Lapland & UNESCO World Heritage

National parks Padjelanta, Sarek and Stora Sjöfallet are my favorites in the Swedish mountains, so a little brief about these areas here.
PADJELANTA

Padjelanta is the country’s largest national park and is part of the world heritage area of ​​Laponia. The Padjelanta Trail runs through Padjelanta National Park and is an easy walking trail with spans and bridges that are well suited for first-time hikers. You can walk between cabins where you can buy simple food and thus hike with a small pack. The trail is 150 km long and stretches between Jokkmokk in the south to Ritsem in the north. Towards the end of the season, food supplies in the cabins can be very limited. Between each cabin is a day hike, it is excellent to camp along the trail, if you camp next to the cabins you pay a fee. The trail is well marked with no difficult steps. Bridges and spans are found over most fords. It is a very beautiful trail to walk, especially the stretch between Tarraluoppal to Stáluluokta.
Almost the entire national park lies above the forest line and is valuable reindeer grazing land for the Sami villages of Sirkas, Jåhkågasska and Tuorpon.

More information: http://www.padjelanta.se/
SAREK

Sarek is a winding beautiful delta landscape and a high alpine area. The valleys and mountain slopes are reindeer grazing land for several Sami villages, and the reindeer have created easy-to-walk paths in the landscape. In Sarek there are no cabins, fences or marked trails, so you need to carry tent and sleeping equipment and all food for the time you hike. However, there are some bridges deployed at very difficult fords/ rapids. In the eastern part of Sarek, the Kungsleden passes, that trail is easier to walk with summer paths, bridges and crossings by boat. The area has been marked by the ice sheet and a hike through Sarek is a journey through Sweden’s geological history. In Sarek there are many mountain peaks above 2000 m and almost a hundred glaciers.

More information: http://www.sverigesnationalparker.se/park/sarek-nationalpark/#.VvwM6D-oUpk

Stora Sjöfallet, Hermelin’s fall, around 1900.

THE GREAT FALL OF THE SEA

The name Stora Sjöfallet means a large meadow, a land between two lakes and is part of the world heritage area of Laponia. Five mighty waterfalls plunged over the horizon into Lake Láŋas and were considered one of Europe’s most powerful and largest waterfalls until the beginning of the 20th century. The national park was established in 1909 to protect the spring lakes and falls, but shortly after its establishment, the map of the park was redrawn in order to extract hydropower and the Porjus power plant was built. The area that had previously been very difficult to access became more easily accessible, but the fall decreased dramatically. In Stora Sjöfallet there are cabins and short and longer trails. Kungsleden passes through Stora Sjöfallet.

More information: http://www.sverigesnationalparker.se/park/stora-sjofallets–stuor-muorkke-nationalpark/#.VvwNmD-oUpk
MUDDUS

In Muddus/Muttos National Park, which is part of the Laponia World Heritage Site, there are five overnight cabins on the 5-mile long summer trail that follows ancient hiking trails. The national park was established in 1942 and has since expanded to become Sweden’s largest forest national park. Primeval forest, rock ravines and bog landscape dominate Muddus and here is the famous Muttosfallet. Perhaps a little interesting to know that the national park is one of Sweden’s quietest places, the sound volume has been measured by researchers and it shows that it is quieter than all other nature.

In the national park, you can also see remains from the new buildings that were here around 100 years ago.

More information: http://www.sverigesnationalparker.se/park/muddus–muttos-nationalpark/#.VvwNTz-oUpk

Karta över norra Sverige, de mörkblåa fälten till vänster om Gällivare visar de fyra nationalparkerna Stora Sjöfallet, Sarek, Muddus och Padjelanta.