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The Via Suecia App
We are happy to announce that the work on our hiking app is so far that we asked some of our friends to beta test it right now. It will be a smartphone application much in the spirit of the Guthook Guides. We work to include a set of tools needed for thru-hiking—a map, guidebook (eventually) and water reports. It will function off-line and crowdsource updated information about trail conditions, trail angels and campsites when online. We hope to have it ready in early 2022.
Swish, IBAN & BIC!
We are happy to announce that finally we have got a bank account. Paying your membership, support or merchandise is now easy-peasy!
Our Swish numer is 123 135 88 60.
Our IBAN is SE88 8000 0819 1901 4132 8625 and the BIC is SWEDSESS.
Thank you for your support.
The 50/50 Challenge – only 600 SEK/year!
For only 600 SEK/year we will give you the best support ever in Swedish hiking! Because we want you to succeed. We will be by your side every step with advice on Trail Angels, food, gas and whatever you might need. By choosing a non-profit, member driven organization instead of a private company you also support a good cause. Facebook!
Christmas Gifts in the Shop
Soon Christmas is here! Thinking about a gift for that special person in your life? Why not give something from our Trail Shop? That way you’ll not only bring joy but also support our cause! Here’s the link to our shop! https://www.viasuecia.com/shop/
She thru hiked the length of Greenland
Ruth Aaqqii just thru hiked the length of her home country Greenland and became the second person to finish the whole of Via Suecia.
Nobody has better described the epic 117 days on Via Suecia and the subsequent end in Smygehuk November 14 than Ruth Aaqqii herself in an Instagram post that same day:
“This hike has been both an outer and inner journey.
The outer – physically – journey with it’s variable challenges has been incredible enjoyable.
It was also easier than I had expected.
I wouldn’t call it a walk in the park, 😄 but, still, perfectly doable for anyone with reasonable health and enough motivation to keep going!
I never wanted to quit.
I felt safe and at home, first in the mountains and later on in the woods.
Every day felt like a precious gift. 😇
Nature has been kind and welcoming, embracing me in many different ways.
People I’ve met have hugely enriched my life, and will, I’m sure, continue to do do. 🙏
My true challenge from the very beginning, therefore, has been the inner journey.
I felt quite miserable and also depressed last winter and spring, before I started my hike.
Worn down by loss and grief, I was unable to take steps towards re-building my life – apart from planning this thru-hike.
I coudn’t feel much joy or enthusiasm for anything in a long time.
❤️
I came to Sweden to heal my wounds.
To make peace with what happened in the past.
To take responsibility for my own happiness – under all circumstances.
While the outer journey – this thru-hike – has come to an end, it feels as if my inner work has only just started.
Only time will tell, where it will lead me.
One thing I want to continue to do – I want to say “yes” to life.
Birth and death, I’ve come to understand, are part of life’s natural circle.
To resist them is to fight life itself.
I want to learn to flow with life instead of resisting it, no matter how painful that might feel, at times.
❤️
I want to live life to the fullest – wild and free – until the day of my last breath.
Wild 🔥
Free 💚
Now ✨”
And so the hike is over and Ruth Aaqqii is back to the everyday world where everyday people go about their everyday life. A lot of people who have done long distance hiking feel a sense of loss of purpose and alienation when they get off trail.
So far Ruth Aaqqii has felt none of that.
“Maybe it’s because I’m still traveling, visiting friends and my parents in Germany,” she says.
Advice from other thru hikers is to look forward and plan new adventures to avoid possible “post trail depression”.
“I will try to follow that advice. I guess when I return to Greenland in December I will have plenty of time during the dark winter to plan ahead for some new challenge.”
Ruth Aaqqiis body is still on trail time and she wakes up five’o’clock every morning and gets tired and want to go to bed around eight at night. She has also put on some weight now when the “machine” has stopped doing 20-30 km days.
“I feel fine, but I’m kind of tired and need to lay down and rest when I have been out walking in town. I guess it’s my body taking its down-time.”
A friend in her home village Ittoqqortoormiit, on the East Coast of Greenland, pointed out that she has hiked almost the full length of Greenland (the length of Greenland north–south is about 2650 km).
The last two weeks of her hike was cold, wet and dark. But fiends stopped by and kept her company on the trail:
“When I arrived at Smygehuk, just a few meters from the finish, someone approached me from behind, waving a Danish flagg – it was Malene from Denmark, who had hiked with me on Bergslagsleden.
“She and her boyfriend had travelled to Smygehuk to be there when I finished! Taking a mini-vacation in the area.”
“It was such a surprise!”
Also, fellow thru hiker Peter Bergström caught up with Ruth Aaqqii by car twice during the last 8 kilometers, serving coffee and kanelbullar from his car in a village 4,5 kilometers before the end, just as he did for Kim Norberg, who finished her hike October 30th.
“He’s been incredible supportive to both of us, a fantastic Trail Angel!” says Ruth Aaqqii.
“I’ve met so many kind and inspiring people, both hikers and non-hikers, here in Sweden. A true gift of the trail!”
TEXT: JONAS HALLEN and RUTH AAQQII
PICTURES: RUTH AAQQII
Ruth Aaqqii finished The Via Suecia
We are proud to announce that Ruth Aaqqii arrived at approx. 12:15 pm on Sunday November 14th in Smygehuk. She started at 9:30 pm July 21st at Treriksröset. According to her notes she finished on day 117 and walked a total of 2.636 km. Ruth is the second official women to hike The Via Suecia as a thru-hike.
Congratulations Ruth! Well done!
Winter is coming
The 50/50 Challenge is for you who would like to divide your Swedish Hike into two halves in 3 years. We have made some minor changes to it, basically mowing your mid-starting point to Sälen. This is especially good because Sälen has many facilities and it’s also easier to reach. You start your SOBO/NOBO where the Southern Kungsleden starts. Just across the road is where the buss stops, and there are several places to sleep if you need to. In the Mountain Lodge Högfällshotellet there is shower, restaurant, and an ICA shop if you want to re- or supply. From the start there is a short way to the first cabin, Östfjällsstugan, if you NOBO. We are also introducing our winterlogo! Happy trails!
https://www.viasuecia.com/50-50-challenge/
Funicular across Indalsälven/Duved?
We are trying to find a better way between Vålådalen and Kallsedet. So we thought a short funicular passing the water of Indalsälven at Duved would do the trick. We had a look and made a small film about it: https://youtu.be/NfXmuRR5owA
Please support us. We are a non-profit NGO organisation in need of memberships and donations. Thank you!
A walk on the Wild side
Ruth Aaqqii got into lightweight hiking to be able to carry her rifle and ammunition. Now she is on her way to finish Via Suecia. Unarmed, we want to point out.
Every hiker has his or her own story. But some hikers have very special stories.
Ruth Aaqqii moved from Germany to Norway when she was in her early 20’s. Then ended up in Ittoqqortoormiit, on the East Coast of Greenland, where she got married and have lived the past 15 years.
Last year her husband suddenly died and life got turned upside down. Not only did she lose the man she loved, she also lost her business partner, who she did tourist excursions with.
– This was during Covid so I felt sad and isolated and wanted to take a break and get away for a while, says Ruth Aaqqii.
She had read Wild six years earlier. The book is written by Cheryl Strayed at a point in her life when she thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother’s rapid death from cancer, her family disbanded and her marriage crumbled.
Cheryl Strayed made the decision to walk eleven-hundred miles of the west coast of America – from the Mojave Desert, through California and Oregon, and into Washington state – and to do it alone.
– After my husband’s death I read Wild again and could really relate to the immense feeling of grief and loss that Cheryl Strayed felt, but also the way a thru hike can serve almost like transformation of your life, says Ruth Aaqqii.
Another reason why she chose to do a longer hike was her growing interest in lightweight gear:
– I’ve been outdoor a lot; backcountry skiing, hunting, boating, traveling with dog sledges, but not hiking so much.
– I always have to bring my gun and ammunition if I leave the village. That means I always have to carry four kilos of extra gear when I backpack.
– So a few years ago I started watching videos about lightweight backpacking and then I learned about thru hiking. I got fascinated and thought maybe in the future I will try to go hiking for a month or so.
With her growing interest in long distance hiking and the sudden change in life it was more a matter of WHEN than IF Ruth Aaqqii would get on the trail.
– Because of Covid I didn’t consider the US. Sweden was easy to access, so I started to do research about hiking the full length of country. Then I found a video with someone who had done it, and just a few weeks later I heard about Via Suecia.
When we catch up with Ruth Aaqqii it’s day 99 of her thru hike since she started on the evening of July 21 at Treriksröset.
She’s having a rest day in Hjo in Västra Götaland. The days are getting shorter and the nights colder. She actually encountered a bit of snow on Bergslagsleden a week earlier.
– Right now it’s milder, but rainy, I’m so glad I’m having a rest inside, says Ruth Aaqqii.
– So far this hike have been really, really great experience. Maybe it was a bit more exciting up north, but I still enjoy to be out here and are looking forward to see Hallandsleden and Gislavedsleden.
When you read this post Ruth Aaqqii has a bit less than three weeks and 400 kilometers to go before she is in Smygehuk in the southern tip of Sweden.
– I still don’t know exactly what lind of life I want to create for myself in the future, she says.
– In mid-December I’m flying back home to Greenland, to get back to work and to spend time with family and my sled–dogs.
– What I do know, though, is that I want to continue to spend lots of time in nature. And I want to thru hike again.
TEXT: JONAS HÅLLÉN
PICTURES: RUTH AAQQII