Blåfjella-Skjækerfjella National Park, Norway

The Blåfjella-Skjækerfjella National park is one of the largest national parks in Norway. Here you can experience humid and majestic "fairytale" woods and high alpine mountains. This is how Visit Norway describes this area and i'd tend to agree judging by the pictures i've seen!

Picture: naturkontakten, Panoramia.com

Also nearby is Lierne National Park just to the east.

Skjaekerfjella is linked to Skräckerfjällen on the other side of the border in Sweden. Its a vast area with old growth forest and high mountains. Whats interesting is that certainly from the Swedish side this area is quite remote and unknown to many.

This is what I would call real wilderness and would be an amazing area to explore. Unfortunately i've never been in this area. I've been a bit to the north and south but never here. Its in an area which most people including tourists ignore as the mountains aren’t really that high and Kungsleden does not pass through here (there have been plans to do this but so far nothing has happened). Another bonus is that this is real Bear country and the chances of seeing tracks or even the animals themselves are considerable.

Why am I writing about this area? Simple, because its an area I would really like to visit!!

Geijersdalsmossen Nature Reserve

As with several other bogland areas in the SE corner of Värmland Geijersdalsmossen has a real wilderness feel to it. Its not a huge nature reserve and I dont really know if you could officially call it wilderness, but it has that special feel that only wilderness areas have.

Its also a very interesting area geologically as this represented the southern border for the ice cap over northern Sweden at the end of the last ice age. Just south of here is where the Baltic Sea at one time flowed into the North Sea. Whats left now gives use an insight into what it was like here.

Was here the other week snowshoeing with a group from the Netherlands and to them this was real wilderness. Just the silence alone was enough to amaze them. We were also lucky and were able to track Lynx, Elk (European Moose), Black Grouse and even Pine Martin which I have not earlier seen in this area.

All in all its an excellent place to visit. Close by there are many other nature reserves and interesting places which make this area perfect for a walking holiday!

Equipment review: Primus Express Spider stove

Bought this stove last summer because I wanted a lighter gas stove which would even work when its a bit colder.

Have to say i'm pretty happy with the Express Spider after using it on a number of trips over the last 6 months.

Plus:
- Folds away to a very small size and can be stored away easily.
- Very light.
- Stable.
- Good quality feel.
- The pre heating pipe which goes over the burner does actually improve performance i colder temperatures.
- Comes with a small pouch to store the stove in while folded up.
- Gas is easy to get a hold of in Scandinavia (one of the main reasons for me buying the stove).

Minus:
- Was some sort of coating on the burner which I had to scrape off in order for it to burn cleanly. Small bits fel down into the burner causing a few problems. But after the coating was removed i've had no more problems.
- Smaller burner gives a smaller more concentrated spread of flame giving an uneven heat on larger pots and kettles.
- The round aluminium ground protector was of no use, was unstanble and cracked after the first use. Would be better providing a small wind breaker with the stove.

Score out of ten:
8/10

Good to have on trips where space and weight are issues. Also good as a backup on wilderness trips where most cooking is done over a fire.

Link to product:
http://www.primus.eu/templates/pages/3_cols_white_middle.aspx?sectionid=5888

Being at one with Nature

Thats what its all about. But how do you get there, thats the big question? The aim of this blog is help you get there through inspirational stories and informative tips & tricks.

What makes me an expert and why listen to what I have to say? What is an expert, really? Personally I dont consider myself to be an expert, and I dont think any other experts would use that title, they would probably say that they have a lot of experience, just as I would say. They and I know that being an expert doesnt really mean anything, what matters is experience!

Lets just say that I have experience and we’ll leave it at that. Or you can take a look at my website to get a better idea: www.vildguide.com

I dont know how often i’ll be able to post here seeing as i’m out in the wilderness so much, but what I can say is that posts wont be too long and will have plenty of pretty pictures.

Of course i’ll post about things and places I like or are interesting at that moment, but what do I like to do? I like to find places that few others go to and am most often than not quite far from the beaten track. At the moment its a lot of shorter trips closer to home, because I have small children. But now and then I need to get away on longer trips a bit further away. Where do I live? I live in Kristinehamn in Värmland Region in Sweden.

Some of my favourite places: Möre & Romsdal more specific Sunnmöre Alps in western Norway, Femundmarka in Norway, Rogen nature reserve Sweden, northern Värmland region Sweden with its deep taiga, Lake Vänerns fresh water archipelago Värmland region Sweden, ……the list goes on, could probably be here all night!

Anyway heres a pretty picture to get things up and running:

Northern Värmland region, Sweden. Taken in early May 2010 after spending a night in a hide at a Capercaillie lek. Didnt see anyone for 2 days.


PS All comments and questions are welcome!

Bye for now, Alistair McCann