Hilde, Arvid, and I went for a long hike yesterday. We were hiking up the mountain and both Hilde and I were huffing and puffing and she looked at me and said, "it is all in the way you think. Think on your light foot, not your heavy foot". The rest of the trip I was thinking on my light foot and it was a breeze ;) I didn't include Arvid in on that conversation because he is a mountain goat at heart. He was the leader of the pack and he would suddenly disappear and Hilde and I would have to stop and search for the him in order to know where to go!
To be honest, I am forcing myself to write this right now. I am getting sick of keeping up with it already but I am going to, JUST FOR YOU! (whoever it is that reads my blog , mom and dad) :)
So back to our journey... It was the most unbelievable hike I have ever accomplished. To put it bluntly, I think I have been to some pretty cool places but this can't even compare. The beauty of being completely alone in the mountain, following no trail (just Arvid) and hiking through all the diverse landscapes was amazing. We would be walking up the mountain in brush and then get to a waterfall, fill up our water bottles, splash around in the water and tiptoe from rock to rock. Suddenly, we would hit a patch of snow and we had a baby snowball fight.
We walked another mile and sheep would be running for us, hoping we had salt with us. I couldn't stop laughing watching the sheep run around, hopping between waterfalls and creeks. They are pretty dang cute.
The silence and stillness in the mountains is incredible. The only noise was the sound of the birds and waterfalls. I sure could get used to living in Norway :)
Three hours later we arrived at our destination!!!! The Hardangerfjord!!
What an incredible view. Where I am standing in this picture is at kjellandsbu cabin, looking down to Botnen in Hardanger. Behind me is the hardangerfjord and the glacier.
It is pretty cool because Norway has cabins in the mountains that are open to tourists who want to backpack from cabin to cabin. You can just walk in and self pay and there is a little kitchen and a few beds available for you (some cabins are teeny tiny and some are larger). My next trip to Norway (with my family & patti if you are reading :)) I would love to cabin hop in the mountains like that.
We sat above the fjord and had a yummy picnic and drank some coffee.
Then continued on our way back home to Maren. (I forgot to mention she was sick so she couldn't join us).
In an hour we arrived to Sveindalsnuten, which is the peak of the mountain in the valley, which you can see out of their cabin window. We called Maren and told her where we were. She took the flag and started waving it and we briefly could see the flag in the distance.
We sat to catch our breath and then began the toughest part of the trip( for me). I was wearing mountain boots and on the way down it was rough terrain and I was so worried about rolling my ankle. I just took my time and didn't try to keep up with the mountain goat :) I was happy to arrive at the bottom!! We stopped at Maren's aunt and uncles (anne and eric) cabin for some juice and had about 20 more minutes to hike from there to the Børve cabin.
Ah! It was heavenly to get home and just lay on the hot rock with my shoes off after 7 hours. What a beautiful day! Knowing Norway, we could have gotten poured on in the mountains but we all got home with sun on our faces.
1. I need to thank Arvid and Hilde for taking me on this long journey to the fjords! They didn't have to at all but they knew how badly I wanted to go and they were kind enough to put up with me and my camera!
2. I need to give both of them a shout out because I was so impressed with how good of shape they are in! It would have taken me much longer if I was alone :)
I am very fortunate to be staying with such a great family!!!
I told Hilde if I were at home wishing i could be doing anything in the world, it would be this. Hiking completely alone in the mountains, having a picnic, and exploring a new place. It was an amazing experience.
Not to mention, when we got home we had my favorite meal (tacos) to top off the day.
Fun, fun!
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