Aaarr-wooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!
1st October
The 1st day of this year’s October delivers! First I got a clear, blue sky on my after-work hike through the autumnal forests on top of Tromsøya. Then I got beautiful Northern lights tonight, I just came in and developed the photos a bit.
What you don’t see here – as usual – is the movements of the Aurora. The live act is still better.
When the rain comes, look for the light
Just an aurora snapshot from the balcony
The first polar lights of the season 2025/26
The photo is lousy, but here it is: a picture of my first polar lights of this season. Taken handheld from the balcony with my mobile phone. You can see part of the roof. But of course – as soon my DSLR camera was attached to the tripod the aurora has already disappeared again.
Midnight sun on the Stor-Kjølen – part II
I slept better than expected in the shelter on top of the mountain Stor–Kjølen (790 masl) that I hiked up the previous day. At 7 o’clock I get up and enjoy strolling around the plateau under a deep blue sky. Thank you, DNT, for maintaining this shelter.
At half past seven I start my way back. The sun is high in the sky.
The plateau summit resembles a desert of stones with hardly any plant beside of lichens and some tufts of grass. The first plant that catches my eye when descending the summit is a flowering ground cover. If the AI is correct, it is silene acaulis, also known as moss campion or cushion pink.
Again I cross the huge snow field. I see footprints but no ski tracks. Skiing season seams finally to be over.
Navigation is easy. Sometimes I go astray, since there are so many parallel paths – this hike is quite popular. But with the help of the painted red dots it is easy to find back to the main track. The cairns – Scottish Gaelic for a man-made pile of stones – can be used for navigation as well. Great in fog! However, use them with caution. Tourists love to build these all over the mountains on random places.
While coming down the mountain the landscape slowly changes. The ground is more and more overgrown and to the right there are several lakes.
As the day before I pass a small valley. Now it lies in the sun. It looks very idyllic with its lakes, streams and its birch trees. One day I have to check how to go there.
Another stream to cross, another lake to view …
… and I’m on the home stretch. Soon I can see the gravel car park. One of the grey cars is mine. But still the terrain is hilly and in no time the car park disappears from view again.
By 9:45 I am back at the car. I was incredibly slow — a luxury you can afford when you’re hiking alone and stopping to take photos.
Later that day I stand on my balcony. The view is mostly blocked by large trees. Birches, willows, rowans. Through the gaps I can spot the mountains. And if you look carefully on the next photo, you may spot a tiny white dot on the top of a snowy mountain. That’s the radar station of Stor-Kjølen. I’ve been there last night.
Midnight sun on the Stor-Kjølen
Yes, I was tired Saturday evening after travelling back from Obbola to Tromsø. But the weather was so nice and I already had started thinking about going up the mountain Stor-Kjølen for experiencing the midnight sun up there. Finally I made a decision. Let’s go. I packed water, a camping mat, a sleeping back, but most of all my camera equipment and went off. It is only a twenty minute drive to the lake Finnvikvatnet on the island Kvaløya where I parked my car. From there it is round 5½ km to the top and a good 500 metres of elevation gain.
When I start my tour at around 10 o’clock the sun is low. The sun is low, but it won’t set tonight – and not for the next twenty days either. The landscape glows in warm colours. The ground is dry, but soon I cross the first tiny snowfield.
The path winds its way through grassy terrain scattered with stones and rocks. Stray snowfields lie on both sides of the path and the radar station on top of Stor-Kjølen has come into view.
The first lake flanks the trail. Slowly, the terrain is becoming rockier.
I look back and already now the hiking tour was a success. Lakes, hills – some grassy, some rocky – and at the horizon a mountain range. So beautiful in the warm light of the low sun.
For a while, grassy patches and rocky ground alternate …
… then the altitude takes command. Only snow and rocks are present and the vegetation is reduced mostly to mosses and lichens. I have to cross a large snow field but the ground is not slippery.
But then I arrive on the stone-covered plateau of Stor-Kjølen, where I can see a small cairn in front of me, a tall cairn marking the summit and the radar station. And if you look closely you can see a small cabin in front of the station. It’s a shelter for hikers. I’m alone, so I can use it for the night.
I want to take photos of the midnight sun, so I start experimenting with some sun-facing shots. These photos are much darker than reality. While the light is warm, it is still bright daylight.
The mountains and the sea all glow in hazy orange hues when I look against the sun.
But I have a mission – taking a photo of the midnight sun. Here it is. Unfortunately there is a small, transparent cloud in front of the sun that makes it look like a white splotch instead of a circle. Bad luck!
Bad luck? Not really. We have summer time, so the lowest position of the sun is one hour later – or a bit more accurate 0:48 due to local solar time. So I had some spare time to take more photo from the stone-covered flat top.
Then it was time: The sun as its lowest position. Ok – I was three minutes late, but the solar path is so flat that it doesn’t matter when taking photos. The light is the same. And eventually the little cloud was vanished.
Just a selfie with my mobile phone, then it is time for bed, at last. (A down hoodie? Yes – it is windy and only +5 °C.)
I enter the shelter, roll out my sleeping mat on the floor and lie down, using my sleeping bag as a blanket. Cluck-cluck, cackle-cackle! What’s that? I peek out of the door and see that the hour of the ptarmigans has started. All around, these galliforms dart about, filling the air with their typical clucking. I am too tired to start another photo hunt so I just take some snapshots. (These photos are heavily cropped.)
But then it is finally time to sleep. The shelter is filled with light, the camping mats (I found another one in the shelter) are thin and the ground is hard. But then I doze off and …
… sleep. At least for a couple of hours.
From Obbola to Tromsø – home home and work home
Thursday, 20 March – Obbola
Annika and I are in Obbola, my “home home”. In the morning we get visitors. Three deer stand in our garden – always alert. Are they happy, that much of the snow is gone?
In my lunch break I am kayaking round the island Bredskär. That’s just 3 km. There is still some ice round the rocks at the shore, but much snow and ice has melted away the last weeks. What a warm winter.
Friday, 21 March
Annika and I take the car to Tromsø. We will make a stopover in Jokkmokk, because the total distance is almost 1000 km. Hejdå home home!
In warm and sunny weather we head northwards to Piteå and then northwest to Jokkmokk. Now we are north of the Polar Circle.
In Jokkmokk we meet a good friend and take a walk round the lake Talvatissjön. Around the sun a halo appears .
Saturday, 22 March
After a good sleep in the hostel Åsgård Annika and I continue our car trip. Gällivare, Kiruna, Abisko. Torneträsk – the 6th largest lake in Sweden – is still completely frozen. Good for recreation such as skiing.
Parts of the road were closed some days ago. You can still see some remains of the snow storm.
Some weeks ago it would have been impossible to drive from Jokkmokk to Tromsø in daylight. Anyhow two days ago astronomical spring has started and the days are as long as everywhere. After hours of driving the sun is low but visible. It illuminates the beautiful clouds. And then we arrive at our apartment in Tromsø, my “work home”.
Sunday, 23 March
On Sunday the weather gets nasty. Max temperature: +9 °C and wind gusts up to 23.5 m/s. Annika and I take a promenade anyhow. With spiked shoes because some of the ways are just bare, wet ice and the friction is next to zero. We arrive at home before the rain. Good luck.
Monday, 24 March
On my way to work I spot the first spring flowers in front of the Tromsø Cathedral. I could believe in spring …
Tuesday, 25 March
… but do know the forecast and it is correct: Snow, snow, snow on the next day. So it looks like in the morning outside of the apartment …
… and so in the afternoon, when I walked home.
So we did not solely travelled between countries but also between seasons. Anyhow I hope for some more winter days (or weeks), before my seasonal clock will jump to spring mode. Perhaps in mid-May?
The moon has a halo
Back in Obbola – opening the kayak season
Friday
Two days ago Annika and I returned from our Finnmark and Finland journey. Just north of Umeå there was a low layer of strange clouds. Any of you who knows what kind of clouds this is?
Saturday
We are back home in Obbola in Sweden. The sky is clear and blue. In wintertime this often means that it can be pretty cold outside. Instead we had up to +8 or +9 °C. What a strange winter.
The wind is strong. The waves have already crushed the ice floes. In the afternoon the floating ice has been blown away into the open sea.
There is still some snow around but parts of the ground is free of snow. That‘s early for the season. And so is the arrival of the first whooper swans.
Sunday
The wind has calmed down and so have the waves. Time to fetch the kayak from the garage and open the kayak season. While there was not much of ice left at the shores of Obbola and the island Bredskär there was another highlight today: A 360°C halo round the sun.
Next week?
It looks like we expect colder temperatures, sun and calm weather. I hope, I have more opportunities to do some kayaking.