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Täljsten adventures: Day Four
Sep. 21st, 2018 07:41 pmWe slept last night as close as we could get by car to Stop 13: Hälltjärn (59.702962, 14.719849). It didn't rain in the evening, but sometime in the night it started raining, and was raining enough at 05:30 when I needed to pee that I took off my pajamas, went out to pee, got back into the tent, put the pajamas back on, and then slept happily till 07:00, by which point the rain had pretty much stopped, so we got up, had breakfast, put everything into the car except for the tent (which we hoped would dry a little while we were gone), and started walking down the road on the other side of the locked gate.
We had several km along the road and then better part of another through the forest to get to the area of the former quarry (45 minutes there). I have no idea how long it has been since they quit quarrying there, but the ground is totally covered with thick mosses, tundra, and berry bushes. (We ate a fair number of blueberries on the way in and back out again--purple fingers and tongues!)
There were a few rocks here and there that stuck up out of the vegetation, but most of them were hard metamorphic rocks. We did find one pink one that powdered easily when hit with a hammer, so even though I am not really convinced that it is täljsten we took a sample, and wished once again that I had brought a chisel in addition to the rock hammer; it takes some effort freeing a small chunk out of a very round rock with only the pointy end of the hammer to dig into the rock. (I had commented the first day that we ought to have a chisel, and that if we drive past a Biltema we should buy one, but we hadn't yet seen one, since we have mostly been on small country or forest roads (much to both of our delight, since we love that kind of setting).
After we took that sample we walked back to the car, getting there at 10:29. We packed up the tent (which was a bit drier) and had some more food, and were on the road at 11:05.
During the drive we had planned to stop somewhere to refill our water bottles, and when we saw the really pretty church called "Ljusnarsbergs kyrka we had to stop and take photos, and while we were there use the toilet and get water.
We reached stop 14: Gillerstorp (59.923745, 15.031817) at 12:45, took the short walk to the site, which was also thick with moss and tundra and other ground cover, but managed to find, among the hard rocks that stuck up out of the plants a pink rock that powdered easily when hit with a hammer, so we took a sample.
We were back on the road at 13:40, and stopped along the way for petrol, and again later at Biltema, where we bought a chisel.
We arrived at Stop 15: Strupen (61.000681, 15.568656), the furthest north stop of the trip, at 16:08. Given that the drives to the next two stops are also long ones we decided we would camp here tonight. There is a cute timber cabin here. It has an enclosed porch that is open, but the inner door is shut. After looking at the cabin a bit we set off for the quarry site at 16:26, reaching the right area 17 minutes later, having walked up the side of the valley closest to the cabin and then crossing the swampy bit.
Once again one couldn't see any sign of quarrying, so we scratched at the rocks that stuck up from the moss and tundra. There was anotherpink one which powders easily when hit with a hammer, so we used the chisel to break off a bit, and, as I expected, the inside was much harder. But then we found a blue green rock that was properly soft like talc should be, so we chissled off some of that too, and labelled the sample bag with both the number anda smiley face.
Then we walked 4 minutes back along the trail we found on that side of the valley and set up camp. It started raining as we put up the tent, so she cooked her dinner under the porch overhang, whilst I did my yoga inside the actual enclosed porch.
Tomorrow we have two stops left to do. One is just over 1.5 hrs from here, and the other 1.5 hours further away. On Sunday I will train home from Uppsala and she will drive home.
We had several km along the road and then better part of another through the forest to get to the area of the former quarry (45 minutes there). I have no idea how long it has been since they quit quarrying there, but the ground is totally covered with thick mosses, tundra, and berry bushes. (We ate a fair number of blueberries on the way in and back out again--purple fingers and tongues!)
There were a few rocks here and there that stuck up out of the vegetation, but most of them were hard metamorphic rocks. We did find one pink one that powdered easily when hit with a hammer, so even though I am not really convinced that it is täljsten we took a sample, and wished once again that I had brought a chisel in addition to the rock hammer; it takes some effort freeing a small chunk out of a very round rock with only the pointy end of the hammer to dig into the rock. (I had commented the first day that we ought to have a chisel, and that if we drive past a Biltema we should buy one, but we hadn't yet seen one, since we have mostly been on small country or forest roads (much to both of our delight, since we love that kind of setting).
After we took that sample we walked back to the car, getting there at 10:29. We packed up the tent (which was a bit drier) and had some more food, and were on the road at 11:05.
During the drive we had planned to stop somewhere to refill our water bottles, and when we saw the really pretty church called "Ljusnarsbergs kyrka we had to stop and take photos, and while we were there use the toilet and get water.
We reached stop 14: Gillerstorp (59.923745, 15.031817) at 12:45, took the short walk to the site, which was also thick with moss and tundra and other ground cover, but managed to find, among the hard rocks that stuck up out of the plants a pink rock that powdered easily when hit with a hammer, so we took a sample.
We were back on the road at 13:40, and stopped along the way for petrol, and again later at Biltema, where we bought a chisel.
We arrived at Stop 15: Strupen (61.000681, 15.568656), the furthest north stop of the trip, at 16:08. Given that the drives to the next two stops are also long ones we decided we would camp here tonight. There is a cute timber cabin here. It has an enclosed porch that is open, but the inner door is shut. After looking at the cabin a bit we set off for the quarry site at 16:26, reaching the right area 17 minutes later, having walked up the side of the valley closest to the cabin and then crossing the swampy bit.
Once again one couldn't see any sign of quarrying, so we scratched at the rocks that stuck up from the moss and tundra. There was anotherpink one which powders easily when hit with a hammer, so we used the chisel to break off a bit, and, as I expected, the inside was much harder. But then we found a blue green rock that was properly soft like talc should be, so we chissled off some of that too, and labelled the sample bag with both the number anda smiley face.
Then we walked 4 minutes back along the trail we found on that side of the valley and set up camp. It started raining as we put up the tent, so she cooked her dinner under the porch overhang, whilst I did my yoga inside the actual enclosed porch.
Tomorrow we have two stops left to do. One is just over 1.5 hrs from here, and the other 1.5 hours further away. On Sunday I will train home from Uppsala and she will drive home.