Jokkmokk - Arvidsjaur

Today we are heading to a new Airbnb again, one we have been looking forward to for a long time: a remote Swedish cottage right above a lake.

But first we have breakfast and check out of our campsite. Then we drive into the little town (or rather village?) of Jokkmokk and shop at both Coop and ICA for the next few days. We walk through Jokkmokk until we reach the adjoining lake. From there a turn-off leads into the forest, probably a snowmobile track in winter and surely a jogging and mountain bike route in summer. Anyway, we walk through it and come to a beautiful forest thickly covered in moss. Somewhere around here the Jokkmokk moose probably spends the day, we think.

We have to move on. On the way we see lots of reindeer, some of them right in the middle of the road, ptarmigan, hares and a very beautiful fox. Our next stop is the Grodkällan på Slengmyren bog, which you can walk through until you reach a light blue spring-fed lake. It is about 140 km to get there, and the last part of the route runs on piled-up gravel straight through a forest. Again and again there are larger potholes and ruts left by previous vehicles, which turn this “road” into a proper adventure, especially as it has only just rained. Luckily we can activate the 4WD mode on our car, which makes driving much more pleasant. After 8 km on this stretch, with the frequency of potholes constantly growing, we reach the “car park”, a gravel hollow where we can park.

From there we make our way through the bog on boardwalks. Luckily there are not too many mosquitoes yet, but we still rubbed ourselves with a mosquito repellent available locally. It is very exciting to be able to walk through a bog. To the left and right of our boardwalk everything is under water, though there are also some drier spots, and trees grow out of the water as well.

At the end of the boardwalk the unforgettable view already awaits us, over the light blue, crystal clear water that reflects the surrounding trees beautifully. If you look at the bottom of the lake, you can see various springs everywhere through which fresh water flows out.

It starts to rain and we walk back out of the bog while it is not yet raining too hard, otherwise it would get muddy. With 4WD switched on, even Annina, as an “off-road beginner”, gets back to normal roads without any problem. On we go to our Airbnb. When we arrive, a friendly older couple is already waiting for us and shows us the way to our cabin. The cabin lies right above a lake and is completely equipped with everything we need. On the dining table we find freshly baked cake and cinnamon buns that our hosts baked for us. Very tasty and very kind!

We prepare the fajitas we are going to have for dinner and enjoy the evening atmosphere above the lake. We eat looking out over the lake and the setting sun and watch wild hares hopping around right on the meadow in front of the house, a pure “aww” feeling. Afterwards we edit our photos from today and from yesterday as well.