A Hike

I've recently documented my involvement in couchsurfing as a way to meet new people in new cities. It turns out it's also a good way to meet some people and do things where you are currently residing. 

Last Sunday I went on a hike north of Umeå with 3 students I met on couchsurfing: Elina - a Swedish nutritionist, Nadini - a German studying German studies(?), and Emilio - an Italian lawyer. And then there's me, Eric - an American medical physicist. Real World Season 27 - Umeå

It was a warm day by the current standards of northern Sweden, and I knew we were going to be hiking all day, so I decided to wear hiking shorts. In typical American independent fashion, I was the only one.  

Anyway, the three of them are pretty fun and easy to talk to. We boarded a bus at 7 am and road it for half an hour north to the lake known as Tavelsjö (pronounced tahv-ells-shoo).

There is apparently a legend of a (very cute) version of Loch Ness-like monster living here.

The plan was to then hike all the way back to Umeå resulting in a 37 km (roughly 23 mile!) hike. The area provides some really great scenery, particularly when you climb the 300 m high mountains/hills overlooking the lakes:

Looking east at dawn. 

The lake from afar.

It was a long day, but it was certainly good to have some talkative and enthusiastic people as company. 

Enjoying a mid-morning snack with Emilio.

Chillin' with Elina. Getting late in the day and starting to regret the shorts.

Going up.

We got lost at one point, but everyone else had GPS-equipped smartphones so it wasn't that much of an issue. We didn't see much wildlife, although there were signs of elk and beavers.

Remember the show Angry Beavers? Very underrated cartoon.

I suppose I don't have too much else to say about the hike, other than it took 10 hours and it was dark by the time we got back to Umeå. 

Later in the week, the four of us watched Into the Wild, mostly because I had never seen it. "You're an American who likes hiking and you've never seen Into the Wild." I would recommend it, but only if you like sad things and Kristen Stewart's acting, which of course are mutually inclusive.  

Skål!

Bonus:  I should credit both Elina and Nadini for taking all of the pictures in this post. It was nice to have photographers with decent cameras taking decent pictures. Here are a few more:

Idyllic Swedish cottages on a remote lake. 

Going down.

Mountaintop wildflowers wildly flowering atop the mountain.

Seven hours into the hike, this view of Umeå. Still some distance to go.