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.