Fall is here!

Or is it winter? Anyway, now the night frost is here, covering both the ground and roofs.
Just a week ago the first snow seemed far away during the warm (late-summer) days, but not mornings like today. The premier snow has arrived early October other years, but in my opinion it can wait like two months more.
Maria brought the fall coat from the storage this morning. Biking without gloves is not a possibility anymore, or you won't feel your finger at all.

Via Ferrata to the top of the Skuleberget mountain

Around eight in the morning (left photo from an hour earlier) we started our way back to the south entrance.











Instead of going straight home when we came back to the main highway (E4), we just crossed to the other side: Naturum (Nature Centre) at the foot of Skuleberget mountain. The center provides an introduction to the park´s human and natural history, as well as an exhibition about the post-ice-age isostatic recovery of the land surface.

After about one hour there, we decided to take ourselves to the top of the mountain. But, not the ordinary hiking path.
(notice some "hikers" in the middle of mountain picture? Clue; yellow helmet)




Instead we chose to take the high road; Via Ferrata, a road up the mountain equipped with a fixed steel cable and some steps to put your feet on on the way.
We were equipped with a harness which had two carabiners attached to it, that way you always were connected to the cable with at least one carabiner. That is, you wouldn't fall to a certain death if you lost your grip of the cable. We were also equipped with helmets.
The first part of the "iron road" was quite simple, but then you really had to figure out were to put your feet, and at some places it would have been totally impossible (at least if you were not a quite experienced climber) to continue without using the cable. Your arms worked as much as your legs, if not more. Luckily there were a lot of places to take a rest at.

After about two hours we reached the top. It is quite strange to imagine that the top of the mountain was the coastline after the last ice age, but now it is 286 m (ca 940 ft) above sea level. The distance between the highest shoreline in the High Coast and its present shoreline is only approximately 2 km. The High Coast in Sweden has the highest isostatic land uplift in the world after the latest glaciation!

The cable way was one way only, so we took the ordinary path down to the nature center.












Around Skuleberget is a mix of vegetation more common south as well as north. We don't see many maple trees around Umeå, we do miss their pretty fall colors.









On the way down we passed a cave.

Slåtterdals cleft back and forth

At 6:30 we rose, (you need to use the few lit hours this time of the year) after a night on the hard sand dune. It was somewhat cold during the night, but warmer again when the sun rose.
Breakfast and repacking was done before today's hike started. Pretty soon the ascent began.
At first the path was quite wide and even, but the higher we got, the windier the road become with stones and roots to stumble on.










A wide pebble stone field was passed (the bog was only seen on distance), before we chose to take the "high road", a side track up on one of the mountains.





It was well worth the pain, because the view was astonishing from up there.








The wind was strong, so we didn't rest much in order to not blow away. It's surprisingly how the vegetation adapt to the growth conditions, like this pine.
We then went downhill to the Slåtterdals cleft, after a look from above.








It was impressing, you felt quite small standing between the 40 m high walls.












The track continued downhill to Tärnettvattnet lake, where we stopped for a lunch break.








The road got even steeper, past a cave. You really had to work to find something solid to put your feet on among the many stones.








When we arrived at the Tärnettholmarna islets, the legs and feet were quite tired.








We took a well-needed pause before the last kilometers of the day.









The goal was Näskebodarna, where one of the cabins belongs to the environmental protection agency (which also runs the national parks). Three beds and a stove could be used to cater for yourself. Soon after we arrived another young(er) couple showed up, with whom we shared the cabin.






At around 3:30 we had dinner, upon which followed relaxation at the beach. The cabin was still cool, and quite dark. After some trouble we were able to start a fire in the stove (the firewood was probably damp), which resulted in the cabin almost getting too warm. We allowed ourselves noodles before the sun set. There were tea lights in the cabin which became our source of light for the evening.

Skuleskogen National Park

Around three o'clock Olle picked up Maria at work and the car took us south. About two hours later we arrived at the south entrance to Skuleskogen National Park. The last 10 km was on bumpy gravel road. We got some drizzle on the car the final stretch, so we decided to dress in rain clothes and put the rain covers over the backpacks. But, in retrospect, that was the only rain we got this evening.
We walked about 1,6 km from the parking lot to Kälaviken. You are only allowed to camp at dedicated spots inside the national park, Kälaviken is one of them. This time of the year we were alone, but the sandy glade had room for more than ten tents.
We pitched the tent and started preparing the dinner. Surprisingly many mosquitoes around us, some have obviously survived the cold nights that are becoming more and more frequent. After dinner there wasn't much more to do than to move all the stuff inside the tent/apse. Already at 7:30 the darkness made it quite hard to see anything, so you could only hit the sleeping bag. We slept long before nine for once, which should give us a lot of sleep for the next day.

Choir camp

This weekend Olle and the other choir members went to choir camp (körinternat) close to Husum about one hour's drive south of Umeå. We arrived around 10 in the morning, had some coffee and then the singing began. We started with the full choir, but later during the day we split in order to let the men and women practice their own voices.
The dinner consisted of fermented herring, which was a first time for me.
Around six the cans with the fish were opened outside, and the smell could be felt from a long distance.
But, the smell was diminished a lot when we started to skin the fish at 7:30. The taste was interesting, not so bad, but it is an acquired taste. I had two herrings (and a lot of potatoes) which was enough for this time.
Since we are a choir, there were also a lot of singing during the night. Unfortunately I don't know that many of the "old" songs (the choir started 1997), but this is something I will learn eventually.

A lot of people seemed quite tired "the day after", but 9:30 we were back in business again.
We practiced until lunch, after that followed cleaning of the cottages and common areas that we had used. It really felt good to sing through the whole repertoire that we are going to perform next March. There is still a lot of work left, but at least you recognize the songs next time you see them. It was also nice to have the opportunity to get to know some of the choir members a little bit better, during the two hours of practice every week there isn't a lot of time left for socializing.

Not a perfect seminar

During three days a group of Japanese researchers as well as some German researchers, are visiting Umeå. The days have been filled with seminars, to inform each others about our ongoing research, maybe we can create even more promising collaboration in the future. It's hard to have energy to listen all the days, when you are not used to it.
Thursday afternoon Maria had a twenty minute presentation of some of her work. Which meant she stayed late at work Wednesday afternoon to do the last changes. Except that the pointer stopped working, and the whole presentation freezed for some long seconds (with success she stayed cool, on the outside), Maria passed the presentation at least. As usual, afterwards you find out how you could have made it better.
In the evening she joined the tour of our facilities for the guest, anyway she hasn't been in the lab too long, so especially the plant growing facilities are still new to her. Growing trees is somehow different from growing smaller flowers, take longer time as well. Thereafter followed a dinner of nice dishes with local taste.

Walks in Strömbäck-Kont

For today's walk we drove a little south to Strömbäck-Kont Nature Reserve, it was time to show the coastline for our guests. Not so much of archipelago around here, but at least we had a chance to see the water. The weather was nice, with sun and only calm winds.


In the forest we enjoyed a nice lake and a lot of lingonberries, like here among the juniper ("en") bushes.










The trees were enjoyable to watch as well, some of the older (dead) ones were covered with usnea ("skägglav"), others were grow places for fungus.






Tonight we went to bed earlier, since our guests plan to leave around 7 am Monday morning.