Nikkaluokta (Sweden)

I'm in Swedish Lapland for a few summer days and I have plans to go hiking. I'm staying with a couchsurfing host in Kiruna, the main northern city. I'm lucky because he's not working during the week when I'm with him so he is also quite motivated to accompany me on the walk. We decide on Nikkaluokta, only an hour away by road from Kiruna.

We quickly leave the city and can already make out the first mountains and my first wild reindeer along the route. Though Nikkaluokta is above all known for being the departure point towards the Kebnekaise mountain range, you can also do a shorter walk of 11 kilometres round trip to Lake Ladtjojaure. That will be the case for us because we only have the afternoon and the next shelter is a 20 kilometre walk away, the only way to get there, so we have no choice.

The walk (a fairer way to put it than 'hike' I must admit) is easy, through a forest, sometimes along rivers where you come across some hares and reindeer. After 5.5 kilometres of walking, we arrived at Lake Ladtjojaure which is magnificent, especially in the sunlight. We're alone in this massive space, and if the wind wasn't blowing it would even be hot! We made the most of it to have breakfast before returning to Nikkaluokta then Kiruna to finish off. Tomorrow, we'll set off towards Abisko and some more difficult walks...