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Foxy
walking
in the Swedish mountains |
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I use to cal myself for "Foxy" because
I wear Fj�llr�ven (means Arctic Fox) clothes. |
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It's not possible to describe
your feelings while you are
walking in the Swedish mountains. You must experience it by yourself.
It's a great experience. You are free and connected with nature in a very special way. You are alone with your thoughts you can meditate. Here I'm is walking in the Ammarn�s Mountains |
| Me in a green Fj�llr�ven jacket and green Fj�llr�ven trousers walking in the Ammarn�s mountains. Here was no path. | |
| You have to follow the rules that nature gives
you. If you don’t, it can be dangerous. You have to adjust to the weather and dress
yourself after how the weather is.
You have to find the way, take a map and compass with you. You have to listen to the local population about the hilly country, about the creeks and about the wild animals. And NOT wade in stream water in rivers like on the picture at the right |
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| A river in the T�rnaby mountains. | |
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In the mountains there are no houses, no shops, no cars. There is only wilderness. You have to walk. And carry everything in a backpack. Many years ago I made some mountain trips with my husband, We were out in about 5 days, and slept in a little mountain tent. As it's heavy to carry everything you only can take important light weight things with you. We had dry food and light weight tent. |
| View from a mountain, T�rnaby | |
| We drank water from the
creeks. The water in the mountains
is clear and clean.
The lower mountains are rather wet and you need a pair of reliable boots. Sometimes you have to pass wetland or you have to wade across a creek. In the evening you raise your tent, you take water from a creek and cook your food on a simple spirit stove. (heater) |
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| Lake in T�rnaby. | |
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You need to
cook outside. It should be dangerous with a flame of the
spirit stove
in the little tent.
In the summer it's daylight twenty-four hours. But if you want to be in the mountains in autumn you have to raise your tent before darkness. And you need a flashlight. You can follow a track with markings. But you also can go by yourself and choose the way you want. |
| Foxy has to wade across a creek. Foxy had high boots. | |
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Once we were out to the Ammarn�s mountains in the county of V�sterbotten. Then we did not follow a track. We walked up upon a rather high mountain and had marvellous view over the landscape. We raised our tent and slept very well. But when we awoke the next day, there was fog. We were in the middle of a cloud! And there was no visibility. We were trapped on the top of the mountain. |
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| Foxy by our tent. | |
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It was raining and the wind was blowing. We decided not to break up and take risks to
walk and fall down in some ravine.
When I went to the creek to take water, we had to take care so we should not lose the position of the tent. It was hard to see the tent in the fog. Our tent was very stable, it was low so the wind could not catch it. And we secured the tent with extra strings. |
| Our tent in the fog on a high mountain | |
| The next day we could break up, although the fog
still was not gone. We used the map and
the compass. Then we came to a place you could go down. But it was rather steep and we had to go carefully. The stones were covered with lichen and this was very slipper y because of the rain. We came to a place there still was snow. We had to pass it to come down. And then I was sliding down on my backpack about ten meters. My backpack was like a sled! It was going fast, faster and faster. Wheeee!!!! Soon there should not be snow and I needed to get stop of it. I could grip a big stone and could stop. Then I injure my writs. It was hurting, but it seemed not to be broken. We came down from that mountain and we took a rest. I could not use my right hand. Ove helped me to put on a emergency splint on it. And we were two days walking from civilisation. But I could use my legs and I had to move on with the injured wrist. Ove helped me with the things I could not do. Later in the village I went to the doctor. Fortunately the wrist was not broken, it was a sprain. And I recovered after a few weeks. But then I went mountain hiking again. I was addicted :-) |
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| The Blerik cottage in the Kittel mountains. | |
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Autumn 1984 I was
out with a group of women. Then we slept in a cottage. That time of the year it's dark at night and there are no street lights. You have to take you
flash light with you when you must go out to the outhouse. Then I was standing in absolute darkness beside the cottage. It was so dark so I could not see anything. Then I was meditations and praying. In town I should have been afraid to be out in the darkness but at this place I was not afraid at all. This experience was great. Everything was so peaceful. And my heart was filled with joy. I got strength to move on. |
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| I have seen
a wild Arctic fox in the mountains. It was just two meter from
the tent.
This was very exciting. The fox was looking very curious to us. But we did not get a picture of it. I will instead show an Arctic Fox I saw in the zoo. We saw moose, reindeers and a lot of birds. There are also brown bears in the mountains. But you seldom see one. I did not want to meet a bear. |
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| An Arctic Fox in summer coat. This picture taken in the zoo in Lycksele | |
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Reindeer in the T�rnaby mountains |
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| When my son was 8 years old he went with us on a camp for children och parents in the mountains. Our son got a Fj�llr�ven jacket for his birthday and he was happu for the present. We lived in a big house and made daytrip walks in the mountains. | |
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Me in the T�rnaby
mountains praying to God |
Lennart in the T�rnaby mountains |
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I learned a lot in mountains. You get a kind of maturity after you have
been isolated and connected with nature. In the mountains you can be very philosophic. You are in a magnificent nature. And you are feeling very little in that gorgeous world. I wrote a lot of poems in the mountains. Down below one of my poems that I translated in English. |
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