Hiking the King's Trail
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Loading... - Olivia Carrick
- 23 Mar 2022
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My destination was Abisko, a small town in the far north of Sweden which is the starting point for the King’s Trail. The King’s Trail (Kungsleden in Swedish) is a 440 kilometer (270 miles) hiking trail following the Swedish mountain chain from Abisko in the north to Hemavan in the not-quite-as-north. After two seasons of shorter hikes, I had decided that I was ready to solo hike the King’s Trail. It was the only thing on my calendar for August 2021.
During the hike, I wrote daily updates on my Instagram account and published them when I had reception. This summary of the hike is mostly based on those updates, along with a diary I kept in Swedish while on the trail. Writing helps pass the time, and you have a lot of free time when you’re solo hiking. I have some fun adventures planned for the 2022 hiking season as well, so if you want to tag along, feel free to follow me.
August 1 (27.4 km)
I straightened out my back after 17 hours on the night train from Stockholm to Abisko, did the ceremonial weighing of the backpack (13.4 kg
The first section of the King’s Trail takes you into Abisko National Park, with a beautiful, deep canyon with rushing water to your right as walk away from civilization and into a birch forest with mountains on all sides. I posted a final message on my Instagram account before I left. When you enter the park, you quickly lose your cell reception, and spend the next four to five days in the radio shadow of the Kebnekaise mountains.
After a couple of hours, I reached the first Swedish Tourist Association (STF) cabin by the shore of the lake Abiskojaure. The cabins are manned and some have small shops, which means that you can refill your backpack with food and other necessities along large parts of the King’s Trail.
My backpack was already fully stocked with food since it was my first day on the trail, so I only picked up one thing from the shop: a cabin patch. Each STF cabin has a unique patch that you can buy from the cabin host. I had decided that I would try to collect a patch from every cabin I would pass on the hike. The collection would make for a fun memento from the trip, and it would give me an excuse to stop and chat with the hosts at every cabin on the trail. Read More…
