The Pearl River Nature reserve or Pärlälvens Naturreservat that it is called in Swedish is a true wilderness area. When canoeing here you will meet less people than in Sarek National Park. In this area you can spend everything from a weekend to several weeks when mixing paddling with hiking, fishing and outdoor life.
Lake Karats is an elongated lake that stretches approx. 25 km east to west. In the east, flat areas with islands and islets. In the west the valley gets narrower and the lake is lined by small mountains. You find different types of forests here. Everything from pine forests to deciduous forests, mountain birch and bare mountains.
From Karats you can lift the canoe (uneven trail so it’s not possible to use a cart) past the whitewater rapids in Lillselet over to the next lake called Peuraure, which is the same size as Karats lake. It’s a quite tough portage that usually takes a full day. First, you carry the canoe and then you walk back to get your bags and equipment. Then the same procedure when you’re going back, so you need to calculate with 2 days just to go between these two lakes.
Most people chose to just stay on Lake Karats and explore and enjoy all the nice places around there.
There are no fixed routes in this area. Lake Karats and Peuraure are huge lakes so do not set up an exact plan that you have to paddle around the whole lake or of how many kilometers you should paddle each day. The thing with being in the wilderness is to enjoy each day as it comes. You can never plan for what the weather or wind would be like so you have to have an open mindset and be prepared to change plans. Paddle close to land and never cross the whole lake. Strong winds can set in quickly and can make it very dangerous in just minutes.
Live with nature. Take each day as it comes, camp where you find a nice spot, fish and just enjoy life!
You need to have good outdoor experience to go canoeing or kayaking in this area. There is no marked trails, big parts of the area has no cellphone connection, it’s far away from help and very few people travel here. You need to be aware that it can blow up quickly and high waves may occur on a big lakes like this so be careful and always paddle close to shore.
If you do not have enough outdoor experience to paddle yourself, we offer a week long guided canoe tour in this area. » More info about the Canoe Adventure