The Paddler Autumn/Fall issue 2017

ThePADDLER 86
Our trip had been months in the planning,
and it had taken us three long days to drive
here from the UK with canoes on the van.
Rogen is a beautiful nature reserve in
Sweden, bumping up against the Norwegian
border at 62 degrees north, sitting on a
plateau at around 700 metres and thus
almost arctic in its appearance. A forest of
pines and birch covers most of the region,
growing on the thin layer of earth that
clings to the rocky land.
Above the woodlands, bare mountains are clad
merely in a variety of mosses, one of the few
things able to live here through the harsh
winters. A series of lakes, including the
eponymous centrepiece of the reserve, can be
linked together to form a circular tour or, as we
intended, extended into the Roa river system
that takes one across the border via the
enormous Lake Femunden, before a final section
of river leads to the former mining town and
World Heritage site of Røros. We expected this
to take us nearly two weeks, allowing time for a
few side excursions and with a few spare days to
allow for being wind-bound on the lakes. Our
journey would include big lakes, little lakes,
moderate white water, gentle meandering rivers
and, unfortunately, many portages where the
rivers were too difficult to run or too shallow to
paddle. We started as a group of six; for the first
few days, Fred and Rob would join the core
team of Mark, Dris, Paul and myself, before they
circled back to the start, unable to get enough
time off to finish the whole trip.
Into the wilds
Now we stood on the edge of the silent
wilderness, as our van was taken away to be
Finally, with a sense of relief, we were afloat on our first lake, Öster-Vingarna,
and we paddled happily around its islands and bays before swinging south
towards our first proper camp