On Good Friday around 11.15 I started walking from Mullsjö towards Fagerhult. I’ve previously walked the two sections up to Mullsjö via Bottnaryd a couple of years ago, Södra Vätterleden.
The weather was cool, around 4 degrees Celsius, when I started walking. I soon found myself a little confused as to where I was to go. The trail markings (orange) were not the best at times and I actually managed to go off trail after only 5-600 meters or so. I’ve been here before because one of my friends used to live here so I knew this area a little but with a quick glance at the map I soon found out that I could just keep walking on the gravel road I was standing on and I would link up with the trail a kilometer or so later. My initial thought was to go on the black and white trail but I didn’t want to risk it. However it wouldn’t have been a problem as they crossed paths further down the trail. If I were to redo this part I’d follow that one instead and jump on the orange marked trail later.
The first part of the trail is a good mix between gravel roads and trails in the forest. All in all these sections runs more on roads rather than trails but it was ok.
For the most part it was easy to follow the trail but at times you really had to stop and look at the map and try to find the trail markings as they where missing from logging machines driving through or they were just hidden behind younger trees or even very faded to the point that they were hard to spot.
This is no hard trail to walk. Mostly flat with the odd hill or two but nothing fancy.
The first longer stop I took was at Julared mill. Roamed this place for 5-10 minutes and then tried to find the trail again. It was well hidden and I lost it again. The tip here is to follow the lake towards the ziplines and connect with the road there. That’ll get you directly on the trail a little further up that road.
Easy walking with quite a lot of gravel roads up a head. Coming ut of the woods on to a road I found this sign. Wasn’t sure if I was to call him or not but I decided to do so. He was very thankful that I called him so that he could take the dogs inside as the trails passes right on his front porch.
Lunch in the sun. Found two stumps with my name written all over them.
I didn’t meet a single sole for long periods of time. It was when I hit the Hökensås area that I came a cross some people fishing at the lakes and a bunch of people training hunting dogs to track. But all of that happened more or less within 45 minutes and then I was alone again.
The area around Hornsjön is very beautiful and there are plenty of good spots here if you want to pitch a tent and call it a day. There are even some “campsites” that you can use.
Gagnån
I arrived at Fagerhult around 5 pm and it had started to hailing about 30 minutes ago. I’d expected rain as that was what the weather forecast said but I was happier with this as it doesn’t get you wet. I took some water from the stream and kept walking to find a spot to pitch my tent.
I found one not too far from here up on a hill away from the trail and with no trees above as I didn’t want any branches falling down on my tent or head during the night. The ground was covered with moss so I took a spot where I could have some of it where I were to lay down but tried to not have it where I would be storing my gear etc not to disturb the ground. I found a good place with a tractor track on one side and moss on the other. As soon as I had pitched my tent, it started snowing…
The white dot is my aproximate campsite
Saturday
The night was cold, freezing my butt off at some points. I did get to try out my new lantern but I’m not that sure it’s something that I’ll use that often. I’m very used to hanging my Petzl there anyway and it produces way more light than this. I felt it was kind of redundant. But who knows, I’ll bring it again and get a proper opinion on hit.
I slept in and didn’t break camp before 11 am again. As I sleept poorly between midnight and 2 am I wanted to get some extra sleep as it got “warmer”. Had a quick breakfast, a sandwich I had made at home and boiled some water for a cup of tea.
I think my fingers and toes have never been that cold packing up the tent. It was to the point that I couldn’t feel my fingers packing the ice cold tent and it took me a few kilometers of walking until my toes came back to life. Just love that feeling when you start getting warmth back in your toes, it brings forward such a nice pain that can’t really be described but have to be experienced, haha.
Walking from Fagerhult towards Hökensås Semesterby is quite boring. Not much to see and you’re mainly walking on forest roads where most of the trees where cut down. It’s not until you come up towards the lakes the landscape changes and it gets very beautiful. The pictures below are not giving the place justice. The overcast did however give it a moody feeling but at the same time very calming. For long periods of time the trail goes next to the water or on ridges where you can get a good overview of the area.
As you’re getting closer to Semesterbyn (vacation village) you start meeting people running on the trails, camping, fishing etc.
Very typical trail at the last bit of the section.
End of the line.
Gear
I used my RAB event gaiters for the entire time. I’ve never really used them before but I wanted to give it and them a go. I found gaiters to be quite neat at times but this particular model leaves some room for improvement. They’re “bulky” and not very form fitted. I do believe it’s a good thing to have but maybe something like Inv-8 or Dirty Girl Gaiters are a better choice.
This is however the result of two days of walking with them on soft terrain. I don’t want to know what walking on stone paths or similar would do to them. Some kind of hooks or velcro that attaches to your shoes would be better.
Was also happy with my new Injin toe-socks, they were very comfortable.
Lighter Packs 