Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
9
TRAVELLING THE WILDERNESS WAY BY BUS
The #425
bus
runs from
Strömsund
to
Gäddede
. There's one daily service and two buses on
Fridays (
W
lanstrafiken-z.se). Travelling on a Friday is best since you can take the first bus, get off
wherever you like (just tell the driver to stop), and spend the late afternoon and early evening
walking or chilling out by the side of a lake and then continue on to Gäddede. On weekdays
the bus connects in Gäddede with the #472 to Stora Blåsjön and Anakarde, beside the pretty
Stora Blåsjön lake.
GETTING OVER THE STEKENJOKK PLATEAU
There's no bus connection from Stora Blåsjön over the Stekenjokk plateau to
Klimpfjäll
, from
where bus #420 runs down to Saxnäs and Vilhelmina (Mon-Fri 2 daily, Sat & Sun 1 daily;
W
tabussen.nu). However, there are three options to cross into Lappland: take a
taxi
from Stora
Blåsjön (
T
0672 201 53);
hitch
between the two places - there are a lot of German and Dutch
camper vans on this stretch of the road who may be able to help out with a lift over the
plateau; or
hike
from Ankarede towards Raukasjön lake before heading north up over the
Norra Borgafjällen mountains for Slipsiken lake and down into Klimpfjäll - a distance of
approximately 40km, best covered over two days.
into which the falls plummet 43m; the canyon's that's getting longer every year due to
continuing erosion.
Gäddede and Murusjöen lake
The only town along the route is
Gäddede
, whose name means “the spot where the
northern pike can no longer go upstream”. The name may be cute but the place
certainly isn't; give it a miss and instead turn off the main road and follow the road
signed “Nordli” for a few kilometres to the long and empty sandy beaches of
Murusjöen
lake
, right on the border with Norway (the beach is in Sweden, the water in Norway).
You'll be hard pushed to find a more idyllic spot: the silence is total, the deep blue water
still and calm, and the mountains in the distance dark and brooding.
Stora Blåsjön and Ankarede
Stora Blåsjön
, a lake 50km to the north of Gäddede, is surrounded by blue mountains;
the village of Stora Blåsjon is where the road starts to climb above the tree line to cross
the desolate, boulder-strewn
Stekenjokk plateau
into the province of Lappland. Just
outside Stora Blåsjön, look out for the minor road leading to
Ankarede
, an age-old
meeting place for the local
Sámi
; even today, families from Sweden and Norway get
together here at midsummer and again in the autumn. Its old wooden
church
dates
from 1896 and is located by the lake, between the two rivers. In addition there are
around twenty circular
Sámi
wooden huts -
kåtor
- close by. The Stekenjokk plateau
is the temporary summer home of several
Sámi
families, who tend their reindeer on the
surrounding slopes, including those of the magnificent peak of
Gervenåkko
(1141m)
to the east of the road.
Fatmomakke
After dropping into the minuscule village of
Klimpfjäll
, the Way continues east. Taking
the first turn to the left, after about 12km and then following the signs, you'll reach
Fatmomakke
, a fascinating
Sámi
church town
made up of eighty
kåtor
and twenty
cottages, gathered neatly around the church, and twenty log cabins lined up by the side
of Kultsjön lake. The first church on the site was built in 1790, but the
Sámi
met
together here long before that for special religious celebrations including marriages,
christenings and funerals, travelling vast distances on skis, horseback or by boat to
reach here. The huts are made out of birch wood, with a hole in the roof to let the
smoke out, and birch twigs on the floor to sit on. Everything inside is orderly, the
fireplace in the middle, the cooking area at the back; there's a strict code of behaviour
