My last day in Umea. I slept in a bit and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, making waffles to have with my coffee. Today’s journey was via bus out to a local lake and nature preserve, Grössjön.
Grössjön was a gorgeous place to hike- mainly forest and marshland, luckily lots of boardwalks on the marshy bits. There were several places with fire pits and little huts that contained cut wood. At the trailhead, there was a large container full of wood that you could take with you out to one of the sites with fire pits. In the sunny areas, lots of butterflies fluttered all around, it was like being in a Disney movie!
In the marshy area, I saw tiny frogs and cloudberries, a traditional Swedish fruit used in jam. I didn’t see many as it was still early in the season so they weren’t ripe yet. I still tried one, it was pretty bitter. I was just excited to be able to see them in the wild!
After dinner I went for a last wander around Umea, outside a bank building I saw a sign and hook indicating that is where people could leave their dogs when they went inside the bank. I headed to the waterfront where I saw signs for a cafe which turned out to be a coffee cart near the pedestrian bridge over the river- it was on the honor system. I am so amazed at how these sorts of things can work in Sweden. Umea is a large city, mainly a university town, and yet has a small town feel with things like this coffee cart.
The views of the sunset were spectacular from the bridge, I’m so glad I made the effort to get out for another walk before I left Umea.
One response to “Cloudberries, Frogs, and Sunset”
What a beautiful place to hike!