I’m home again after nearly two weeks of hiking, packrafting, photography and filmmaking in Padjelanta National Park. Here’s some impressions of my days out there.
I will create a film from the trip and for Supporters there’s a Sneak Peak available today. If you enjoy my work your’e welcome to join as a Supporter.
Before the trip I was unsure if there would still be ice covering the lakes as I’ve experienced this on a previous trip in early July. This time it was not a problem. Rather the opposite. Summer was early this year.
I had a rough plan for the trip but decided to leave the specific route open to last minute changes. Because I would be paddling on large lakes the wind conditions would dictate what would be possible.
I was lucky for the most part and could make the critical crossings with the packraft on calm water. I’ve heard stories about two meter high waves building up quickly on the large lakes of Virihaure and Vastenjaure and I would not want to be caught in a situation like that.
I must say I really enjoyed the variation between hiking and paddling. Although the packraft equipment adds weight to the pack it gave me more freedom to explore. With the packraft I could cross a couple of rivers that would have been impossible to cross on foot.
The weather was surprisingly warm. Good conditions for the mosquitoes, the opposite for the photographer. Some days were extremely warm for being northern Lapland and in a wide open space without the possibility to seek shadow it can be quite harsh.
As I was traveling through the more remote part of the National Park I didn’t meet another human being during the whole trip. It certainly adds another dimension to the adventure to be completely on your own.
Good conditions for photography was rare on this trip. I somewhat struggle this time of year when it never gets dark and the warm weather didn’t make things better. However I did get a few opportunities with beautiful light.
This was the first longer adventure with the Fujifilm GFX 100S and it worked great for me. I love the ability to quickly switch between stills and video on the same camera, but although the camera is quick it can be hard to adjust mentally between the two different mediums.
I will only be home for a couple of days now until I head out on a new adventure. This time accompanied by Petra. It will be nice to have someone to share the experience with.
Some of the animals seen: A Reindeer herd. Moose. Golden Eagle. Ptarmigan. Black-Throated Diver. Trout. Mosquitoes!
/ Magnus
