A 470km adventure through Swedish Arctic wilderness

For some years now I have been dreaming about exploring the wild, remote expanse of the far north of Sweden. I came to hear of ‘Kunglseden’ – a famous trail in the region. Translated as ‘The King’s Trail’ it has grown and become established over the past 100 years or so. It looked like the perfect vehicle for exploring this unique landscape. I mooted the idea with my regular running buddy Cammie. My thought was he might be interested in doing part of the northern section of this legendary route. When he researched what it offered he threw down the gauntlet – ‘why not do it all!?‘ Like a fish going for the bait I snapped up the opportunity. Good to have a young guy like Cammie challenge my assumptions. Sometimes I limit my horizons. Hopefully, unlike fish, there will be no regrets!

So here is our plan and just some of what there is to get excited about!

Running/ fast hiking the route in 14 days. There are 28 stages and normally it is done in a month or so. We plan to average twice the usual daily hiking distance. Including some ‘rest’ periods means the first few days we need to cover 3 or 4 stages/ day. It will be a balance as we want to appreciate the landscape and ‘smell the roses’ along the way. Though winding through mountainous landscapes in the far north the route itself is mainly in the valleys. Therefore the terrain is not that undulating. Another factor to consider is there are several water crossings. This can be done using row boats or, when available, a motorised boat. Crossings with row boats have 3 boats. At least one boat must be left on each side. If arriving at crossing and only one boat it means you need to row 3 crossings, one of them towing another boat. One part of the route there is also a bus ride. All these non pedestrian modes necessitate dependence on timings which have to be factored in.

There are few roads that intersect the trail. Usually in a north-west to south-east direction. They serve the occasional townships enroute.

Traversing through the lands of the indigenous Sami people. Their traditional livelihoods are reindeer herding and fishing. The trail passes through four national parks, the largest wilderness area of Europe.

Experiencing some of the exotic wildlife, flora and fauna of the area. Lynx, wolverine, wolf and bear inhabit the region. Thankfully they are known to be quite shy of humans.

We are planning on going this June/ July over midsummer. Going from north to south we will have 24 hour daylight the whole 14 days. Whether this is a good thing for the bodyclock remains to be seen!

Our accommodation will be wild camping as well as utilising the network of Swedish Tourist Assocation (STF) wilderness huts, mountain stations and shelters. There are also some private facilities in the south. Keeping our rucksacks to 8 – 10kg will be a challenge but necessary if we are to run/ fast hike. Thankfully there seem to be a variety of places to pick up food. STF even helicopter in supplies at some locations. There are lots of unpolluted streams and rivers so water shouldn’t be a problem.

Challenges may include having to cope with mosquitoes. It seems much of the world’s mosquitoes live in the Arctic regions! Fortunately they are not malarial but are considerable pests.

Communication wise there is little phone coverage on the trail. Quite a few STF facilities have wifi and there are some emergency phones in huts. However as back up we will have a satellite communicator in event of emergency when ‘off the grid’. We will also have a mobile solar charger. Apparently power points are in big demand in the huts and mountain stations.

The coming months we dream and prepare. It will be the longest trail either of us have attempted. We cannot underestimate the physical challenge of 14 big days on the move.

Related blogs including doing the Kungsleden

Kungsleden (‘The King’s Trail’) – 14 Days of Summer My account of doing the Kungsleden in the summer of 2025.

Kungsleden (‘The King’s Trail – Ready’) – Some of the preparation involved beforehand.

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