The Route: Lesjaskog-Lordalen-Pollfoss Hotel. August 26-29, 2020. Day 132-35. 83 km.

After returning  from resupplying in Åndalsnes with Raumabanen, I continued on a gravel road up to Reinheimen, passing several open camping wagons. I am still unsure if they are meant for the public to use, but after having passed 3, I think they are. Very dirty inside however, with months old food on the table, but with my sleeping bag, I slept very well indeed in the sofa.
Autumn is an exciting time of the year in the mountains with much going on, which you as a hiker can observe from close: Collection of sheep, grouse hunting, reindeer hunting, moose hunting. Right now, and in this area, the major activity is reindeer hunting.

This part of Reinheimen is entirely untouristy and as the name suggests, it is well known for the population of wild reindeer. And as I arrived in the middle of reindeer hunting season, several cars were parked at the national park entrance, with reindeer hunters all around the area and shots frequently heard. In this area, there are no marked trails. However, the direction is rather obvious: Continue straight ahead in a valley. It turned out, however, that, as is often the case, there is a fine trail, though not marked with red Ts. Numerous cairns point in the right direction.

One of the hunters told me about a hut 5 km into the park, directly on the trail, complete with firewood, kitchen utensils etc. and maintained by the community council. Not marked on either norgeskartet or ut.no. Bergebua, the cabin was called,was located right where I was told and very cozy indeed.

I have encountered thousands of tame reindeer (reindeer owned by Sami) during this and other trips, but never wild reindeer. So when I spotted a wild reindeer herd upon reaching the top of a small hill, it was a genuine wow moment: The antlers were incredibly large (they continue to grow as they are not slaughtered) and they move incredibly fast. I looked around and then saw two pair of hunters on the adjacent hilltops, but the herd was moving too fast for them to get a good shot. They told me the wild reindeer had probably perceived my arrival when I was as far as 1000 meters away from them. On a negative note, a massive problem has recently hit several areas of wild reindeer: Skrantesjuke (Chronic wasting disease), a chronic neurologic disease, always deadly. The first time it was seen in Europe was in Skarvheimen (Nordfjella sone 1) in 2016. This year, the first case outside Nordfjella sone 1 was found on Harddangervidda. In this area all the reindeer were shot down by the government in 2017/8 with the plan to reintroduce them after 5 years. Plans for Hardangervidda are as per now in the making.

Heading out of Reinheimen, I came down to Pollfoss hotel, where I believe I was the only guest. In theory the location, on the major road to the tourist magnet Geiranger should be good for business. At least in non-corona times. However, the place seemed to have seen better times, serving microwaved dinner in a run-down building. And if people think that in these corona times hitch-hiking is impossible, they are wrong: Every time I walked on a stretch of gravel or paved road approximately one car per hour would stop and ask if I needed a lift.

The route: Eiriksvollen-Grøa-Raubergshytta-Aursjøhytta-Vangsvatnet-Romsdalen (Lesjaverk). August 20-25. Day 126-131. 57 km.

The Sunndalsfjella are not particularly wellknown, neither by me. Initially I wondered if Dovrefjell-Sunndalsfjella national park was another word for Dovre national park. It is not. The more well-known Dovrefjella is however right to the east of and continuous with this area, which essentially is a very rocky plateau between Sunndalen and Romsdalen.

Heading down Sunndalen I passed the local “Brooklyn Bridge” as well as a house on “Anfield Road” before heading up into the Sunndalsfjella.

Little visited, I was the only guest at the serviced Aursjøhytta, where I, for the first time I believe, had the Norwegian National Dish “Rømmegrøt med spekemat”. Together with blueberries picked by the host and his wife. Two days in row, as I stayed an extra day due to a massively bad weather forecast, which never materialized, though..

At the center of the rocky Sunndalsfjella at a crossroads is Raubergshytta, an exceptionally well-designed and atmospheric self-service DNT cabin, which saved me from a very windy night, having underestimated the time taking an unmarked shortcut through a very bouldery area, scrambling into the cabin minutes before the last daylight was gone, at around 10 pm. There I found a party of fishers who´d walked up the day before, but would return prematurely due to the windy conditions.

I camped at the end of the rainbow at the edge of Romsdalen on the first night of frost, but unfortunately, did not find any gold. On the contrary, I was chased by sheep all the way down the mountainside to Romsdalen, where I had the choice between crawling under a fence and scramble through a bush, or open the gate into a field with +20 big cattle and cross it, whic is the marked route. I chose the scrambling bush option.

Down in Romsdalen, I took Raumabanen to Åndalsnes to resupply, and buy gloves as well as inner soles as the ones I brought from Copenhagen broke down on the first day out of Trondheim. Curiously, Raumabanen closed down right after I took it to resupply due to filming of a new Mission Impossible. I asked everyone I met if Tom Cruise was going to rappel down Trollveggen, but no-one seemed to know exactly what scenes would be filmed.

The route: Kårvatn-Bjøråskaret-Innerdalen-Flatvaddalen-Sunndalen (Eiriksvollen). August 14-29, 2020. Day 123-125. 29 km.

If you google “most beautiful valley in Norway” the search machine comes up with Innerdalen: A mountain valley with several “hanging valleys”, a distinctive mountain tower (Innerdalstårnet) as well a romantic seter (summer mountain pasture) environment complete with a river and a lake.

The DNT cabin in Innerdalen was just voted second-best self-service DNT cabin in Norway (Rabothytta came first). The problem with these votings are, of course, that only relatively well-known/well-visited DNT cabins come into consideration in such as public vote: If people do not know (of) the cabin, obviously they do not vote for it. By the way, in my opinion the two best self-service DNT cabins I passed were Pauro (Narvik mountains) and Argalad (Junkerdalen), but they are visited by so few people, that they´d never get enough votes to place them in the top. That said, Innerdalen DNT cabin is a most excellent, historic cabin with a great location in the middle of Innerdalen.

I would have loved to climb Innerdalstårnet, but bearing in mind my left knee and the potential troubles ahead, including the upcoming 900 m descent into Sunndalen, I decided not to. In fact, it turned out that the descent was quite reasonable and well-engineered causing almost no trouble to my knees.

The 700 m descent from Bjøråskaret down to Innerdalen on a scree slope was The Steepest descent of Norge på Langs. And the camp spot just below Bjøråskaret was arguably The most beautiful campsite of Norge på Langs (with Fiskedalstinden a runner-up). Having been offline for the past two days I had to stop on the way up to Bjøråskaret when I suddenly got a connection and saw that Manchester City had lost 0-3 to Lyon in Champions League. Do not say that Norge på Langs does not come with sacrifices! So many games, I won´t be able to watch..

Finally, the important question: Is Innerdalen really is the most beautiful valley in Norway, as a google search will make you believe? Does it matter? Not really, but these rankings are always fun to make as well as to read. The answer: It could be. It is spectacular. However Romsdalen (the breathtaking section with Trollveggen and Romsdalshornet) or Reisadalen also could be.

The route: Jøldalshytta-Trollheimshytta-Nauståbu-Kårvatn. August 14-16. Day 120-122. 37 km.

Over the past years, I´ve had some minor troubles with, in particular, my left knee: I can´t really do squats, and though I can run and walk without problems, steep descents slightly worry me, not in technical terms, but in terms of the pressure put on the knee. In his regard, the section between Trollheimen and Sunndalen worried me the most of the entire Norge på Langs: A 600 m steep descent from Trollheimen to Kårvatn, followed by an 800 m ascent and then a very steep descent to Innerdalen. Again followed by an almost 1000 m steep descent into Sunndalen. Initially I thought the last would be the worst, but the steepest descent was in fact the one from Bjøråskaret into Innerdalen.

Upon entering Trollheimen, you enter classic seter (summer mountain pastures) area: Plenty of sheep and goats on the trail and idyllic historic farms in the horizon. A popular outdoor area, I met plenty of people on the trail as well as passing the first staffed DNT cabin of Norge på Langs: Jøldalshytta. The Triangle of Trollheimen is a very popular 3-day hike, of which I walked the northern side of the Triangle between Jøldalshytta and Trollheimshytta.

Apparently a trail run on the Triangle had originally been scheduled the same day, then canceled due to corona, which some then chose to run independently. Having been offline for two days, unable to watch Champions League, I figured that young, male trailrunners were most likely to be updated on football results and I sat on the front stairs of Trollheimen cabin when I finally got the update: Barcelona-Bayern Múnchen 2-8. Unbelievable.

The walk from Trollheimshytta to Kårvatn is one of those spectacular walks taking you all the way “from summit to sea”: From the high mountains above the treeline, covered with snowfields and through steep mountain valleys past old seter buildings onwards down to the fiord. On the way I passed the idyllically located cabin Nauståbu: A no-service cabin with a hut book, with entries starting as early in 1973 as I found out when looking for entries on my 1972 birthday. Preparations were also ongoing for the annual trailrun Kårvatn Sky Run, marked up the steep mountain side. The small settlement of Kårvatn consists of a farm with free-roaming cattle, a self-service DNT cabin on the premises, and, what I believe to be the most idyllically located outdoor gearshop in Norway, literally in the middle of nowhere: Kårvatn Fjellutstyr. I camped at the designated area next to the river, slightly worried that the free-roaming cattle may take an interest in me, but they didn´t.

Lesson learnt #8: If you camp next to the river on what looks like a nice, flat place and hear sheep in the area, expect them to pass your tent early the next morning looking for water.