Hiking along Sweden’s King’s Trail
As we make final preparations for our next adventure, I realize that I failed to post about our amazing hike through Sweden in 2018. I shared some photos on social media but ultimately I prefer the less temporary venue of a blog.
4 years ago, I might have written pages and pages, telling the stories and experiences we had but this will be a simple photo gallery of the most memorable parts. Here’s a pictorial tour of our 19 tent spots, each after a day of rural hiking and roughing it in the tundra.
Miles to Go Before We Sleep
We arrived in Hemavan, Sweden, after a two hour flight from Stockholm in a 15 seat prop plane. We deplaned onto the tarmac and headed into a 2-gate airport, similar to the one at home. With our two carry-on backpacks and our single checked bag, containing our tent, trekking poles, knives and various liquids, we walked along the single-lane, gravel road into town.
We found the decent-sized grocery store beside the highway where we loaded up on food for our journey. Although there was no scale available, we guesstimated that our packs were 14 kg each, which meant we had both added more than 8 kg of food weight to our loads. We shouldered the burden and headed upwards, towards the ski area, to find the Kungsleden trailhead.
I always like going South. Somehow it feels like going downhill. – Treebeard
For this adventure, we ignored Treebeard’s advice and started our 500 km trek in Hemavan, Sweden, and walked ever northwards towards Abisko.
This was truly an amazing trip. We walked every step (except for outrunning a thunderstorm on day 5) and planned nothing in advance (except for our train ride back to Stolkholm). We were challenged often by terrain, fitness and weather but always rewarded with gorgeous scenery, remoteness and Swedish hospitality.



Day 1 – Hemavan to Syterskalet (17 km)

Day 2 – Syterskalet to Tarnasjo +5 km (27 km) Continue reading Kungsleden 500 km