Words: John R. Dean

Photos: John R. Dean,
Sam N. Dean &
Naomi R. Dean

Canoeing on the wild side

Getting there
A plan was hatched in autumn/winter 2022 to travel and experience the wilderness that is Sweden by canoe. Our intrepid family group, Dad (John), son (Sam) and daughter (Naomi), set off in August 2023 into what turned out to be an epic trip by car, with two canoes and enough kit (stuff) for much longer than our three-week planned trip. Leaving northeast Scotland, we travelled via Eurotunnel, then France, Belgium, Holland, and Germany (for an overnight stop). 

On day two, we left the ‘comfort’ of the motorway services and continued through Germany and into Denmark. We crossed ‘The Bridge’ (Öresund Bridge) the following day into Sweden. Onwards and now in a northerly direction, we headed towards Mora (think knives) and our ultimate destination, Rogen Nature Reserve.

Rogen Nature Reserve is a combination of one large Lake Rogen and a maze of small lakes with inlets and plenty of portage opportunities. In the UK we had not been able to purchase an appropriate scale map, so our first stop as we got close to our starting point at Käringsjön, was the local town of Tännäs, which we had identified in advance had a fishing shop, and by our deductions must have helpful information on the area.

After purchasing a map (1: 50 000), we set off on the 45-minute drive down the sand road to our starting point. Having two canoes and three people meant we had some room for kit: sleeping bags, tarps, and hammocks, along with camping cookery items and food. We set off mid-afternoon, through Lake Käringsjön, to start the navigation of the ‘1000 islands’ and find an overnight camping spot.

On our second day, we navigated further through the ‘1000 islands’ to find our entrance into the wide-open space that was Lake Rogen and selected our little island to pitch the hammock-tarp combination. Day 3 saw us canoe west along the lake for an overnight stay in Norway at Reva/Revbua. While we did have the opportunity to sleep in a shelter at this point, we decided that we much preferred our hammock-tarp combination.

On day 4, we continued the southern circumference of Lake Rogen, stopping for lunch at a Shelter and a river inlet to the lake before crossing the lake to Rogenstugan. The hamlet of Rogenstugan is, in fact, a bunk house, staffed, certainly when we visited, by volunteers. They showed us around the bunk house style accommodation and even their shop.

When we enquired how they keep stock levels up, they said it was all done in winter using snowmobiles to bring supplies for the year, onwards to our last overnight stop and our transit through Lake Rogen and onwards via streams in the direction of Lake Hån. We spent the final wilderness night camp in our hammock-tarp combination. We packed for the last time on our final morning, started a portage, and paddled back through Lake Käringsjön to our waiting car.

Information
Midges: not really, it’s not the west coast of Scotland.
Mosquitoes: yes, they could even bite through a shirt, but they only appeared once at night; it was an early night into the hammocks that night.
Wildlife: plenty of reindeer around. This area is the summer grounds of the Ruvhten Sijte Sami village.
Fishing: you need a licence to fish the lakes; we had them but never caught anything.
Road access: none; the nearest sand road was at Käringsjön, which led to Tännäs (nearest main road).
Flora and fungi: plenty in abundance from types of berries and mushrooms. You need to be more knowledgeable to identify the edible from the poisonous.
Driving in Sweden: if you like little traffic watching trees and lakes as you pass by, this is the place for you.
Camping: Rogen Nature Reserve has some designated areas with camping shelters, but we mainly found places we liked and followed the principle of ‘leave no trace’.
Cooking: a mixture of open contained fires using either wood or gas. We had managed to stock up on food at the supermarket in Mora on our way to Rogen.
Communication: due to the remoteness of Rogen, we had opted to purchase and register a SPOT (Gen4™, Satellite GPS messenger) that allowed us to send a text and email to family and friends on our exact location, with a map each day.
Were we alone? We saw a couple of sea kayakers and canoeists within the lakes, so we were not alone.
Portages: in the end, we did 12 portages, of which four were very long, taking well over an hour each. The portages had no signs, so a good map was essential, and the terrain ‘paths’ were boulder strewn.
Weather: in August, we had a mixed bag of sun, showers, and a little wind (estimated at <15 mph). All the guide booklets we could find and the staff of the fishing shop in Tännäs warned us of the unpredictable weather and how it can transform the lake into a dangerous environment for canoeists. We noted that the few canoeists we saw with fold-up canoes stayed onshore when any hint of wind appeared.

Our trip
This epic tour, in the end, involved a trip to the Arctic Circle (Norway side), travelling back through Norway via Hell (great photograph opportunity) and a paddle on Geirangerfjord, and through Sweden on our return home via Eurotunnel – a total driving distance of 5023 miles. However, northeast England to Käringsjön was a mere 1750 miles each way

Rogen Nature Reserve:
Background information
The landscape of Lake Rogen is one of enormous boulders, lichen-clad old pines and a maze of small lakes. The Rogen moraine is comprised of stones and gravel deposited by retreating ice in a network of meandering ridges. The flora consists of crowberry, cowberry, and bilberry, which cover the reserve. Though you have a limited chance of seeing them, both bears and wolverines live in the reserve. You may be lucky and see a golden eagle, rough-legged buzzard or osprey. Lake Käringsjön is famous for grayling, while Lake Rogen is a fish-rich lake.

Useful resources:
The best map: Grövelsjön & Rogen 1: 50,000 (2 cm = 1 km). www.calazo.se.
(Previous identified resources indicated map Z 59 Rogen (1: 50,000) from Lantmateriet Mountain Maps was the map of choice. However, we were unable to find a copy anywhere to buy.)
Useful introductory leaflet: Gränslandet (Rogen-Femundsmarka-Langfjallet) www.graenslandet.se/en
Rogen Nature Reserve: www.lansstyrelsen.se/jamtland/