Laplandica

…almost at anytime. A solo hike in 1988 had unexpectedly given me two things; a fantastic memory and the development of something I never would’ve believed would have such an impact on me for future years. Allow me to explain the first.

Working together with two other people on a project to rediscover possible campsites of an older Saami migration route, just one of many that often snake themselves through the mountainous passageways and valleys of Sarek and Padjelanta, I was asked to photographically document possible campsites or reindeer milking pastures along the way. I had never hiked alone nor been in such an isolated situation before and I felt anxiety for my safety and testing my “solo” mountain skills, as I prepared for my departure.

After arriving in Staloluokta with one of the last Cessna airplanes used in the hills before helicopters became common, I headed out towards Arasluokta and made camp for the night. Next morning, I veered eastwards, after crossing the bridge, heading in the direction of Alkavare hiking along the north bank of the Meillätno River.

Photo: Alkajaur Lake in Sarek National Park and start of the Meillätno River

I had trouble sleeping that second night. The August weather was hot and hiking in hot weather requires drinking a lot of water. I woke up in my tent, sometime in the middle of the night, and heard an uncommon slushy noise coming from the river nearby. I listened. It wasn’t a reindeer passing because that sounds different. So, I got out of my sleeping bag and opened the front of the tent to take a look.

The sun is under the horizon at this time of the year, but it still gives plenty of light in the evenings. I looked downstream for the sound and saw a moose, a cow, moseying along near the riverbank and pulling up grass and chewing it as she peacefully worked her way upstream. She didn’t seem to have a care in the world that night and, for me, I drank some water while I watched her pass by and eventually closed my tent and went back to sleep.

The next day was a little cooler and with a north-westerly breeze, making hiking much easier. I started out and, when it felt necessary, took off my pack, sat on the ground up against a rock and made a morning stop along the river bank. I like to look around a lot when hiking. I get acquainted with my surroundings this way instead of rushing and not seeing things.

At this particular moment, sitting against the rock and both legs stretched out in a crossed manner, a Bluethroat landed on my right boot. Just like that and without any indication given, I had a beautiful mountain bird standing four feet from my nose on the tip of my boot, wagging its tail and looking at me as if to say “good morning”. It was there for what seemed to be a long time and I really enjoyed his visit and courage. But, things must end and he flew off on his own adventure.

For me, I continued to sit resting and studying the hill across from me, on the opposite side of the river from me.

Doing this, I noticed some dark thing running fast diagonally downhill. “Well, wha…”, I thought, and took my binoculars hanging on my neck to get a better look. Running down the hill was the moose cow I had seen last night and she was going very fast. Catching up to her and hot on her hooves was….a bear!

I followed the incident with my binoculars. The bear was getting closer and closer as they both came downhill and closer to the river bank and brush across from me. As the moose entered into the brush, the bear was right behind her. The brush slowed the moose down giving the bear the advantage of the situation. And, more suddenly than one would expect, I watched the bear jump up from behind onto the moose and, holding hard onto her back loins with his paws and claws, tackled and dragged the moose down into the bushes. Both disappeared.

I saw a lot of rustling in the bushes, but everything went very quicklt and soon these stopped moving. For a long time I sat there and waited, watching for any movement, but there was none. As I watched, I realized how swiftly the chase, and then the kill, happened. I was awed with how fast the bear could run and the strength and power he had when pulling the moose down to kill it. And, to have sat there alone and be a witness to the whole event was something I felt almost blessed with.

I don’t have any pictures of this. I didn’t have the time to open my pack and get my camera. It was over with so quickly. In afterthought, it’s sometimes wiser to just observe than to take pictures. Also, I was glad I had the Meillätno River between me and the bear.

And, ever since that day, when I think of watching the bear kill a moose in the mountains, I often wondered if not the Bluethroat on my boot was trying to talk to me and prepare me for what I alone would see. Unforgettable!

PS- Coming up/ The start of older mine research