Kungsleden - Day 1 - ARCTIC IN MOTION

Kungsleden - Day 1

FROM Hemavan TO Ammarnäs

Daily statistics of the Day 1

Day	Start	Finish	Km	Vertical	Km total	Total elevation
1	Hemavan	Ammarnäs	80.47	+ 2142 m	80.47	+ 2142 m

Early start in Hemavan

The first day of the Kungsleden Trail. I started at 5:30, yeah classically after zero hours of sleep because of an unexpected issue that occurred in the evening in foggy Hemavan. Then got above the clouds and it was a beautiful day in the southernmost part of this 450 km long trail. Actually much nicer than I expected. I felt really so well in terms of muscle power and energy. At the same time, paradoxically, I felt also so sleepy. I probably never experienced something like this: simultaneously feeling so strong and sleepy. The body wanted to run and my head wanted to sleep. Despite the sleepiness I managed somehow to do these 80 km and I also managed to do a lot of filming with the cameras and also with the drone. It was a very hard but productive day. I don’t have any space to write much now, as I write this the night before day 2. I think it was a bit too hard for the first day because I am quite devastated 😀 I really don’t know how I will do tomorrow 74 km to Adolfstrom but I will try 🙂 I will say much more in the film that will definitely show this first stage of Kungsleden a lot better.

First project with proper trail

What is really interesting is that this is my first thru-hiking project where I am using an existing trail and if there is a little bit of asphalt I just accept it. On all other projects I did I was avoiding asphalt and I made special rules here which made it so much more unpleasant, complicated, wild and raw, but also cool and clean. So this well established Kungsleden feels so easy because you go where there is a trail. It’s marked, it’s quite well maintained, and it’s a different level of project than my run across Norway. This was a night and day difference, Kungsleden is very fast and runnable. And also this new Crown of Slovakia project, where I injured my knee two months ago, was so much harder. The first day I spent 17 hours on my feet, total effort, and I did only 46 km. Here on Kungsleden in 14 hours I did 80 km so you can’t compare it. Kungsleden is really easy in terms of the surface but it doesn’t mean that it’s easy. I’m quite done. It’s just that the other projects or trails I created are so much harder….