Vasaloppsleden day 3 – Tennäng to Axisstugan (27 km)

Sunday July 14th 2019

Just like the day before, I set my alarm to 7.30 am, but I was already up by 6.45 am. After breakfast, I packed up and started hiking at 8 am. It was nice out and my confidence was growing. So far, I hadn’t had any knee problems! Sure, I was a bit sore, but I was also super proud of myself. Today ended up being a big day!

As I was approaching Risberg, there was a huge sign blocking the trail. There was private terrain ahead, so a detour was in order. While the pictures on the sign were clear enough, I thought it was funny to figure out what the text actually said. Thank you, Google Translate! I wasn’t sure exactly how to go, but because I had 4G pretty much throughout this hike, I used my phone’s navigation to get to the checkpoint. The detour meant road walking instead of nice trail, but I guess you just go with the flow.

After a small break in Risberg, I continued hiking to Sundetkojan where I planned to have lunch, making that a total of 13 km hiked that morning. When we hiked part of the Vasaloppsleden during my first time in Sweden, we stayed the night here. It was nice to see the same place I stayed at 11 years before! I enjoyed my lunch, relaxed for a bit and then went for a dip in the water. I didn’t actually swim, because the water was frigging cold, but it was nice to sit in the water and refresh that way. It was so nice!

After lunch, I continued to Evertsberg, which was only 5 km away. When I reached Evertsberg it started to pour down. On top of that, there was thunder! I decided to wait it out. Because while I do miss my curls, getting struck with lightning isn’t my idea of a good way to get curl back in my hair! The rain died down and the thunder rolled in the opposite direction of where I was going, so I was good to go for that last 9 km stretch to my destination for the night: Axisstugan. The trail was rather monotonous, lots of (near) road walking, broad paths, but it did make for easy hiking. Once I arrived at Axisstugan, I noticed how spent I was. My legs were stiff and my feet were sore. But no wonder after bagging 27 km in about 8 hours! Cue me happy and proud!