Stamp of the day: Muddus National Park, Sweden

Muddus is not a National Park made out of mud, if that is what you think as an English-speaker.  I think it is a Lapponian (Sami) name, and I am not sure what the original meaning is... but it is a land full of bogs, low hills, and waterways and taiga forests in northern Sweden.  Once when we were children our parents took us there, and we kayaked (all five of us, and two Labradors) into the park and into the wilderness for an overnight hike.  It was summer, so the sun barely set at night, and I remember the light at 3 AM in the morning.  It was a magic place, and I remember seeing beavers swimming ahead of the kayaks, unafraid, and a moose or two just glancing at us as we paddled by.  Unusual northern birds, both the singing and the raptor kinds, showed themselves, and we have heard that were was a rare, white falcon ('jaktfalk') at a cliff side nearby but we never saw it.

What we did find though was an abandoned bear winter den, that had been dug out inside an old ant hill (the ant hill are giant in Sweden), with blueberry plants on top.  Near the bear den was a thick stick that stuck out of the ground, and my brother (I think) pulled it out and it turned out to be an ancient ice pick (first we thought it was a bear spear!), with an about a foot long metal pike on a wooden handle over 6 feet long.  The metal was rusted and handsmithed, and the wood was old and grey, but it could still do its job.  Who left it in the forest, hours away from the nearest road?  Who knows.... and we found it.  I wonder where that is now, I don't remember us bringing it.  Or maybe we did, and left it at the local history museum... memories are strange, some things you remember so well, others are in a haze of uncertainty.  But that bear den, that I remember.  It smelled funny and was dark inside...

The stamp shows whooper swans flying over Muddus National Park in Sweden. It was published in 1990 by the Swedish Postal service.