After leaving Senja Island, we travelled east and crossed into Sweden for the first time! Just across the Norwegian border is the Abisko National Park, which we visited for a day hike.
Abisko National Park is located about 120 miles north of the Arctic Circle in Sweden’s northern most municipality, Lapland. The park was created in 1909 by a group of Swedish scientists in the same year that Sweden’s first laws on nature conservation were established. The park is also home to the Abisko Scientific Research Station, which was originally established in 1903. About 500 scientists from all over the world visit the station each year to conduct studies in ecological, geological, geomorphological and meteorological research in subarctic environments.
Our hike took us along the Abiskojåkka Canyon, which runs the length of the Abisko National Park before entering Sweden’s sixth largest lake, Torneträsk.
All of the photos in this gallery were taken along the banks of the Abiskojåkka …
The Abiskojåkka, just before it empties into the Torneträsk
Deep limestone canyon walls flank the river for much of it’s length …
The trail along the Absikojåkka is also the northern terminus for the Kungsleden (The King’s Trail)
The Kungsleden is Sweden’s most famous long-distance hiking route, and can be hiked in the summer, or skied / snowshoed in the winter.
It stretches around 280 miles through Sweden’s subarctic wilderness, from Abisko in the north to Hemaven in the south
The trail passes through four National Parks, and miles of traditional Sámi reindeer herding lands
Huts and cabins are spaced roughly six to ten miles apart, which provide bunks and cooking facilities for trekkers (the larger ones even provide saunas and electricity).
The next two photos show the symmetrical tunnel that was blasted through the rock cliffs by a railroad company to avoid complex bridge engineering for the rail lines and accompanying highway that cross over the Abiskojåkka …
