Wednesday 9/8

I walked the path to the spring and then strode over the stream a few meters below it, coming up onto heathland again. There was a bit of wind, but the weather was otherwise fair. After a while the path started descending, entering the forest as it did so, and the roar of the waterfall grew ever louder. Before long I caught sight of the water masses, and went down the last bit on the closer of two paths after a split.

On the way

On the plateau

Bealčánjohka downstream

The Fall

Spray was blowing in the wind and the vegetation on the slope was of the type such conditions tend to give rise to. I knew there was a statue at the base of the cliff, and I went over to check it out; I also knew that it wasn't very large, but against the majesty of the thundering fall it was diminutive indeed. This statue, of a naked woman, was cast in tin and carried into place by the "local" artist Tony Bernestedt in Karesuando, who simply gave this motivation: "Nature is beautiful, and so are women. So why not?"

Small

Close

Curtain

Force

Having covered a variety of photo angles, including several from behind the overhanging fall, I returned up the slope and then went down towards the water again a bit further ahead. From this direction there was a near-constant rainbow in the spray, and I looked at it for a while before going back up to a small mound I sat down on before 11:15. I continued observing the beautiful scene and then turned to lunch, feeling a bit of moisture from time to time, and the sun was occasionally clouded.

Eventually I descended to Bealčánjohka once more and then returned upwards in a roundabout fashion. The forest off to the side was nicely soft and green with moss and grass, and I reckoned it would look great in autumnal shroud later on. From there I took the other path up, but rather than returning to the open heath I turned off onto another smaller sidepath sticking closer to the water. Back out in the open there was quite a bit of wind, and above the fall – which is convex in shape and falls in increasingly wild sections – there were stretches of calm pools delimited by rock faces.

After a bit I followed a faint path up onto the heath, where I found a smaller campsite, but then went back to the water and continued upstream. I had been told by the recent Swedish trio that there was a large cloudberry mire thereabouts, but the first promising patch I came upon turned out not to host any berries at all. I passed through a thicket and then spotted the odd golden knob, and a bit further on that mire did appear so I left the pack to go picking, ending up with quite a good volume.

To rest

To pick

When I thought I was done – or at least was nearing the tensile limit of the plastic bag I put the berries in – I retrieved the rucksack and walking stick and rounded a wetter area, heading back towards the stream. There was another wet thicket before I reached it, but then I came upon a small path I could follow up to the bridge, noting that the last section was rather nice. At said bridge was a single tent containing the guy with the bad knees – whose legs were sticking out at the moment – and I talked for a while with him before crossing to the other side.

To round

To pass

To cross

There I found more campsites a short distance upstream, and a fallen signpost atop the closest crest. I took it upon myself to raise it, but grew suspicious about the directions its constituents pointed out, and in the end I felled it again lest it fool someone into an arduous detour. I observed some people arriving from the east, and then returned to the eastern side myself, checking the adjacent hilltops there which hosted more campsites. As I walked the trail two bicyclists approached from the north, and everyone gathered outside the guest cottage. The ravine of Bollošjohka was entirely dry, but showed signs of not always having been, and shortly thereafter I was back at my own cottage before 14:15.

Good campgrounds

Peaks on the horizon

The bridge tent (notice legs)

Them peaks again

Towards the fall

Dry Bollošjohka

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