Stupidity Rules the Day (and night)-Scandanavia, Part 5)

I'll start this post by saying that if my death ever makes the front page, the headline will probably go something like this "Experienced Hiker's Novice Mistake Leads to Ultimate Price." For those of you who have embarked on our outdoors adventures with us, you might nod your head in agreement and think back to a time when we shared an Epic Adventure. For those of you who haven't had the "pleasure" of these Epic Adventures, this post is a pretty clear example of the sort of thing that we get ourselves into.

It all started right here at the Besseggan Ridge trail head--Norway's most famous and most popular hiking trail. The trail is 9.5 miles long one-way, and most people take a boat from the trail head at Gjendsheim to the far end of the lake and hike back to the trail head. However, we arrived at about 12:30 p.m. and had missed the last boat heading to the trail terminus at Memurubu. We consulted the boat schedule and determined that we could do the hike from Gjendsheim and then take the last boat back from Memurubu at 4:45 p.m. We figured that it would be no problem hiking 9.5 miles in 4 hours--we can usually reel off 20-minute miles with any problem. So, off we went...

The trail climbed immediately, and the views were stunning.

The first part of the trail was a steady uphill but had fairly even footing.

However, as we progressed up the ridge, we found ourselves doing more and more time-consuming scrambling.

We kept reaching what we believed to be the apex of the ridge.


Only to discover shortly thereafter that the trail lost elevation and the gained even more.

Then things got really sketchy. The trail became a series of chutes that required intense concentration, careful foot placement and lots of scrambling.

It took us almost an hour to navigate this ridge, and when we got to the bottom, a nagging thought formed in my mind. It went a little like this: I think we might miss that last boat!

When we finally got to this point and realized the boat dock wasn't in sight, we knew we might be in dire straits. So, we started discussing our options. We figured we could turn around immediately and face the prospect of a 9.5 mile hike turning into a 15-mile hike, including the terrible ridge we had just traversed (but uphill). Or we could try to increase our pace and catch the boat. We decided to quicken our pace and try for the boat.

So, off we went, practically running up and down all the never-ending ridges, but still not making great time. These sheep watched us with interest as we stomped by. Meanwhile, I joked with Pat "Did you bring the credit cards?" since I knew there was a hiker's lodge at Memurubu. He answered in what I thought was the affirmative.

Each ridge seemed to be followed by yet another downhill followed by another steep uphill. The clock kept ticking and soon it was 4:30, and still no boat dock in view.

Finally, we came over a ridge and there it was--the lodge tantalizingly close.

And, there it was: the last boat of the night motoring away from the dock! We estimate that we missed it by less than 15 minutes.



We walked down to the lodge and discussed our options. Even though we had little food, no extra clothing or toiletries, we decided that we should try to stay at the lodge and take the first boat back in the morning. Pat went to the front desk and discovered that it would cost $200 for us to book a shared room with five beds, dinner and breakfast. After a discussion, we decided to go ahead and do that. I told Pat to just charge it on the credit card--we could deal with that later. At that point, he said "I don't have the credit cards!" I had actually grabbed all our Norwegian cast out of the car and stashed it in my jacket at the beginning of the hike but I just didn't know if we had enough. It turned out we had exactly enough to spend the night and purchase the boat fare back. Whew...


Our hopes for having the room to ourselves were dashed when we discovered two out-of-shape overweight Norwegian women already ensconced in our appointed room. The common table was littered with cigarettes and beer cans. They were; however, quite friendly, and we soon struck up a conversation with them although we were too ashamed to admit that we had missed the last boat. Finally, Pat looked at them somewhat dubiously and asked "so you guys hiked over the ridge today?" "Oh, no," one answered, "we took the easy path by the water--it only took us two hours." Pat and I looked at each other incredulously: there was a path by the water? Who knew? We could have hiked back to the trail head in two hours!

After dinner, we walked down to the lakeside trail and took a picture of the sign!


We actually ended up having a nice time at the lodge and got to meet lots of interesting people at the communal dinner. So, I guess all is well that ends well...

The next day, we took the boat back to the trail head. And, of course, we had gotten an overnight parking ticket! From the trail head, we would drive to Oslo, see a few sights there and fly home the next day.

Highpointer's Quest-Galdhopiggen (Scandanavia Part 4)

The next day we left the western fjords to head to the mountains. First though, we had to fulfil our obligation to take a swim. So, we both jumped right into a small arm of the Sognefjord. It was cold but not unbearable.

Our next stop was Spiterstulen, a private hytter in Jutunheimen National Park. We camped across from the lodge but we were able to use all the facilities, including a very cosy common area.

The next day, we began the long climb up to Norway's highest point Galdhopiggen (2469meters, about 8100 feet). This is right after the first sustained climb.

Here is a view of the lodge from above.

The DNT maintains most of the trails in Norway, and they spray paint huge Ts on rocks to show hikers the route.

I was surprised by how the area looked much higher than the actual elevation. It was very alpine.

As you can see, the weather was quite gloomy. There were many snowfields to cross which slowed us up a bit.

At the top, there is a mountain hut!

And, get this: there is a staffed snack bar! So, we bought a coffee and sat inside.


Here is my awful summit photo. It was very difficult to take because there were about 200 people milling about the summit. Seriously--it was quite awful. Apparently, there is an "easy" route (only climbing 600 meters rather than the 1400 our route required), over the glacier, from another trailhead, and several tours had come up that way.

Glaciers and Fjords with Peter (Scandanavia Part 3)

The next day we took the car ferry over to Bergen, the second largest city in Norway to pick up our friend Peter who flew in from Germany. Peter and I met 19 years ago at an EarthFirst! camp in Northern California. Somehow, across the years and the ocean, we've managed to maintain our friendship. However, we hadn't seen each other since my wedding nine years ago so we were very excited to catch up.

After picking Peter up without any snafus, we headed to Flam (pronounced Flawm), a small village along the Sognefjord (Norway's largest fjord) for the evening. Here is our campsite.

Then we headed straight for this building. It might look like a church...

but in reality it is brew pub! Poor Peter bought our first round and was a little shell shocked that he had just spend $35 on three pints of beer. Welcome to Norway!

The next morning, we took the world famous Flamsbana train up to Myrdal station and back down to Flam. This journey is widely known as the most beautiful train ride in the world.

There were many beautiful waterfalls along the way, and the conductor told a story of how beautiful nymphs are known to try to lure men into the forest to spend eternity with them.

Sure enough, when the train stopped at a particularly beautiful waterfall, some very hokey music began to play and out came the beautiful nymph! We couldn't believe this cheesiness! Luckily, neither Peter not Pat were tempted...

Later that same day, we crossed the Sognefjord, and traveled to Mundal, the gateway to Jostedalsbreen National Park and its many glaciers. Here is another campsite shot.

For dinner, Peter made a traditional German dish: dumplings. This happened to be a "pre-fab" version where we just boiled pre-made ones. Regardless, they were yummy.

Then we headed for our hike up to the glacier. Once again, we were reminded that everything in Norway costs lots of money. Parking at the trail head cost $4.

The trail was very steep, and, in some places, there were guide ropes.

After a few hours of climbing, we can to the unstaffed DNT (Norwegian Trekking Association) hytter. We stopped and chatted with some locals and bought a bit of chocolate (leaving money in the box, of course).

In order to get right up to the Glacier, we had to cross the stream flowing from it. The crossing can be summed up in one word: excrutiating! It was icy cold (go figure). My feet were in agony both during and after the crossing.

Drum roll, please. The Glacier!

Another view.


Peter felt compelled to get a picture of himself beside this little iceberg.

Hardangervidda Plateau (Scandanavia, Part 2)

On our first day in Norway, we headed West from Oslo to the Hardangerfjord (water) and Hardangervidda (land) National Park.

It rained during the four hour trip but we still stopped at what is, arguably, Norway's most popular tourist attraction: Voringsfossen, a waterfall with a drop of 182 Meters. And we learned our first Norwegian word--"Fossen" means "waterfall."

This is the top of the falls.

And the bottom half.

We stopped at the Hardangervidda National Park Information Center before camping and were charmed by the goats living on the gift shop roof. A cute tourist trap, for sure.

This is the view from our campsite in Eidfjord.

In the morning, we bought fresh baked bread from the campground hosts. We had also stopped by the grocery store the previous night and purchased several items that might or might not have been what we had hoped to purchase. For some reason, everything was in Norwegian! Here, Pat decides that the "cream" I had purchased for coffee was, indeed, something "cream-like," if not the exact thing.


After packing up and making a home in the Loftus campground, we began our adventure for the day: the very stiff hike up to the Hardangervidda Plateau.

We climbed quickly and were rewarded with a beautiful view of the Hardangerfjord.

After a few hours of tough hiking, we reached the plateau. It was stunning--very high, green and dotted with lakes, rushing streams and waterfalls.

This picture is a good demonstration of the landscape. It was totally different than anything I have seen; however, it did remind me a bit of the high country found in Montana's Beartooth Mountains.

After hiking some ways across the plateau, we came upon one of the DNT's (Norwegian Trekking Association) many Hytters (AKA cabins) that hikers can use for a small fee. Many of the Hytters are set up as full-service lodges (more on these later) but this one was small, remote and deserted.


As this picture demonstrates, the weather was starting to look shaky.

Putting on our rain gear soon proved to be a wise idea. We turned and finished the hike in the rain but, by the time we returned to the campsite, it was once again fine.