The Seasons
The seasons
Every season has its charm here at Årrenjarka. What about pastel coloured, snowy winterdays, Aeurora Borealis and total silence. Cross-ski silently on the lake of Saggat, or reach the magnificent peaks of Lapland to behold breathtaking views with Snowmobile or Dog-sledding. Or perhaps pimple char and grayling beneath the basking sping-winter sun. Or, come visit us during June and enjoy the Daphne, Blue Mountain-Heath or Butterball flowerin full bloom.
You reach Lapland’s mountain fields from Årrenjarka’s trails and Kvikkjokk with its famous delta. At lake Saggat paddle, cannoting and fishing trips awaits. And if it is not enough, we can also tease you with birch trees flaming in a hundred colurs during the fall. No years is the same and is totally unique. A summer’s day in Sarek can feel like a heat wave, just to face a raging snow storm in the morning. An April’s day in Tarradalen can take you mile after mile on snowy crust, just to next day have to travel on foot because of heavy rain.
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January
Slowly, the daylight returns. The constant dusk & dawn colour the sky pink, green & light blue at the same time. During cloudfree nights and fullmoon, the entire landscape is lit by the moon. Aurora Borealis and stars sometimes shine so bright that you can travel by night. It’s the year’s coldest month. It’s frosty and silent.
Highlight of the month: The light, the silence, the warmth from the wooden stove. The Sarek Elks gather along the frozen lake of Saggat. Time for Elk Safari.
February
t’s still very cold. The days are getting brighter fast. The sun provide not warmth but joy. The snow is deep, and it’s exhausting to cross-ski . The snow falls heavy and often. Grouses gather in the valley ranges and is scattered like white round fur puff’s in the birch trees. Riporna samlas i fjälldalarna och sitter som vita bollar i björkarna. The Grouses are can be heard scratching from the peaks.
Highlight of the month: Ski expeditions, Grouse hunting, the soft snow.
March/April
It can be gazing sun or full blown wind and snow in abundance. One the mountain ranges the snow lies plastered by the wind, but in the arctic forests the snow is still deep and heavy. The Owls begin their rites throughout the primordial forests and the Woodpeckers hack in their territories. Flock of birds can be seen in the sky. Cross beaks lay eggs in her nest.
Highlight of the month: The breathtaking sceneries, the Snowmobile excursions, Ski expeditions or Dog-sledding, the lake fishing.
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May
The month of spring, the month of birds. The nights shines bright and the bird’s songs intense. Throughout the forests and mountain hills patches of grass grow bigger every day. You travel through the mountains best at night on the snow’s frozen crust. During the days the crust melts and you can no longer travel on skis or snowmobile. Sometimes warm nights makes travel by night impossible.
In the forests the snow still is packed deep where the trees prevent the sun to reach or where there’s shadows. Water flows down the streams and on the mire’s. Flock of Swans and Wading birds sing all nights long. Capercailles and Black Grouses gather for mating rites. For bird watchers this is the prime season, but leave the ambition to travel far at home. This is also the season between snow and bare ground. The reindeer this is the calving season.
Highlight of the month: The bird life, the water flow, the last days of winter, flowers start to bloom in Kassavaare.
June
The month of the midnight sun and of the birds. The mountain tops are still shrouded in snow. In the Birch forest it is budding and in the coniferious forests it’s summer. Those who want to experience the mountain heaths in full bloom, where the landscape is shining from all kinds of arctic glowers, or listen to birds singing all throughout the mountains, this is the right time to visit. Golden plowers play and the Mountain Abbs are all over the heaths. On areas rich on chalk, the ground is exploding with colours: Mountain Hoppers, Rhododendron lapponicum and Sprouts. Good judgement and plenty of time is required by the traveller. Streams and rivers is flowing of melt water. The spring flood often make it impossible to cross the rivers, and the traveller should instead walk along the edge of mountain ranges and on flat lands. There are still no mosquitos.
Highlight of the month: The midnight sun, the flower beds, the smell sensations, the mountain hiking.
July
The month of mosquitos and splendour of flowers. The nights are still bright. In the forests the water have has withdrew. The mountain rivers and streams are still highwater. The mountain fields is in full bloom, but the bird songs are starting to wind down, now it’s nesting season. The traveller and expect both summer heat, heavy rain and even snow. During the nights of July the Reindeer calfs is branded. The Reindeer hearders gather at the Reindeer paddocks to brand the Reindeers.
Highlight of the month: Mountain hiking, fishing in the mountain rivers and jokks
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August
Travel is easy through the mountain landscape. The water has withdrew and the fields of snow as shrinked. The nights are getting darker, bird song and fields of flowers are gone. The mosquito swarms have thinned out. On higher altitudes the traveller can still experience both the pre summer and spring flowers as well as the last snow from last winter. For fishing trips this is the best month on the year. The water is low and the air filled with insects. Grayling, Trouts & Char is abundant in the streams, rivers and deltas.
Highlight of the month: Fishing, Mountain hiking, Cloudberry picking, solitude, adventure.
September
The month of autumn with its sparkling colours throught the mountain ranges, valleys and heaths. The air is serene and clear. In the mountains you can expect both rain and snow. The mountain peaks have fresh snow, in stark contrast to the valley’s autumn colours down below. Flocks of birds begin their journey south. The mountain valleys are inhabited by the mighty elks who feeds on birch trees, bushes and headbutt each. Now it is prime time to scout for bears with your binocular, since it walk in the open throughout the landscape eating what the nature provides. The locals are busy with hunting Elk and taking the Reindeers to the slaughterhouses.
Highlight of the month: Blueberries, Lingonberries, Grouse hunting, Elk hunting, The sparkling autumn colours.
October
As long are there are no snow, the month feels like the darkest of all months. The colours pf autumn fade. The lanscape is clad in grey and brown. When the first snow fall on the mountain world and on the forests the landscape is finally lightened. Gone are the birds, and the bears are hibernating. Other animals leave trails in the snow and are now revealing them. A sense of mystery and melancholy imprints the month. The mountains are unpredictable.
Highlight of the month: Trails for Hare, Grouse, Lynx, Wolverine, and Elks. Aurora Borealis, starlit skies, solitude.
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November
It’s getting colder. The snow blanket is growing thicker and the days are rapidly getting shorter. Lakes and rivers freezes. The sky during middle of the day is coloured fiery yellow. Reindeers leaves the mountain and begins their ascend towards the forests for winter pasture. During this season, the Reindeer are separated between hearding and slaughter.
Highlight of the month: A new winter, time to take out the skis, skating on the lake’s black ice if right condition.
December:
Mid winter. The snow is reflecting the rare light. Thos who travel through the mountains have very few hours per day. The snow is thick and loose. The cold is often harsh. But yet this may very well be the most beautiful of all the year’s months. The skies unbelievable colours at dawn, the trees dressed in hanging snow, the frost, the Aurora Borealis during the nights and clear starlit heaven – all this make people travel from afar and to this entire new world above the arctic circle. For many this is the most exotic and memorable one can experience.
Highlight of the month: The darkness, the candles and wooden stove inside the lodge, the silence, snow heavy trees and frost.