After a 2-month home visit to Germany I came back to Sweden in late August. As some of friends were also in Kiruna, three of us took use of the single day with good weather in between all the rainy and cold days to go on a day trip to Trollsjön, Sweden's clearest lake. It is situated about 120 km from Kiruna, near the Swedish-Norwegian border at Riksgränsen.

As usual, the bus departed at 7 am with us on board (sleepy faces inclusive) and after a 2-hour trip we finally arrived at Låktatjåkka, an abandoned railway station near the E10. From there we made our way up the hill into the Kårkevagge valley, at the end of which the lake is to be found.

The path is definitely well-worn here and absolutely impossible to miss - seems to be a small tourist spot, we met some Swedish/Norwegian people on the way up. Along the track there are loads of small and big rocks to be found, one set even about 15 meters high and looking interesting to climb. Didn't dare to do that slightly overhanging crack without protection though, seems like there are 2-3 really good trad routes though.

All the time nice views back to the E10 at Vassijaure and to the other side of the valley wanted to be photographed and admired, the area is really wonderful with all the streams and rocks.

The lake itself is definitely as clear as we had read before, a marvellous blue at the deeper parts. We enjoyed the sunshine and relaxed, as we had a lot of time to spare until the bus back home was going to stop by at the main road.

On the way back, we considered for a bit and finally decided to try to find a way on the other side of the valley, with the aim of reaching Vassijaure. Lead by some cairns, we crossed several small rivers and finally found a muddy path, on which we continued through fascinating landscape downhill to Vassijaure. This path was definitely a good choice with nearly no people around and definitely more interesting than walking the same way back again. We had to cross a lot of small streams and muddy patches though, slowing us down a bit.

In the end we happily arrived in Vassijaure on time catching the bus back to Kiruna. The end of an awesome day!

- photos partly by Angel -