*25 August 2025* Yesterday's cultural infusion was supplemented by a wonderful nature infusion today. We wanted to walk to the fabled Alta Canyon, the biggest canyon of Northern Europe. It runs for some 10-12 kms, near the northern end of the Alta river which is regarded by anglers globally as one of the world's best salmon rivers. The main river has a total length of about 240 kms. Migrating salmon can run up to 47 km upstream. Reaching Alta Canyon on foot is not easy, so most tourists take expensive boat trips up to the canyon. We chose the hiking option, from a remote trailhead reachable by car via bumpy road, and then over 6.5 kms hike each way. The weather was cloudy but dry. It was not long after setting off that we saw our first reindeer. ![[13-GNT - 1.jpeg]]![[13-GNT - 2.jpeg]] The lack of sunshine suppressed the vibrant colours we hoped to capture in our photos, but not bad nevertheless. ![[13-GNT - 5.jpeg]]![[13-GNT - 4.jpeg]]![[13-GNT - 3.jpeg]] ![[13-GNT - 6.jpeg]] There were two largish streams to cross. ![[13-GNT - 8.jpeg]] After an hour or so we got our first views of the canyon coming nearer. ![[13-GNT - 10.jpeg]] ![[13-GNT - 7.jpeg]] The last bit was a very steep descent to a look out post. Elisabeth generously offered to skip this and look after Ester, and I went down to the viewpoint which was actually quite scary - just a flimsy wooden fence in front of a sheer drop of some 200 metres. Overcoming my fear to get one photo, I hot-footed it back up asap. ![[13-GNT - 9.jpeg]] The walk back felt long at times as we got more and more tired, but we saw many more reindeer, including this group which I captured on video. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/h4RHj89rENo?si=jW_IgnjJ_7XuOS2I" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe> ![[13-GNT - 11.jpeg]] Ester enjoyed it all too, though did not appreciate being on the lead when she wanted to chase the reindeer. She was as tired as we were by the time we reached the car. Tomorrow we head for Tromsø, taking a night on the way... << [[The GNT, Day 12 - Alta (culture)]] | [[The GNT, Day 14 - Alta to Svensby]] >>