If yesterday I took a hike, today I took a hike with a climb. To the left, you can see the route I decided to 'explore' today, but had I known that this map existed when I was hiking, I wouldn't have gone the route I ended up going. Today's hike involved trudging through snow 3-4 feet deep, seeing reindeer, and stumbling upon other extremely unexpected things.First on the hike this morning was the climb Bryan showed me. He had discovered a huge rock face, which was surprising for both of us.
The terrain seemed pretty tame yesterday, but today totally changed my opinion on that. I did try to climb it outright, but after not finding footing on what would be half way up this picture on the right side, I decided to head up less-steep grades farther around the mountain. The view from the top was pretty cool, but it was only half way up the hill. Naturally, we had to climb the rest of it. I won't post all the pictures I've been taking because I have been taking a lot. If you're really itching for all the good 'Alex in Nature' pictures you'll just have to wait until I get back. After climbing this hill, we proceeded down a Snowmobile trail until we came across a herd of Reindeer, who were surprised to see us that they ran off before we could get good pictures of them. After coming to the top of another hill, Bryan decided to head back and I felt the need to charge forward. Our break point would be at the lower red path on the map, where it makes a 90-degree angle.From there, I was being me, and blazing my own trail to what I had seen yesterday: a mast of a ship. It was some of the hardest trekking I've done yet, and I've got a short video to prove it:
Usually I can follow trails of reindeer or skis, but today I was totally on my own. I came to a much larger rock face that went up about 200 feet and had to take it apart piece by piece. I have lots of little videos from this trip that I won't upload because looking back on it, although I was doing some pretty adventureous stuff, I don't think the videos are of that good quality. I did, however, have one video that I want to upload, which shows me half way up this larger hill, right after I spotted some pretty weird stuff:
What you should be seeing is a wooden ladder, and then a shelter-like structure. I did actually end up going closer and checking it out, and it seemed to be a dumping pile, as if someone had chucked TONS of chairs, desks, garbage cans, and picnic tables off down the rock face. Kinda freaky at the time, but since there were no tracks in the snow, I wasn't worried about stumbling on anything weird. By the time I shimmied up the side of the large hill, I came across some fencing so close to this mast thing I thought it was intended to keep animals out, but thanks to Swedish common-land law I had no moral qualms about climbing over the fence and reaching my goal. When I did, however, I felt really stupid. What I had been climbing through feet of snow for is actually accessible by snowmobile trail, and is an information center in the summer. I could have done a l0t less work to get there, but I'm happy I did what I did. The result was even more spectacular:
The quality on this reduced panorama isn't that great, but I promise the full one is incredible. I ended up eating lunch here, totally isolated, yet at the same time feeling so connected to the world around me. It was after having this experience, on top of so many others on this trip, that I was truly glad I chose to go on this study abroad program. I know there are more 'exotic' places I could go on this earth, but I have had experiences I guarantee could not be replicated in those more 'exotic' places. Could I wrangle reindeer in Morocco? Feel safe on my own exploring the mountains of Vietnam or India? I don't think so. After I had those blue-marble feelings, I looked right and found another oddity:
Yep, I did pick up a broom and posed playing air-guitar in a bandstand in the arctic circle's
middle-of-nowhere venue. I then turned down the Snowmobile path towards Jokkmokk, but was again led astray by the prospect of more exploring. I came across this odd grotto on top of a hill overlooking a different river valley, in which was this odd tree which had snow on it like a tree would usually have lichen. I stood upon a rock, looked out over the southern river valley, did a little yoga, had a couple 'deep thoughts' and then continued. You know, for the amount of times I've done this, it still doesn't seem any less amazing or awe-inspiring each time I reach the top of a new climb. Yep, I'm really glad I'm here.
What you should be seeing is a wooden ladder, and then a shelter-like structure. I did actually end up going closer and checking it out, and it seemed to be a dumping pile, as if someone had chucked TONS of chairs, desks, garbage cans, and picnic tables off down the rock face. Kinda freaky at the time, but since there were no tracks in the snow, I wasn't worried about stumbling on anything weird. By the time I shimmied up the side of the large hill, I came across some fencing so close to this mast thing I thought it was intended to keep animals out, but thanks to Swedish common-land law I had no moral qualms about climbing over the fence and reaching my goal. When I did, however, I felt really stupid. What I had been climbing through feet of snow for is actually accessible by snowmobile trail, and is an information center in the summer. I could have done a l0t less work to get there, but I'm happy I did what I did. The result was even more spectacular:
The quality on this reduced panorama isn't that great, but I promise the full one is incredible. I ended up eating lunch here, totally isolated, yet at the same time feeling so connected to the world around me. It was after having this experience, on top of so many others on this trip, that I was truly glad I chose to go on this study abroad program. I know there are more 'exotic' places I could go on this earth, but I have had experiences I guarantee could not be replicated in those more 'exotic' places. Could I wrangle reindeer in Morocco? Feel safe on my own exploring the mountains of Vietnam or India? I don't think so. After I had those blue-marble feelings, I looked right and found another oddity:
Yep, I did pick up a broom and posed playing air-guitar in a bandstand in the arctic circle's
middle-of-nowhere venue. I then turned down the Snowmobile path towards Jokkmokk, but was again led astray by the prospect of more exploring. I came across this odd grotto on top of a hill overlooking a different river valley, in which was this odd tree which had snow on it like a tree would usually have lichen. I stood upon a rock, looked out over the southern river valley, did a little yoga, had a couple 'deep thoughts' and then continued. You know, for the amount of times I've done this, it still doesn't seem any less amazing or awe-inspiring each time I reach the top of a new climb. Yep, I'm really glad I'm here.When I got back, I saunaed, then got groceries in a sweatshirt and sandals because I was still really warm. When I was coming back, I saw that the procession for the beginning of the historic market was just about underway, and so with groceries in hand I marched towards the lake where the ceremony was to be held. I quick dashed back up to my room as we passed to get my camera, and I'm glad I did.
These pictures/video is of the procession with our torches approaching this snow-built church, constructed on the site of the oldest church in Jokkmokk, which was constructed around 1600. I stayed there for a while, but we were all getting very cold. I have about a minute's worth of the beginning of the church service, but since so few of us can understand Swedish and/or Sami, and the mic level is bad, I won't post it. it was really cool to see the stained glass made of ice, and with all the torches around the exterior snow wall, it was rather beautiful. About 5 minutes in, after the first hymn, I had to go back because I was still wearing sandals and my toes were freezing off. I still got to see it though, and I'm happy
I didn't miss the procession, because there were quite a few Sami in full reindeer coats, and to see the horses pulling sleds of beautiful Swedish children was worth the burning pain of warming cold feet. This next week holds lots of fun activities, and I hope I can make it around to everything I want to see. I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of Sami art exhibitions, films about Samis from both the past and present, and hearing the Joiking concert on Friday. Hopefully I will see the northern lights soon too. 
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