Höga Kusten: The World's Most Natural High

Sorry this entry is so late in coming but I've been super occupied by moving home so now is the first free moment I've had where I don't feel like crap (see next entry).

Anyways, Stephan and I decided to take a last minute vacation before we each had to leave Sweden (me for good, him for the summer). Since I didn't get a chance to go to the Swedish High Coast (Höga Kusten) with my friends a couple of weeks ago due to illness, we opted to take our own road trip there. We rented a nice Volvo S40 diesel from Hertz with our student discount and borrowed a tent from my Polish friend Pawel. Since we had a car, we decided it would be perfect to use it to move Stephan from his old apartment to his new one across town. Thursday was spent packing, moving, and cleaning. Finally at 7pm we were able to hit the road north.

We didn't have much of a plan, just follow the E4 north and spend the night at Skuleskogen National Park. Along the way we stopped at Dragon's Gate, huge Chinese themed rest area for a Chinese buffet dinner and some pictures. As we went further and further north, the midnight sun became more and more apparent. It never really got dark, just that grey time that you get right after sunset. This happened around 11pm when we hit Sundsvall and the detour. The detour off the E4 due to construction was not very well marked so we ended up taking a wrong turn and getting lost a bit but decided to turn around when we saw some other confused motorists stop to discuss how to get back to the highway. Finally we made it to the southern most point of the High Coast, the Höga Kusten bridge. Due to the delay from the detour, we arrived just in time for the sunrise around 1:30am. Just past the bridge is a rest area and scenic outlook where we climbed out to take gorgeous pictures of the bridge covered in clouds, the orange-pink sunrise, and the huge orange moon. If you haven't already, check out the pictures on Flickr. By 3:30am we reached the park but were too tired to hike inside to the campsite so we opted to sleep in the car.

When we awoke the next day we realized that this was real wilderness. A sign at the trail head warned us that we needed proper equipment and good health to reach the highlight of the park- Slåttsdalsskrevan, a gorge in the top of the mountain in the middle of the park. Wisely we decided to exit the park and drive north to find an outfitters store so I could get hiking boots and some other supplies. On the way we had to stop for a moose which ran across the road and luckily stayed long enough for me to jump out and get a picture. After getting a great deal on boots and other equipment we headed back to the park and set out on the trail around 3:30pm. We didn't get back to the car until the same time the next day. The trails were really steep and rocky due to glacial action which formed the entire area. The high coast is called as such because the glaciers caused the coast line to rise up to 300 meters (almost 1,000 feet) above sea level. But we managed to make it up to the gorge and a most glorious view of the Baltic Sea and surrounding landscapes (by the way, those pictures were taken around 9pm). Along the way we took a break at a stuga, a rest cabin set up as part of Svensk Allmansrätten- the idea that the forest is every man's right and is free for use as long as you don't ruin it for the next people. By the time we got down the other side of the mountian it was "dark" and getting colder plus we were physically exhausted. After some trouble due to the wood provided by the park being damp, we managed to start a fire, cook some dinner, and set up the tent. The next morning we set off on a coastal trail back to the car. Along the way we ventured to some burial mounds from the Bronze Age, an island off the coast, and an area where people can rent cottages for long-term stays.

After that adventure, we wanted some real, warm food and a break from hiking. We were too late getting to the ski lift that would have taken us to the top of Skuleberget, the highest point in the area so we deicded to drive around the country side from fishing village to village looking for an open resturant. Unfortunately we were about a week ahead of the tourist season so most places were closed either for the season or because it was too late in the day. Finally we found a place where we got some lax and fika (the warm kitchen had already closed) which happened to be next to a 16th-century fishing chapel. The building was so cool- built like a ship and made for people much shorter than Swedes are today. We also saw ruins of a church/a crypt from the same time period in another village. By then it was getting even cloudier and colder so the chance for some swimming or kayaking the next was out. Thus we made our way to Dalarna in the center of Sweden to visit the acclaimed Björn Parken (Bear Park) where they just got a new polar bear exhibit. As we drove through the night, the rain started to pour. Eventually we couldn't go any further but seeing as how we were in the middle of nowhere, we slept in the car again along the side of the road.

The next morning the weather wasn't any better and the outside temperature had dropped to around 5 celsius (40 fahrenheit), yuck! Depsite the crummy weather we had driven all the way to the Bear Park so we weren't about to leave without seeing some bears. The park was fantastic! When we arrived they were feeding the brown bears including the cubs. The fox had escaped from his enclosure and darted across our path to the bathroom so we were literally feet from it. In the tiger building, one of them came right up to the glass and looked me in the eyes! The polar bear enclosure was cool- huge for only two polar bears- because in the future it will have a snow mountain and real fish for hunting in the pond although now it seems a bit empty especially when the bears were sleeping. According to the park person who gave us a personal "tour" of the polar bear section, the whole thing is an experiment to see if they can keep the bears as wild as possible and get them to breed in captivity. I hope they manage to be successful. As we were leaving the park, we wandered into an observation booth in the wolf enclosure to be greeted by the entire pack resting across the ridge from where we were standing. Thanks to Stephan's zoom lens, we got some great pictures.

We finished off the trip by stopping in Mora for some pseudo-Cajun cooking (delicious blackened salmon, cheesecake, and Swedish mushrooms) before driving back to Uppsala. The entire trip back it rained. Apparently it had been raining for 72 hours straight while we had been gone. All of this wetness though lead to a problem- I had an ant infestation to take care of once I got home.