01-Sep-2003 -- 66°N 15°E Spending an eventful holiday in the Tärnafjellet I took the opportunity for my first confluence trip. Coming by car along the E12 Umeå - Mo i Rana, I left the road just north of the village Umfors and followed a small road west to the hydroelectric power station near the mouth of the lake Överuman. At this place a bridge leads over the Ume-river to enable the following march for about 5.2 km in a northerly direction.

I started the march at 530 m altitude on this beautiful late summer afternoon at 14:00. Belonging for the most part to the nature reserve Vindelfjällen, there is no marked route leading through the first parts of a very boggy area. There was no way to avoid sinking down a bit on each step, so the start of the hike was quite exhausting.

Beneath the GPS-navigator the "Lantmäteriets Fjällkarta" (scale 1 : 100.000) provides good assistance with orientation. It shows the most relevant information about the conditions to be expected.

In my case I took advantage of a local power transmission line in NNW direction, leading through the boggy mountain forest to a mast on the ridge (altitude 1070 m) not far from the confluence.

When I reached the gorge near Sandnästjärnen I found a crossing point a few hundred meters away, then started the climb towards NNW to an altitude of about 950 m. Crossing fields of blueberries, moss and rocks, the terrain is more passable here than further down in the boggy forest. On this altitude a kind of plateau leads along the rim of the Brakkonnjoune mountain with impressive view over the lake Överuman (picture 1).

To reach my destination on 757 m, I had to step down the northeastern slope of the mountain. As luck would have it, the confluence hides amidst mighty boulders (up to 5 m wide) left behind by a relatively recent mountain slide.

After a few times up and down I finally located the confluence point and read the coordinates on my GPS-navigator (picture 6). At 17:30 I finished my stay at this beautiful spot and after another two and a half hours walk (including ten minutes rest in the blueberries) I reached my car in the last glow of the evening sun.

It was an impressive mountain hike and just at the right time. Cause of the chilly late summer 2003 in northern Scandinavia with first frosty nights, there were no blood-sucking guests accompanying my endeavours to cleave the boggy grounds ..