Thursday, 30-May-2024


I’d already scouted out the Djurgården island, and even made a light foray into the main park itself as a scouting run. On Thursday, I packed some snacks and laced up my hiking boots. I grabbed a scooter to the main entryway to the park, dropped it off in the designated scooter area, and headed in.

It took a moment to orient myself to the wilderness again… it’d been a while since I’d been navigating woods and trails, instead of sidewalks and intersections, but my adventurer-self pulled up the relevant brain-manuals quickly, and I was able to let myself get absorbed by the city-enclosed wilderness once again. It wasn’t nearly as expansive as that back in Oregon – I could still feel the city nearby, if that makes sense, but it was far more quiet than Gamla Stan ever could be… with the sounds of birds and wind cushioning me and drawing out the anxiety of the city.

Granted, I’ve been doing quite well with avoiding anxiety and stress on this trip. I’ve been relaxing, taking things slowly and as they come, and avoiding unnecessarily stressing myself out as much as I can. There’ve been external factors and challenges, of course, but… for the most part, things have been going pretty dang well… but that doesn’t mean that the quiet nature sounds of the Djurgården weren’t a welcome relief.

I wandered – I’d found a vague circumnavigation trail on AllTrails that I was nominally following, but I wasn’t making a huge point to check the map every 5min. I walked, decompressed, and appreciated the movement and solitude.

And there was solitude. For how busy a city Stockholm is, this still was a weekday, and I had the trail almost completely to myself. I think I passed two hikers, and saw a wedding party, in total… I wasn’t completely alone, but I was dang close to it.

(Quick Note – I did bring my personal locator beacon with me for this. Sure, I had a cell phone with signal, and a backup battery for it… but three levels of safety, people!)

It was lovely.

There’s not too much else to say about it, aside from that. I walked, snacked, rested, and appreciated the natural beauty. I finished my adventure, grabbed another scooter, and went home for some dinner.

It was, in every way, lovely.