Oh, wow. Where to start? Vadvetjåkka sure is off the beaten path, for better and for worse. And I mean that quite literally: after I left the trail at Pålnoröset there were virtually no paths at all until I reached Vuolip Njuorajávri. At times this made things difficult – like the ascent up Njunis through the forest, or the exit from the western valley – but it also heightened the feeling of being in the wild.

And it was that feeling that accompanied me through most of the trek, underlined by the fact that I was on my own almost the entire time. Again, just me and Nature. And Nature sure brought out its best this time, aided by the great weather. The ravines making up the borders of the national park were among the coolest I've seen, and the delta was a very fine one, especially clad in autumn colors strengthened by both evening and morning light. Vadvetjåkka is also famous for its deep caves, but I never saw any – nor did I really look for them, for I was quite content with what I did see.

The two campsites I had out in the wild were something extra as well – the vistas they offered were nothing short of spectacular, and I spent long moments just sitting in or outside the tent opening and just looking. Under the circumstances, the abstained-from visits to Lappjordhytta and Stordalsstua (the latter was a beforehand extension option, but was more or less ruled out when I stopped early in Čunuvággi) in no way mattered.

The stage of fog over Lulip Guokkil was an interesting experience, complete with an orientational challenge. Now, had I not had a GPS-capable phone I would simply have backtracked to where I could get a certain reading on my position – possibly using the house itself – and then done the compass thing from there as usual, which would probably have landed me back on the path at pretty much the same place as it did now. But, since I did have the phone there was no reason not to use it. The rest of the way turned out to be just as foggy, of course, but it brought a sense of solitude and isolation the proximity of both the railroad and the car road would otherwise have done away with.

Still, it was nice to see the mists part at the end of the day, which made for a perfect ending to a terrific tour. Sorry for stopping the trains, though...

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