My first objective of the day was to join the Arctic Post Road, a series of gravel tracks that connect Rovaniemi with Alta on a route of historical significance. The segment that I chose contains the ascent of the Mustavaara peak, the first "real" climb in days. Classified as part of the "gravel" version of the Post Road, it still proved technically challenging due to puddles and rough pebbles that littered the road surface, and sand. All that of course on top of gradients up to 10 percent.
There is a reward though for making it all the way up as the summit of Mustavaara is next to the highest point of the road, and the view from up there is breathtaking. The vegetation is quite different too from the boreal conifer forest that I rolled through for most of the day; I was familiar with the species that grow up there from the tundra around Tolga, from the high plateau of Kvaløya, and from the fjords of the Barents sea near sea level.
Reindeer too made another appearance after their complete absence yesterday. Though down here they don't seem to be as frequent and brazen as they were up in Norway.
The day concluded with another edition of the good ol' "phantom campsite" pun. The Kolari campsite that I had planned to spend the night at turned out to be a hamburger bistro with a couple huts beside it, and of course no reception or any information about how to contact the proprietor. The nearest campsites would be either too far away or too far of course for me so I rolled down to the river where I instantly found a decent spot to camp out. The mosquitos are ravenous down here but the upside is that I can see Sweden across the water.
gps tracks
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