A Visual Lesson In Mindful Hiking From Sweden's Barron Fjäll Landscape

Our hike would take us through parts of Jämtland, the middle of Sweden. We started at Storulvåns fjällstation, a classic connecting point to reach multiple routes and fjäll. But the hike doesn’t really start until you’ve waded over the nearby Handölan stream and made it above the treeline. Here, we experienced our first ‘Kalfjäll,” a high mountain plateau where trees can’t grow. Instead, the land opens into a wide, windswept expanse of rock, heather, moss and lichen.

Hiking in open terrain like this brings a certain calmness. You become aware of your surroundings as the vast landscape gives you a feeling of being both close and far away at the same time. Honestly, at points, the openness made us feel a bit exposed. Especially as storms we were expecting started to appear on the horizon.

We walked between the mountains Stråatantjahke and Laptentjahke until we made it to Norra Bunnersjön, a lake divided in two, our camp spot for the night. This was made possible by the Swedish policy of Allemansrätten, which allows you to set camp almost anywhere on its land, provided you show respect for anything you encounter.

In this case passing through land for reindeer herding owned by the Sami people. In general, we tried to keep the hiking distances each day quite short, so that we had plenty of time to capture film along the way.

Quite early on, we both realized we had never hiked like this. Being able to move slowly, without rushing to another point on the map, allowed us to notice details we otherwise might have missed. Things like cloudberries and beautiful patterns in nature might not have been apparent to us if we had been chasing miles. This quickly became the subject of all conversations. Being out hiking at this pace gave us a new appreciation for what we have.

After leaving Norra Bunnersjön behind, we followed the valley over the fen and made it up to Västra Bunnerstöten. Once higher on the kalfjäll, there was almost no vegetation left but moss, a completely new view.

Walking back down in the valley, we followed the mountain stream and eventually reached the tree line again. At this point, the storm we had been expecting actually hit, and we had to stop to put on our rain gear. Having to stop like this is pretty typical, but we quickly saw something you rarely find: chanterelles, the gold of the forest. We filled our pockets and the one last dry bag we had, then happily walked the last stretch until we reached Storulvåns fjällstation once again. Leaving, we felt reminded of how privileged we are in Sweden to have Allemansrätten that allows us to cross land freely and for the opportunity to take things slow. It reminded us that we should always try not to rush whenever we can.