeed, and I would probably have been considered a little unfriendly if I had said God dag, at least in those surroundings.

The fact that we spoke English all the time to each other kept us a bit isolated I guess, but that was not a problem. The young girls, probably college students, who served in the dining room were wonderfully smart and friendly and spoke excellent English. The food is perfect and the service couldn't be better.
    
John took some beautiful pictures on his walk to Pietsjaure (or any other spelling you might prefer, Petsjaure, Pietsaure). On your left is the first glimpse of the lake. And to the right is a picture taken after you get across the pass.

This was another cloudy day
and at the pass where the  view opens up towards the lake Pietsjaure the wind came up and it started sprinkling some. It was decided that next year we would remake this spectacular walk and   we'd go all the way down to the little Sami fishing village by the lake.


Here we are on our way to Ravinen through the fjällbjörk forest (betula pubescens) and looking back at the wonderful Lake Langas, the lower part of Stora Lulevatten, which goes all the way up to Stora Sjöfallet and Suorva power station, where Suorvajaure takes over. Of the once so impressive water falls, only Hermelins fall remains. We have to imagine the force of nature that was once there. The price we pay for the modern way of life is indeed staggering.  The construction of the power station at Suorva was begun in 1919, after World War I and enlarged during World War II. There are still people like the old Sami woman in Salto who sells precious hand-made Sami artifacts - at quite high prices - who remember the big falls. In the old days she used to walk to the falls and back in a day as if it was a stroll in the park.  But she says she doesn't walk too much any more. She must have been about 90 years old and  those were the days - she says with a sad smile.

On our way to Ravinen we crossed over a small stream in a gully where we sat down for a while and listened to the trickling water and helped ourselves to a drink of the best tasting water you can find. One thing is sure - the water in those mountain streams is as clean as any water gets to be in this century. We got down to the Ravine and had a bite to eat but there was no trace of Förfallen, whatever it was - an abandoned Lapp hut is what we were looking for. John was stubborn and walked on for a while to see if he could find it. But there was really no trace of it.  We have to admit that we clearly did not go far enough. 
 
Siv sitting by the  Ravine while John walked up on the hill above.


Looking north right after turning around towards Salto after the pause by the Ravine.



    
 

   
The view from our window on coming back from the Ravine (on the right).

Saltoluokta tourist station is situated on a woody mountain slope, with beautiful Lake Langas down the hill on one side and surrounded by mixed pine and birch forests on all sides. There are no roads even approaching the site, since you have to cross the lake from Kebnats by boat to get to the tourist station. At about 50 meters from the doors of the house, you are already alone with nature.
 
  
                                                                        
  The last day in Saltoluokta we tried to make a round trip on Kungsleden and ended up on a ski trail. The signpost (on the left) indicates very clearly which path is for walkers and which one for skiers, and so does the map, but we were unsuspecting of such finesse and ended up in a deep gully that wasn't fit for walking in. You had to walk on the turf next to the ditch. We felt pretty silly, but we got a good laugh out of it anyway.

On our way out (left) we had a good view over to Pietsaure, looking west, where you can see the strange pyramid shaped mountain (way in the background) from John's walk the day before.

We met a large group of adults and children who were heading south on Kungsleden. We talked to them some and found out that they did their hiking in a totally independent way. They were young, strong guys and they carried their tents and pitched them whenever the children got tired. That's a wonderful way to spend your vacation even when your children are too young to make the approximately 20-km daily walks from one cabin to the next one.

We walked up to a pass and it got very windy so we decided to turn back. Soon after that, at the signpost, we made our silly mistake. We had a nice walk in spite of it, but it will be remembered mainly for the walk back on the edge of the gully and for reminding us to read signs more carefully. 
 

On the right Siv is walking off bravely towards the tourist station - in the ski trail  which in the winter of course is filled with snow.
                                    





We are getting close to the tourist station and here
is a view of Lake Langas (left) as we are coming
back from our round trip on Kungsleden.





On the right is a picture taken on our last evening in Saltoluokta. We will be back.






  


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