“Nan, those are your shoes?” Me and two colleagues stood outside our company’s headquarters in Stockholm and they were having big grins on their faces. I was wearing sneakers and was desperately trying to get back into the building.

They knew what I was planning to do: Go hiking in Northern Sweden. In my hiking shoes. But those were in my bag, seven floors and one impassable security gate away. After some lamentation and plenty of cursing, I resigned and off in sneakers I went.

When researching how to visit Laponia, I settled on Muddus National Park and Stubba Nature Reserve. Both are located in the lowlands and easiest to get to and from. The other parts are more remote and more mountainous.

In addition, I found a historic trail running from Gällivare to Porjus, the Rallarstigen, which is closely related to the founding of my company: Vattenfall. Vattenfall means waterfall in Swedish. The Swedish state founded the company at the beginning of the 20th century to electrify Laponia via hydro power plants. In Porjus is one of the earliest hydro power plants built. The construction workers for Porjus hiked along Rallarstigen. And now I wanted to follow their footsteps.

To be frank: It was an amazing hike. I really enjoyed visiting and will try to come back to see the other parts. But next time in hiking shoes.

Getting There

The hub for Laponia is Gällivare. The town has an airport and a Resecentrum for bus and train connections. Similar to Clyde and Els, I stayed for two nights in Gällivare, arriving Thursday evening by plane from Stockholm and leaving Saturday morning for Gammelstad (Lulea) by train. Word of advice: There aren’t that many hotels in Gällivare, so reserve early.

The airport is situated 8km outside of town. To get to town, take a cab. You may not get a cab at the airport, so it’s best to prearrange pickup via your hotel. The prices (2019) are 500 SEK if you ride alone and 200 SEK in a shared cab. I went for the latter option.

The Resecentrum (bus and train station) is on the edge of the town, but Gällivare is tiny, so everything is in walking distance. Most hotels are near the Resecentrum anyhow. Tickets for both bus and train can be bought on-board. Note: You need a credit card. Nobody accepts cash.

Buses connect you to Ritsem and to Porjus. The trains run south to Lulea (Gammelstad) and north to Kiruna and Norway. In summer, there also are Inlandsbanen running from Gällivare all the way to Porjus, Jokkmokk and Östersund.

Google Maps has the connections right, so you can use it for planning. If you are new to Sweden, it may surprise you, how few connections there are each day (specifically on the weekend). Planning is important.

Most of the buses during my visit ran late on the intermediate stations. I guess it’s on purpose, as we arrived back in Gällivare precisely on the scheduled time, while the bus was at least 10 minutes late in Porjus.

Hiking Rallarstigen

If you want to hike Rallarstigen, my recommendation is to take the bus at least to Nietsak. Google Maps claims that this is a valid stop (and I even got a ticket stating Nietsak as destination). But my bus driver wasn’t sure where to stop, so we agreed where he could let me off. From Nietsak it’s still a more than 30km trail and you are not yet in the core zone. You can find the trail by following the small road off the highway to Nietsak.

The second option is to start when the bus reaches the core zone. There is a big UNESCO Laponia sign on the road that marks the start of the Stubba Nature Reserve (right-hand side). The trail also crosses the road here, so it’s easy to join.

Last but not least, you can go to the entry of Muddus National Park. Muddus is the nicest part of the trail, and you will still see Stubba from the bus window (sit on the right-hand side if you are coming from Gällivare). It also saves you plenty of kilometers. However, it may be difficult to describe to the bus driver where to stop and they may say no. Please also note that after entering Muddus you can only leave the way you came in or at the end of the trail in Porjus.

The trail overall is nice with the large swamps traversed on planks, so your feet remain dry. At least, they would if you had proper shoes (see above), the trails had already been cleared for the summer season and the snow had not melted the week prior. In my case, I repeatedly had to figure out where the trail had gone due to paths being flooded and blocked by fallen trees. Also, the water levels were high, so after roughly 30 minutes my shoes had flooded.

As stated, Muddus is the nicest part. The trail takes you quickly away from the road and you are let to your own devices. There are also none of the disparaged pylons anywhere in sight. However, the Swedish air-force and allies use Laponia as a training ground for low altitude hyper sonic flights.

The worst part of the trail is when you exit Muddus direction Porjus and there is unfortunately no shortcut. The trail was in terribly poor condition. At that point I was terribly tired, a great combination.

In summary, I averaged a little more than 3km because of poor trail conditions and hiked 35km in 11h. I don’t think I am the greatest hiker ever born, but not the worst either, so don’t expect to be significantly faster, especially on the last part of the trail. Luckily, when you exit the trail, as soon as you are on the main road, you will find a bus stop for the bus back to Gällivare. That saves you 2km into Porjus along the main road. However, be sure that the bus driver notices you when he approaches. Also keep in mind that the bus probably runs late, so don’t panic if the bus isn’t on time.

The average speed and the bus schedule should really inform your decision on where to get off. Obviously, also consider how much hiking you can manage. In my case, I took the 9:15h bus from Gällivare and returned on the 20:30h from Porjus (only during the week). There is also a return bus at 17:30h every day it seems.

Last but not least, bring all you need (food, water) as there are zero opportunities to buy anything as soon as you leave Gällivare. While Porjus nominally has a shop, the opening hours may work against you, as they do in all of rural Sweden. When I arrived in Porjus, I didn’t find an open restaurant or shop. This may be better in the short Swedish summer season. And while the trail is well signposted, I would recommend a hiking GPS app. I used the free version of komoot and the app provided the correct trail.

While You Are There

The much-maligned pylons are over 100 years old. They are a key part of the industrialization of Laponia in the early 20th century and connect the hydro-power stations to the industrial centers, specifically the steel mills around Kiruna. Porjus is one of the earliest hydropower plants.The original plant, though, has been converted into an office building and museum. To me, this could be a nice and valuable addition to the list.