Reindeer and northern lights on summer hike in Arctic Circle

A multi-day hike above the Arctic Circle is no place for an iPhone to die.

"There goes my camera," I thought, and yet the loss was freeing. I was out of Internet and mobile phone range anyway. Now I'd have to pay more attention to my surroundings. I began to collect colorful leaves to place in my journal as proof, explorer-style, that I'd been there.

Few people outside Nordic countries know about the Kungsleden, or the King's Path, the most famous trail in Sweden. But National Geographic calls it one of the world's greatest hikes, which is how I came across it online.