The wild Stekkenjokk plateau

One of the most interesting areas along the long Vildmarksvägen is the area around the Stekkenjokk plateau. This is the most remote section of the road which is pretty much half way between the two entry points in Sweden at Vilhelmina and Strömsund. You are actually much closer to the Norwegian border than the Swedish towns so in normal years it might be easier to reach this section of road from Norway than Sweden. To get in here is about 4 hours’ drive from either Vilhelmina or Strömsund so you need to want to go to get here.

The area is at a bit higher elevation than the rest of the road so the landscape is bare without the trees which dominate the rest of the drive. Up here the temperature is cold even in summer with snow showing up here and there along the drive.

The landscape is bare and rocky with the view of some higher snow covered mountains in the distance along the way. The melting water up here is the source for some fairly large lakes on the plateau which certainly do not invite you to go for a swim even at the height of summer.

There is supposed to be some reindeers roaming around on the high plateau but they kept their distance today so we didn’t see any as we drove across the high plateau.