Altevatnet is a large (about 40 km long) lake in Bardu Kommune, about 3 hours drive south of Tromsø. Hanneke and I decided to visit a cabin called Leinahytta at the eastern end of Altevatnet. The cabin belongs to Statskog and can be booked and paid for via the inatur website . There is no road access to the eastern end of Altavatnet, but it is accessible boat in summer and by snow scooter in winter.
I learned three things about Altevatnet on this trip: The high mountains either side of the lake tend to intensify westerly winds, producing notoriously big waves. The water level can vary by more than 10 m during the year, which means that the edge of the lake may not occur where it is marked on maps. Leinahytta is a new cabin and is not marked on the current series of topographic maps.
With hindsight setting out on a dark and breezy friday night was not the best idea. We spent a long time trying to find Leinahytta in the dark. Eventually we went to another cabin to ask for help. The door was opened by a pair of friendly hunters who told us exactly where to go, but wouldn't let us leave without staying for a drink. Well ok, we'll stay for one we thought. By the time we left it was past 04:00!
The following afternoon we emerged from Leinahytta to find a beautiful, but rather windy day.
We found this camp is close to Leinahytta, it belongs to a tour company called Fjellguiden who organize trips along the lake by boat or snow scooter and also rent out the tents ready pitched. We had a sneaky look inside one of the tents. They are made by a local company in Kautokenio called Venor. I would like to try one out - they look like they should be warm and comfortable.
A little further along Leinavatn (the smaller lake joining Altevatnet) we found this boat park with very nice system to rails for sliding boats over the ground.
After a bit more walking we arrived back at the place where we a left the boat the night before. I had hoped to take the boat into Leinavatn and right up to the hut, but that was impossible. The channel connecting Altevatnet and Leinavatn was much too shallow and rocky.
After tying the boat down, we returned to Leinahytta for the evening. The hut was of a very comfortable and even some low-voltage lights powered by a solar panel. We had planned to leave the following day, but it was still very windy. We walked to the shore where we left the boat to check the conditions. From the shore we could see some pretty big white capped waves on Altevatnet. We decided to stay in the cabin for a extra night and hope for calmer conditions. The extra evening gave us tho opportunity to try out the hot-tub.
We had to assemble a petrol-driven pump get water out of the lake and into the tub. I had never used such a powerful pump before! It filled the tub in a few minutes. When the tub was full we lit the fire and put the lid on to help it warm up quickly. It took about 6 hours before the water was warm enough to get in. I felt a bit guilty about burning so much wood, but the experience of watching the northern lights from a hot tub was amazing!
The following morning we absolutely had to leave as Hanneke had to catch a plane to Svalbard the next day. Fortunatley the wind had dropped. Rather than carry our heavy bags all the way back our boat we used the boat the came with the cabin to take them to the strait between Leinavatn and Altevatnet. The boat was not well cared for, it was full of rain water and the little engine sounded very rough, but we were grateful for the ride.