Shelters in Zweden deel 2

Zweden:

Finnskogsleden - shelter

GPS lokatie: N61.226178 E16.11459

Kokkleråsen Gapahuk

English (Norsk under)
A Finnish laavu, Swedish vindskydd or Norwegian gapahuk is also a lean-to, small building intended for temporary residence during hiking or fishing trips in the wilderness.

Laavus are commonly found in Finnish Lapland near popular fishing rivers and in national parks. In principle, a laavu is a simplified version of a wilderness hut. Like wilderness huts, laavus are unheated, and may not be reserved beforehand. Unlike wilderness huts, laavus lack doors or windows. A typical laavu is a wooden building, about 10 m² in area and 2 m high, consisting of a roof, floor, and three walls. The fourth wall is left permanently open.

A laavu is intended to only provide a safe place to sleep during fishing or hiking trips. Visitors are expected to bring their own sleeping bags, as there are no other sleeping facilities. Most laavus also have a place to hold a campfire in front of them, but the laavu is built such that a reasonable fire cannot provide warmth for the night.

A laavu can also be an improvised structure of the same fashion built out of available materials (branches with leaves or pine/fir needles intact or moss or pelts for the covering and sturdier stripped branches or young tree-trunks as the supporting structure) for temporary camp deep in the wilderness, even for a single overnight stay. This is the traditional meaning of the word. Traditionally a log fire was used, made such that it did not need surveillance during the night (“rakovalkea” in Finnish, “nying” in Swedish and Norwegian). Nowadays suitable wood is seldom available.
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En gapahuk er et byggverk av trematerialer, opprinnelig ment for nødtørftig overnatting. Det har kun tre vegger og tak, eventuelt to sidevegger og skråtak helt ned på baksiden. Den kan lages av et skjelett med rajer som det flettes inn kvister i, deretter kles skjelettet med bar eller torv. Framveggen er åpen, og ofte er det en bålplass foran denne. En stokkild eller nying av hele tømmerstokker, én over to, ble brukt som ildsted av fløtere og skogsarbeidere.

Gapahuker blir lagd av skogens råmaterialer. Man bruker pinner og trær man finner eller hogger i skogen, knyter disse sammen med røtter og legger granbar på taket.

Fordelen med en gapahuk er at når du slår øynene opp om morgenen, så ser du rett ut i naturen. Det er også enklere å oppholde seg i en gapahuk enn i et telt når det regner. Ulempen er at når det regner kan det være vanskelig å holde bålet tent. Dersom vinden snur og det regner, kan det lett bli vått inne i gapahuken.