Saturday 27/6

I walked the path along Gorsajohka, stepping through melting snow at various places. After encountering some seagulls at the first almost-its-own-lake bay of Bajimus Gorsajávri I crossed a larger snowfield, going around a part where it was breaking up, and then rounded some other smaller fields, looking at flowers along the way. The main part of the lake was partially covered in ice still, but the sheets grew sparser closer to the bend ahead. Another large snowfield took me up onto the threshold at said bend...

Into the valley

Swift Gorsajohka

Calm Bajimus Gorsajávri

Thawy

Icy

Lively

Round

East

Up

...where the innermost part of the valley suddenly appeared in all its splendor – it was truly a great view, with lots of snow and ice out on the lake. Conveniently enough the threshold itself was flat with very good campsites right there with such an outlook in both directions, which I made sure to make a note of. There were also lots of flowers, so I spent some time crawling around photographing before continuing along the path.

Contrast!

Snow and life

Pale

Colorful

Minuscule

Said path took me down to the shore, where the boundary between winter and summer was sharp indeed, and an almost complete lack of wind made it a serene experience. From there I could see towards the westernmost route to Låktatjåkka, which looked entirely snow clad still; I could not see into Guoblavággi, but the whole slope up was bare at least.

Into winter

Ice and mirrors

After spotting some reindeer on a smaller snowfield above my position I started ascending myself along a gargling brook, mostly finding nice heath underneath my feet. I passed another couple of reindeer who were reclining on another patch of snow, and made a circuit around them without disturbing. At 12:15 I reached a twin waterfall splashing over naked rock in a sea of flowers, and stopped there for lunch.

Reindeer cooling off

More colors

Snowy up-valley

Relaxing

Wintery delta

Lunch falls

I took it easy up there on the blooming mountainside, eating calmly and just admiring the view. There was a weak wind blowing, but not at all enough to make me want to put the jacket on, as it was quite warm. After a while I walked a short bit further up the slope and looked at some more flowers, before sitting down again and looking at various birds in the still snow-covered delta upstream.

Eventually I left the spot and crossed the stream, keeping my altitude as I walked eastwards. Also on this side flowers grew in abundance, and the breeze made walking comfortable. When I neared the steeper parts at the bend I started descending at an angle, later going more straight down along the edge of the large snowfield there, and finally crossed it to return to the path on the other side. I walked without hurry, noting that some of the snow along the way had melted visibly during the day. At the bay-lake I went over to check out a campsite, making another mental entry, and then suddenly caught sight of the guest cottage which had been hidden for a while. I took the higher path at the end, coming home to my cottage at 14:30 after checking that there were no traces of visitors.

Light

Above the bend

Amphibian

Down I go

Down I've gone

Springy

Not bad!

A familiar sight

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