Unna Allakas to Abiskojaure, 24 km.
Flat, flat, flat all day. Along and across small lakes at times, and then through alpine birch forest. The flat isn’t bad, as it makes for efficient skiing, even though it isn’t super exciting. But following snowmobile tracks through forest is no fun at all. When a bunch of snowmobiles all follow the same narrow track over uneven ground, the track gets very icy and bumpy. It’s almost like moguls on a ski run. I have to concentrate on every step, I get no flow and I’m stumbling and losing my balance all the time.
Yesterday’s beautiful weather continued and we had blue skies much of the day. The spring sun was so warm that I stripped off all windbreakers and jackets and was skiing in just a wicking top. Our first lunch on a sunny little hill truly felt like a spring picnic. (The second one was chilly and cloudy and brief.)
Since we were lower down today, we saw more animal tracks: hare, fox, ptarmigan. Among the trees there were blue tits singing, and during one of our breaks we actually encountered mosquitoes or something like them.
Twenty-four kilometres was a lot of skiing and the bumpy forest track was tiring for mind as well as body. Or perhaps it’s the full week of skiing that is starting to take its toll. In any case, for the first time this week I felt really tired when we got to the hut. The other days I’ve been visiting the sauna only to get clean, but today I actually sat in the sauna to rest and relax.
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