Crossing through Sjaunja, Sweden's second-largest nature reserve and part of Laponia's World Heritage site, the section of trail is short, though with a reasonably steep uphill section about halfway through. Once at the summit, the walk is flat, but it can be challenging to find the trail as much of the terrain in the last few kilometres is large rocks. Keep a close eye on the markings and don't be fooled by the winter trail markers.

The bigger challenge is the very steep downhill climb to the STF cabin and boat across the lake. This will take longer than you expect as the footing is poor. Camping space at the cabin is limited, and a laminated sign gives hikers a warning of where the last place to camp can be found before they will have to pay to do so. If you're not planning on taking the boat and camping on the other side, keep an eye.

Trail Information

Distance: 9km

Difficulty: Moderate ending as Hard.

Transport: None

Resupply: Kaitumjaure is an average SFT shop, so offers all the basics you'll need and a few luxuries you may want.

Accommodation & Shopping

STF Kaitumjaure

Kaitu is a good-sized Mountain Cabin, made up of the main building with the host's accommodation and a shop, a hostel cabin with a couple of rooms with bunk beds and a toilet block. Water is from the nearby stream, and so is bathing.

The shop is good sized and will allow you to resupply on any basics, but like all Cabins, it's limited to food, some fuel, drinks and light beers and some basic sundries like earplugs, blister plasters and matches. Don't expect clothes, or even needle and thread (a surprise to me, as they sell patches!)

The Experience

Day 5 - 23rd:

The host was lovely and allowed us to get out of the rain and use the unoccupied kitchen in the hostel as it had not been cleaned for any new arrivals yet so as long as we tidied up behind ourselves, there was no extra work for them. Eating indoors in the warm was a shocking luxury and it was nice to eat with some others and have some conversation again! The couple (she was Dutch but living in Stockholm, he was from Malmo originally) were heading north and to Kebkenaise, so had done much of the trail already. They were fairly extreme in their hiking, aiming for 9 hours or more a day. She had a DSLR buried at the bottom of her bag to keep it safe. I recommended the backpack clip as an option to keep the camera available and stable.

Henrik and I stayed hiking together for the nine kilometres between Kaitu and Teusajaurestugorna. The first four or so kilometres was a fairly easy trek before you started climbing higher which was a reasonably steep hill. Once you reach the top its easy again (though in the wet the wood planks can be extremely slippery and you can aquaplane onto your arse quite easily). Finding the trail along the top of the hill can be tough as you are on bare rock and the paint marketings can be hard to see. When you reach the edge of the hill, be prepared for a very tough downhill section, especially if it has been raining. The trail is more or less straight down, through forests. About 300m from the end of the trail, you pass a laminated note showing the final camping spot before the STF cabins and where you'd need to pay to stay.

We had both decided to take the 6 pm boat across the river, and so had a few hours to wait at the SFT Cabins before the boat trip.