The High Coast Trail - Den Höga Kusten-leden - September 2019

I hiked the High Coast Trail in northern Sweden in September 2019. The trail was beautiful, and reminded me of my home region, British Columbia's southwest coast. The trail is 128 km long, and I spent a week traversing it. It seems the trail is most often hiked from south to north, but I went from north to south.

Something to keep in mind is that the amenities along the trail - cafés, shops, B&Bs - seem to close down as of the first of September. Despite wonderful hiking conditions, there is a minimum of services available after that, aside from gas stations and grocery stores in the larger villages.

I have been learning Swedish over the past few years (it's a hobby!) and was able to converse fairly well with people on the trail, and in the villages along the way, but there is no problem whatsoever communicating in English along the way. Everyone I dealt with spoke very good English, and Sweden is known for having a very high percentage of English speakers.

The weather was a little bit mixed, but most of the rain fell overnight, so I only had to put my pack cover on a couple of times over the course of seven days, for a couple of hours at a time.

I took a tent along, in case I had difficulty finding (or fitting into) the cabins along the trail, but I never ended up using it. I spent most nights in "stugas" (cabins/shelters), one night in a hotel (in Docksta, to simplify going to the Via Ferrata at Skuleberget the next day), and one night in a wind shelter (vindskydd) along the trail.

Let me know if you have any questions (in English, eller på Svenska!) about the trail, accommodations, etc!