Nine days solo canoeing trip

At the end of May I finished my woodworking course at Insjön in Sweden. The school was quite far into the country and I usually live by the sea. So I saw this as an excellent opportunity for a long canoeing trip.

Dalälven

Dalälven is the river I paddled, it is one of Swedens biggest rivers. It starts off as two rivers, west Dalälven and east Dalälven which both have their sources in Norway, and then meet up and flow a little bit south of the middle of Sweden to finally reach the Baltic sea close to Gävle, about 100 miles north of Stockholm. East Dalälven passes close to the school so I decided to follow it down to the sea, a total of 256 kilometers (159 miles).
The name Dalälven consists of two words, "dal" which means valley and "älv" which means a river starting in the mountains. It flows through the county Dalarna (valleys) in Sweden which I believe has given it it's name.

Preparations

The stream pass by some cities which allowed me to resupply along the way. This gave a lot of freedom in the planning process. I did not calculate how long it would take, I decided to not be in a hurry and just paddle as far as I felt like each day.
The time between deciding to do the trip and actually starting was very short, a little under one week. And I did not have all of my outdoor gear at school so some things were just improvised or simply left out. I dried a lot of food before heading out; potatoes, carrots, zucchini, paprika, onion, mushrooms and other vegetables. I only ate vegeterian food, and except the butter most things were vegan. Oat milk for example lasts much longer in warm temperature than milk product and works just as well in food.
I printed the maps from http://kso2.lantmateriet.se It's a free service where you can print your own maps of pretty much anywhere in Sweden. Unfortunately I only had access to a black and white printer so sometimes during the trip I had trouble navigating.

The trip

The rainy beginning

I started in east Dalälven and reached the meeting point already the first day. It was a day of constant rain, not an excellent start of a trip but I didn't get let down by the rain. And later I would have a lot of benefit (and some trouble) from the high water level the rain made. I also had to portage past the first dam this first day. There was about one dam per day to pass, but sometimes more. During the whole trip I portaged 14 dams.
I spent the first night in an abandoned storage shed. It was nice to have a dry place to sleep at after a day of constant rain.

Misery campfire after a rainy day.

The abandoned storage shed I slept in first night.

The city of portaging

The next day was also raining but in the evening it had stopped. I reached the first city now, Borlänge. I spoke to a man which explained that the name is old Swedish and means "carrying far". And that proved to be very true. The city had 4 dams. I did the first dam, which was just a short portage and then set up camp in a small forest on an old dirt road.

The next day was probably the heaviest during the whole trip. The first two dams were not too bad, quite short portages. But the last one was a lot worse. It was a total of over 3 km because the riverbank was blocked by a sewage plant. I first carried my packing and managed to hitch hike to the bridge where I was planning to end the portage. Then on the way back to get the canoe I put up my thumb again... and surprisingly got picked up by the same guy again. So then I portaged the canoe all the way. It was windy so the canoe caught wind all the time while carrying, When I got the chance I used the areas with high grass in the ditch to pull it instead of carrying on my back. I found it to be nice to alternate between the two a bit. At least it was fun to see the look on the psaserby's faces when I walked around in the city with a canoe on my head.
When the canoe was in place I decided to go into town and get some new boots, this far I had only used my working shoes which were in very bad condition, since I didn't have my tripping shoes at school. My shoes had gotten totally soaked by the rain and were also falling apart. So I bought a cheap pair of rubber boots which I used for the rest of the trip. It wasn't ideal but it was much better than the wet ones. I didn't want anything with lining as those never dry.

Lost in the forest and thunderstorm

The next few days were quite straight forward. The weather was better. It was a bit windy some days but I soon got into the rythm of waking up between 4 and 6 before the wind got strong and then setting camp between 2 and 5 when it was too windy to be comfortable to paddle.
Up until this point the stream had been narrow all the way, never widening into lakes or such. But on the 5th day I reached the first lake, close to Hedemora. By now the water level was very high and the land in this area was very low. This in combination with my bad maps and that I didn't have a compass made it hard to navigate. I decided to take a shortcut in a narrow canal between the mainland and an island. But it was hard to find where it started because the forest was flooded. I thought I had found it and started following it through the forest. But soon lost it and realized I was just paddling between the trees and because of the cloudy weather couldn't really tell directions.

High water level...

Eventually I got out again and decided to paddle around the island. But when I did so I found the canal and it was quite big because of the high water level. It was however blocked by some roads which I could easily pass because they were flooded too.
But now the wind got a lot stronger really quickly and I see some big dark clouds in the sky. It has kind of been building up for this the whole day but at one point it's no longer possible to paddle. I set camp at a big green field already around 2 o'clock. The thunderstorm and rain comes in th evening and is really close. But when it passed by it left one of the most amazing rainbows I've seen!

Halfway point, party and a change in nature

Next day I reach the city Avesta where I resupply for the rest of the trip and also buy a compass which I realized I will need. It's the last city I pass during the trip. It also has 2 dams which I do in one portage, quite far but not as heavy as the one in borlänge. In the afternoon I reach Sjöviks folkhögskola which is the school I did my 2 years bushcraft program at. I've been looking forward to reaching this point as it's the halfway mark of my trip. And after this the nature gets much more wild and untouched. The bushcraft students are still there and have just got back from a two and a half week paddle trip. It's their penultimate day and they celebrate it by visiting one of the teachers and having a barbecue party which I join. It was very nice to get some real food and meeting friends and my old teachers again.
The start of the second part of the trip was amazing. There was no wind and just a very thin layer of clouds, just enough so the sun wouldn't burn or blind me. And I was familiar with the area I paddled this day since we did trips here from Sjövik. From here on the river widened a lot and it was more like paddling in lakes than a river. The first rapids also started showing up now. I could paddle all of them except one. It's called Balen and is famous for it's huge monster wave which now with this much water was 1-2m high and followed by 2 more nearly as big waves. I decided to do it the safe way and portaged past it.

Balen

This day I did close to 60km (37 miles), it shows how much knowing the waters and good weather do for the speed. In the evening I set camp at a windbreak and baked bread in the pot.

The last challenging dams and the sea

The last days I did about 2 dams a day and they were quite challenging. The portages were not very far. But the riverbanks were artificial, high and steep and the water flowed fast. To get ashore I had to hold the canoe in a rope while I carefully unloaded the packing. Putting it in a bad spot would make it roll down into the river. Then I had to somehow pull the canoe up. This was also challenging to do without damaging it.
Then I had to do everything again to get it back in water below the dam. I first put the canoe in, and if I had something to tie it to I did so while loading it. At one place I was a bit careless. I had stored the map inside my rolled up sleeping mattress and while loading the canoe I tried to throw the sleeping mattress into the canoe, but missed and it was caught by the stream. So I had to hurry and pack the last things then untied the canoe and jumped in. I managed to catch it but the maps had gotten wet, but was still readable.

An old dam

One day I got into another thunderstorm. I was paddling on open water with just a few islands around. So I went on shore on the closest one which had a small cabin. At first I just waited behind the cabin taking cover from the rain but when it started raining more and seemed it wouldn't stop I went up to it and checked the door. The door to the veranda was unlocked so I could go inside and wait out the storm. It was all white and clean in there so I felt very uncomfortable. When the storm ended I wrote a message thanking the owners and left.
The last dam, in Älvkarleby was easy to get ashore at and from the water it looked like a quite short walk. But when I went to take a look there was a huge waterfall behind it with a long steep rapid following it. I realized it would be a long portage so I asked a pair I met (Magnus and Ulrika which would be the quickest way past it. They explained and in the end they even said they could help me carry. So me and Magnus took the canoe and Ulrika took the gear. Not having to go back up to get the canoe saved me a lot of energy and time. They were very helpful and told me this was the last dam and that the rest of the way would be a breeze.
And they were right, the river got narrow again, much like the beginning of my trip and the water was flowing fast. I just had to sit back and go with the flow, literally.
Reaching the sea was a great experience. It was a feeling of relief and freedom but also a scary feeling. The sea is big and wild compared to the predictable river.

This trip was a great experience! I didn't put much time into planning and preparing the trip. I just did the necessary stuff and went out. It was amazing to be alone for this long time. Lots of time to think and reflect and I got much closer to nature than I usually do on trips. I really learned to predict the weather and could sometimes go ashore even before the wind arrived.

And finally some more photos from the trip.

Amazing construction!

Living with the forest

A trip to the forest is pretty much the same as visiting another country. You could book an all inclusive trip to a southern warm country, eat nice food, sleep in a luxury hotel and go swimming at the beach. Then when you get home you can tell everyone what the country looks like.
But that's all, you haven't talked to the locals, you haven't tried their food, you don't know how they live, how their homes smell, what they do in their free time. All you know is what you have seen through a window made by the travel agency.
If you instead go there with no plans, maybe couch surfing, speaking to the locals, rent a bike, leave the tourist streets in the cities. You will get a much deeper connection to the country. You will experience it with all your senses.
In a similar manner we make a choice when we visit the forest. Do we want to go there and look at it, or do we want to experience it?

The rythm of nature

When I was younger I always slept in tent on trips. I felt safe inside the tent-walls, keeping the scary night outside. It took a long time before I realized that I don't need to be afraid of the night. It is part of nature. So if I do a trip and hide from the night, I miss a part of the experience, a part of the nature I'm there to experience. Nowadays I prefer to just sleep under a cotton tarp. There's no walls so I can hear all the sounds, smell the air and watch the stars when I fall asleep. And then wake up to the sunrise, completely following the rhythm of nature.

An amazing sunrise, easily missed if you sleep in a tent, disconnected from the world around you.

On early winter trips it's not uncommon to go to bed at 5 pm, and then sleep for 16 hours. It may sound crazy now when you read this by your computer. But when you're out there it feels completely natural. The sun sets at 3 pm, then you make dinner and then it's too dark to do anything else. You could bring a flashlight. But then you disturb the rhythm and lose a part of the experience.

A camp that is part of nature.

The forests burning energy

Gathering stones. Building a tripod. Sawing and chopping wood. Carefully preparing the fireplace. And finally, the magical act of starting the fire. Watching it burn is like hypnosis. It's the forests energy turning to light and heat. It's quiet and relaxing and will let you cook your food, dry your clothes and keep you warm for the night. The forest is giving you all this for free.
Now, imagine if you had brought a gas stove instead. It makes a lot of sound, don't give any warmth and your food will be done in seconds. Are you not here for a relaxing experience?

Take your time to build a nice fireplace, even for a lunch during travel. It makes the experience so much more enjoyable.

Connecting through your gear and tools

I'm out paddling with a wooden paddle, one which I made myself. I know every part of it. I chose the material and formed it after my body and paddling style. I can feel it moving in the water, it tells me what is happening under the surface. Is it deep or shallow? Are there any currents? Seaweed? It's like an extension of my body, just like the canoe which I also made myself. And I know, if I lose my paddle or canoe, they will go back to nature, back to the circle of life.
I don't need an ultra light carbon fiber paddle or a bent shaft super fast paddle. I'm not out here to race. And I don't want gear which is made on the cost of the very nature I visit.

How could you be in a hurry away from here?

For me the material creates a flow. A gore-tex jacket is just like the tent walls, cutting me off from nature, while a cotton jacket lets it flow trough. The cotton also gets along better with the fire. A piece of ember usually won't even make a hole, unlike the synthetic jacket which melts right away. By wearing fast drying instead of waterproof clothes you get to experience the rain and river much closer and you don't need to worry about getting wet.

The moment you learn to not fear and take cover from the nature is the moment you will really feel freedom on your trips.

Take your time, relax, make a pizza!

Or anything else delicious!

Crossing thin ice with a canoe

The thing about canoes that amazes me the most is how you can pass through pretty much any terrain with them. On lakes, rivers, sea, and on land. So why should we let some ice by the shore stop us from paddling?
Last 2 years during my outdoor/friluftsliv course at Sjöviks folkhögskola we got to practice crossing the ice by the shoreline and get out to the open water with the canoe. We did this by leaning on the canoe with one hand on each gunwhale and pushing it forward. This distributes our weight so we can get out on really thin ice. Here it helps to have chose with a good grip so you don't need to put much weight on the ice. The moment the ice breaks, we jump into the canoe. The ice always breaks under our feet, not under the canoe. And you can feel it starting to break under your feet so you have time to jump into the canoe.

Two different methods of pushing the canoe. Another one is to go with one leg in the canoe and one on the ice. Photo by Matthias Crommenlinck

Now for the next part we have a special tool, it's a stick about 1m / 3 feet long with 2 points at the end, one going forward and one sticking out to the side. Traditionally these were used for log driving and you can sometimes find them on ebay or second hand (called pike pole). I believe there are modern versions too, but I think they lack the weight needed to get a good hit in the ice. With this you can either use it in the stern and push the canoe forward, or in the bow and pull it forward. And voila, you're out on open water!

The pole in action.

I guess I don't need to say it, but this is dangerous and you should not do it alone. Since your weight is distributed on the whole canoe you can get very far out on thin ice. So it will be hard to get back to shore. Bring ice nails and a waterproof change of clothes.

When practicing it's a good idea to have a rope in the canoe and a friend on shore who can pull you in if you get stuck. Photo by: Matthias Crommenlinck

I got lucky the other day and found an old pike pole cheap on the Swedish ebay. It was covered in rust and didn't have a shaft so I started off by removing the rust. A quick google search adviced me to soak it in vinegar over night. I did that, then brushed it with steel wool the next day and that did wonders. I had to repeat it a few times but now it looks like new. I finished it up with some linseed oil. The shaft I made from a slow grown spruce (about 50 years with a diameter of 5 cm / 2 inches) that I had lying around.
.

The hook before and after vinegar treatment.

And finally, some photos of my latest winter paddling.

Back on thick ice, you can see the track made by the canoe.