I’ve previously said to a few selected friends and colleagues that me and Jon would be going to Scotland this summer. It’s been one of our goals basically since we got back from Iceland last year. Now that time and work have caught up with us this can’t be a reality this summer.
However, the planing and the help we’ve gotten at trek-lite.com and other sources have been great and we can just store these in a little box for the future. Thanks!
Well then. Lets play a game to figure out where this summers trekking adventure will take us…
I spy with my little eye, something that starts with V:
What do you see?
A rough estimate, 175+ km with some small detours on top of that. Mid September.
Lighter Packs 
Looks like a nice route. Coincidentally our plan for the summer is in the same area (but hiking north-westwards instead of north-eastwards from the starting point). How are you getting to the area? We haven’t found a really good solution to get there that doesn’t involve really long bus rides or a car? Are you planning on using the Cumulus Quilt for this trip? My wife got a Quilt 450, but I am thinking about ordering 350 or 250 for myself..
We’ll go by car. My friend Jon has a cabin not too far away so we’ll drive there and crash for the night and then continue up the next day.
I’ll be using my quilt as I don’t own any other sleeping system other than a super heavy winter bag. 🙂
We found train + bus connections, apparently the don’t go daily but only on some days..
I thougt I was kind of a light packer.. Will still end up with quite a heavy pack. We are two adults and a six year old with approx 32 kg to carry between us for six nights. Feel free to comment on our plans https://lighterpack.com/r/708kyt
Go tur
/Fredrik
Ahh. I just realised you are doing the whole tour around the area, not just the short part Helags to Vålådalen. Im sure that will be a nice trip. Guess we have to wait a few years until my family manages that distance 🙂
Ha det fint
Your list looks fine for what you’re doing. I guess there are multiple lighter items you could bring instead but hey ho.
The things you might do to cut weight is to repack some of the food, I guess they come in some sort of container just of the store shelf, like the Nutella. I guess that is in fact heavier that 200g. 200g would be the content and not content + container?
Also, me personally would leave the pack covers at home. You still pack all the clothing and things that need to stay dry in dry bags or simliar? Then why would you need a pack cover? The bag will still get wet and catch a lot of wind if it’s that kind of day 🙂
The tent is super nice but also one of the heaviest items on the list. But with a six years old traveling with you I guess it can be worth the extra comfort and space in the morning/evenings. Might also get a lighter/smaller cooker.
I won’t bring my two kids (3 & 6) with me on that kind of hike we’re doing for some time. It’s too long and we need to walk too fast to make it on time. But my tent would work fine with two smaller children and two grown ups inside if you leave the bags outside.
Ha så skoj! 🙂
Thanks for the comments on our gear earlier. I tried the rain cover this time, but I wont bring it next time. We had already repackaged the food. Next time we will probably bring more mashed potatoes and less pasta. For the first lunch we brought heavy sausages, mainly for Viktor, but he did not like them and I had to eat them all
The route we ended up taking is basically as planned, Storulvån -> Sylarna -> Helags. https://hupp.se/map/ol/
My favorite pieces of gear was probably the buff, which was quite useful in the windy and wet first days. And my new Quilt 250. The quilt is amazingly light 🙂 However, we had just at / slightly below freezing on the first nights, and it was a little bit too cold without also wearing the down jacket. You might want to keep that in mind for your hike in September.
Yes I do think that the temperature might drop a little more on the nights in September. Looks like you had a nice hike there. Were the trails swamped with other hikers?
Did you have much rain or was the weather nice to you?
The weather was quite ok. Some showers the first two days, and colder nights than I hoped for. Not too many mosquitoes since we were above treeline most of the trip.
The trail between Storulvån and Sylarna (and Blåhammaren I suppose) was quite swamped with hikers. But once we left “Jämtlandstriangeln” it was perfect. Not lonely by any means, but hours without seeing anyone.
Ha det bra /Fredrik
Den 16 aug. 2016 9:39 fm skrev André Östergård :
> André commented: “Yes I do think that the temperature might drop a little > more on the nights in September. Looks like you had a nice hike there. Were > the trails swamped with other hikers? Did you have much rain or was the > weather nice to you?” >
Mången tack 🙂
Well that looked like somewhere on the border with Norway. I recognized the Sylan area having lived in Trondheim some years. Have fun!
That’s a really good eye. Vålådalen.