Jotunheimen National Park
This could turn into one very long blog......
On Thursday (29 June) I caught the early train from Oslo to the town of Otta, the jumping off point for 3 national parks in central Norway. I arrived in Otta at 11:30 am and my bus didn't leave for the Spiterstulen hut until 3:10 pm so I had some time to kill. I went through my pack and took out everything I wouldn't need for my hike (and actually some things I could have used) and put it in a locker there at the train station. Then I walked through part of the small town and then stopped by the grocery store to get a few more provisions.
Around 3:05 pm there was still no bus with my destination on it so I was getting a little worried. I asked one of the other bus drivers what the deal was and he quickly ushered me onto another bus saying I had to change buses in Lom. Great. I've been through this kind of thing before and the out come isn't usually good. There was no mention of any transfers on the bus information I had. The bus information I had said my bus was supposed to stop in Lom a certain time. So of course my bus leaves Otta late and then gets stopped by some road work all the while I'm thinking there is no way I'm going to make this connecting bus.
So we finally arrive in the town of Lom where I'm supposed to catch my connecting bus. I have a suspicion that I'm going to get stuck in this town. But as we are pulling into the bus station I see the bus I need getting ready to leave, so I just make it on that bus. I get on, look around, and the bus is completely empty. I say, "I need 1 student ticket to Spiterstulen please." 45 NKr, or around $7. We then proceed to make the hour long drive up to the Spiterstulen hut where I would start my journey. Just me, the driver, and the big full sized bus twisting up this narrow, 1 lane gravel road. Ironically if you drive up this toll road in a car the toll is 60 NKr per car. Needless to say I don't think the bus company made any money on that journey! Several times cars coming down would have to back up and pull off the road so that the big bus could get by. At one point there were several cows in the road and they had no where to go, so we hearded them up the road with the bus for probably a couple hundred yards to where they could escape. Poor cows. What a fun bus ride though. Those drivers really know the boundaries of those huge buses!! yikes.
As we break out above tree line and I see the hut I can't believe I actually made it as I had planned it. Things don't usually go so well (remember this for later on in the story....). The place is absolutely stunning and the weather is perfect. I had a big, big grin on my face for the rest of the day. What an amazing place.
I set up my tent and then went for a little hike up behind the hut ('huts' actually) to get a view of the place before cooking dinner (dinner in the hut was around $40). I slept really good that night, probably the bests nights sleep of the trip. The only thing that could spoil my mood for the next day was poor weather.
On Friday (30 June) I awoke to clear skies. Because the sun sets so late and rises so early, I don't remember seeing darkness the entire time I was in the park. Its strange to wake up to the sun shine and realize that its only 3:30 am, sleep through 4 more hours of sunlight, and then wake up at 7:30 am. The plan for Friday was to hike up Galdhøpiggen, 2469 meters, the highest mountain in Norway (and in Northern Europe for that matter). Spiterstulen lodge sits at 1100 meters.
It started out as a prefect hike. Perfect weather, no other people, lots of sheep! I had to consciencously make my self slow down and take it all in as I tend to hike too fast when I'm alone. I even made myself stop and sit down for a break at one point!! I never do that when I'm hiking alone. It might have been the best hike of my life, had I not ran into so many people near and on the summit. Actually I didn't see any one else for at least the first half of the ascent until I passed a couple of people near the top. The trail didn't have quite as much snow as I was expecting either thanks to our good friend global warming.
I shouldn't have been surprised to see a small lodge on the summit but I was. Inside I shouldn't have been surprised to see a small gift shop and snack stand; again I was. It just wouldn't occur to me to buy a tee-shirt of the mountain I just hiked up on the summit.... When I looked down to the glacier on the other side of the summit I could see the heards being ushered up there. In fact after about 10 minutes of sitting on the summit with 1 other person, the hordes started arriving. It was time to head down. It was at this point when I started to see the masses of people hiking up. Good timing on my part to be heading down now. Even with my slow pace for the first half of the ascent and my short break I made the summit in just under 3 hours. On the way down I decided to explore some of the area and made a big loop on the wide open boulder field also avoiding some of the people coming up the cattle trail. This proved to be a good decision as a herd of raindeer came by near where I was walking down. That was pretty cool!
So I was back down to camp in the early afternoon and the sun was shining so I decided to brave the waters of the 'swimming pool' which is just a section of the river that is damned off. It was pretty cold, but not as cold as icicle creek. It wasn't that warm either so I didn't stay in long. It was time for a shower, yes, all the huts have showers and drying rooms! That evening I made the decision to move on the next day and not hike up the second highest mountain on the other side of the hut, mainly because I didn't want to spend another $20 on a map and I also didn't want to spend a third night in the same place. I wanted to see more of the park. I went for a short hike after dinner before going to sleep.
Saturday (1 July) I woke up to cloudy skies. Its a good thing I hadn't planned on hiking up high that day as the weather didn't look promising and the views wouldn't have been very good. So I packed up and headed up the valley to the Leirvassbu hut (1400 meters). This was about a 5 hour hike and despite the cloudy skies, the scenery was perfect. The path followed the river upstream, as did a heard of raindeer on the opposite side before escaping my view for moving quicker over the terrain than me (I told myself its because they wern't carring a heavy pack...). Shortly after I arrived at the Leirvassbu hut, the skies cleared and I enjoyed a beautiful afternoon exploring the areas around this hut. After another refreshing shower (this one in very cold water!), I ate dinner, then went for another short hike watching the sun set behind the mountains about 10 pm.
Sunday (2 July) the sky dawned clear once again. Nice! The hike down the next valley to the Skogadalsbøen hut (850 meters) was like being in another park. It was completely different terrain. It was so pretty! The sun was shining and it was 'warm' out so I stopped at the river and tried to go for a dip. Because the trail had dropped so much in elevation though, there were many flowers about, and bees like flowers. So the bees didn't let me stop for long. I had to keep moving. I had gone from hiking in pants and a wind shell all day the day before, to hiking only in shorts this day. What a difference clear skies can make! As the trail continued to drop the bugs started getting worse and once in the forest there were mosiqutioes at every stream crossing. Not fun. I basically ran the last 1 hour to the hut not slowing a bit because the bugs were so annoying. I was begining to think dropping down below tree line was a bad idea. But as I emerged out of the forest to where the hut was, the bugs disappeared. whew. I wasn't looking forward to camping with all those bugs. I was really pleasantly surprised by this hut considering the bitter taste I had in my mouth from the bees (stung twice I think) and other bugs I had just encountered not 100 yards away in the forest. My campsite was right by the river and the water was refreshing for quick dip. I asked at the hut where I could get drinking water. The guy's response, "out of the tap or out of the river, it is the same." I was a little surprised by this only because I thought we were quite low to be drinking directly from the river, also I thought there was another hut up stream. But the water was crystal clear and delicious. That evening I ate the last of my dinners and had only enough food for the hike to the nearest town. I would have likely stayed in the park another day or 2 had I brought enough food. But my pack was heavy enough with the food I had.
On Monday (3 July) I woke up earlier hoping to be through the forest before the bugs came out in force. Luckily the trail climbed quickly and after an hour I was back above tree line. Another day, another trail, another completely different feel. I saw lots of sheep this day, and no people. The weather was mostly clear, but I could see clouds moving in covering the tops of some of the mountains. I hoped the rain would hold off until I got out of the park. It was another stunning hike, as all the hikes had been, passing glacier covered mountains so close you could almost touch them.
Around 1:30 pm I arrived at my 'exit town', Turtagrø, which was really just another hut/hotel along a road which the bus would stop at. The bus would come at 3:15 pm and around 2:45 it started to sprinkling. Again my timing was perfect.
The bus ride back to Lom was incredible. I can't really put it into words though. It passed through high mountains where you could see glaciers just across the lake. Lots of cross country skiers out and about in this area too. We stopped at one hut where apparently a lot of cross country skiers stay during the summer, and a lovely Norwegian girl got on the bus. She spoke with the driver and another passenger and as she passed me said something in Norwegian. Not wanting to be rude if she was talking to me, I blurted out, "sorry, I don't speak Norwegian." Her response, "okay". So I guess she wasn't talking to me!! I felt a little embarassed. But a few minutes later she started talking to me. We had a nice chat (all the while I'm missing the 'other' scenery) until she reached her stop. She - Ida - was working at that hut during the summer and was taking the bus down to her grandparent's farm on her day off. I think that was the first Norwegian I had a real conversation with! Nice lass, she was. She spoke perfect english but was still frustrated with her english skills. I think that is common here.
When the bus pulled into Lom at 5 pm, where I was to catch my connecting bus, I still wasn't sure if I was going to the fjord town of Geiranger or back to Otta. I couldn't decide. As we stopped the bus driver pointed me to the bus to Otta which was leaving soon. Then as he was looking up how I could get to Geiranger that bus pulled away. Unfortunately the bus to Geiranger didn't leave until to 4:15 the next day. Well, guess I'm going to Geiranger and I'll just catch the next bus to Otta. OOPS! that was the last bus to Otta!!! Guess my timing isn't always so perfect.
So I entertain the idea of hitching a ride to Otta but stop by the tourist office first. I wanted to find out what time the Otta train station opened and closed as I needed to get my stuff out. Well it was closed for the day so getting to Otta now didn't help any. So I got to either spend the next 15 hours in Lom. Hmmm. Normally it may not have seemed so bad, but I was dirty, tired, and hungry and really didn't feel like hanging out for 15 hours.
After finally getting some food with some nutritional value it was 6 pm. I needed to catch the bus to Otta at 7 am the next day and then the train from Otta to Trondheim at 11:30 am. I headed over to the only campsite in town, which was actually 'in town', next to a road, full of cabins and RVs. How much for a campsite? 140 NKr! $25 to put my tent on a piece of grass between 2 RVS next to a road for a few hours? Uhmmm, I pay less than that at most hostels. Out of principle I refused. But this left me with few options. So I wondered around town for a few hours trying to figure out what to do. It it hadn't been raining, I would have thrown down my sleeping bag in a nearby park, but as it was, the only free shelter I saw was at the bus station. It was actually a loading dock for trucks. But it was dry and free so I 'slept' there for a few hours from roughly 11 pm until 6 am. Lots of buses coming and going all night so I didn't sleep much.
Finally at 7 am on Tuesday (4 July), I caught my bus back to Otta from where I caught the train to Trondheim that afternoon. What a fine bit of adventure that was!!
On Thursday (29 June) I caught the early train from Oslo to the town of Otta, the jumping off point for 3 national parks in central Norway. I arrived in Otta at 11:30 am and my bus didn't leave for the Spiterstulen hut until 3:10 pm so I had some time to kill. I went through my pack and took out everything I wouldn't need for my hike (and actually some things I could have used) and put it in a locker there at the train station. Then I walked through part of the small town and then stopped by the grocery store to get a few more provisions.
Around 3:05 pm there was still no bus with my destination on it so I was getting a little worried. I asked one of the other bus drivers what the deal was and he quickly ushered me onto another bus saying I had to change buses in Lom. Great. I've been through this kind of thing before and the out come isn't usually good. There was no mention of any transfers on the bus information I had. The bus information I had said my bus was supposed to stop in Lom a certain time. So of course my bus leaves Otta late and then gets stopped by some road work all the while I'm thinking there is no way I'm going to make this connecting bus.
So we finally arrive in the town of Lom where I'm supposed to catch my connecting bus. I have a suspicion that I'm going to get stuck in this town. But as we are pulling into the bus station I see the bus I need getting ready to leave, so I just make it on that bus. I get on, look around, and the bus is completely empty. I say, "I need 1 student ticket to Spiterstulen please." 45 NKr, or around $7. We then proceed to make the hour long drive up to the Spiterstulen hut where I would start my journey. Just me, the driver, and the big full sized bus twisting up this narrow, 1 lane gravel road. Ironically if you drive up this toll road in a car the toll is 60 NKr per car. Needless to say I don't think the bus company made any money on that journey! Several times cars coming down would have to back up and pull off the road so that the big bus could get by. At one point there were several cows in the road and they had no where to go, so we hearded them up the road with the bus for probably a couple hundred yards to where they could escape. Poor cows. What a fun bus ride though. Those drivers really know the boundaries of those huge buses!! yikes.
As we break out above tree line and I see the hut I can't believe I actually made it as I had planned it. Things don't usually go so well (remember this for later on in the story....). The place is absolutely stunning and the weather is perfect. I had a big, big grin on my face for the rest of the day. What an amazing place.
I set up my tent and then went for a little hike up behind the hut ('huts' actually) to get a view of the place before cooking dinner (dinner in the hut was around $40). I slept really good that night, probably the bests nights sleep of the trip. The only thing that could spoil my mood for the next day was poor weather.
On Friday (30 June) I awoke to clear skies. Because the sun sets so late and rises so early, I don't remember seeing darkness the entire time I was in the park. Its strange to wake up to the sun shine and realize that its only 3:30 am, sleep through 4 more hours of sunlight, and then wake up at 7:30 am. The plan for Friday was to hike up Galdhøpiggen, 2469 meters, the highest mountain in Norway (and in Northern Europe for that matter). Spiterstulen lodge sits at 1100 meters.
It started out as a prefect hike. Perfect weather, no other people, lots of sheep! I had to consciencously make my self slow down and take it all in as I tend to hike too fast when I'm alone. I even made myself stop and sit down for a break at one point!! I never do that when I'm hiking alone. It might have been the best hike of my life, had I not ran into so many people near and on the summit. Actually I didn't see any one else for at least the first half of the ascent until I passed a couple of people near the top. The trail didn't have quite as much snow as I was expecting either thanks to our good friend global warming.
I shouldn't have been surprised to see a small lodge on the summit but I was. Inside I shouldn't have been surprised to see a small gift shop and snack stand; again I was. It just wouldn't occur to me to buy a tee-shirt of the mountain I just hiked up on the summit.... When I looked down to the glacier on the other side of the summit I could see the heards being ushered up there. In fact after about 10 minutes of sitting on the summit with 1 other person, the hordes started arriving. It was time to head down. It was at this point when I started to see the masses of people hiking up. Good timing on my part to be heading down now. Even with my slow pace for the first half of the ascent and my short break I made the summit in just under 3 hours. On the way down I decided to explore some of the area and made a big loop on the wide open boulder field also avoiding some of the people coming up the cattle trail. This proved to be a good decision as a herd of raindeer came by near where I was walking down. That was pretty cool!
So I was back down to camp in the early afternoon and the sun was shining so I decided to brave the waters of the 'swimming pool' which is just a section of the river that is damned off. It was pretty cold, but not as cold as icicle creek. It wasn't that warm either so I didn't stay in long. It was time for a shower, yes, all the huts have showers and drying rooms! That evening I made the decision to move on the next day and not hike up the second highest mountain on the other side of the hut, mainly because I didn't want to spend another $20 on a map and I also didn't want to spend a third night in the same place. I wanted to see more of the park. I went for a short hike after dinner before going to sleep.
Saturday (1 July) I woke up to cloudy skies. Its a good thing I hadn't planned on hiking up high that day as the weather didn't look promising and the views wouldn't have been very good. So I packed up and headed up the valley to the Leirvassbu hut (1400 meters). This was about a 5 hour hike and despite the cloudy skies, the scenery was perfect. The path followed the river upstream, as did a heard of raindeer on the opposite side before escaping my view for moving quicker over the terrain than me (I told myself its because they wern't carring a heavy pack...). Shortly after I arrived at the Leirvassbu hut, the skies cleared and I enjoyed a beautiful afternoon exploring the areas around this hut. After another refreshing shower (this one in very cold water!), I ate dinner, then went for another short hike watching the sun set behind the mountains about 10 pm.
Sunday (2 July) the sky dawned clear once again. Nice! The hike down the next valley to the Skogadalsbøen hut (850 meters) was like being in another park. It was completely different terrain. It was so pretty! The sun was shining and it was 'warm' out so I stopped at the river and tried to go for a dip. Because the trail had dropped so much in elevation though, there were many flowers about, and bees like flowers. So the bees didn't let me stop for long. I had to keep moving. I had gone from hiking in pants and a wind shell all day the day before, to hiking only in shorts this day. What a difference clear skies can make! As the trail continued to drop the bugs started getting worse and once in the forest there were mosiqutioes at every stream crossing. Not fun. I basically ran the last 1 hour to the hut not slowing a bit because the bugs were so annoying. I was begining to think dropping down below tree line was a bad idea. But as I emerged out of the forest to where the hut was, the bugs disappeared. whew. I wasn't looking forward to camping with all those bugs. I was really pleasantly surprised by this hut considering the bitter taste I had in my mouth from the bees (stung twice I think) and other bugs I had just encountered not 100 yards away in the forest. My campsite was right by the river and the water was refreshing for quick dip. I asked at the hut where I could get drinking water. The guy's response, "out of the tap or out of the river, it is the same." I was a little surprised by this only because I thought we were quite low to be drinking directly from the river, also I thought there was another hut up stream. But the water was crystal clear and delicious. That evening I ate the last of my dinners and had only enough food for the hike to the nearest town. I would have likely stayed in the park another day or 2 had I brought enough food. But my pack was heavy enough with the food I had.
On Monday (3 July) I woke up earlier hoping to be through the forest before the bugs came out in force. Luckily the trail climbed quickly and after an hour I was back above tree line. Another day, another trail, another completely different feel. I saw lots of sheep this day, and no people. The weather was mostly clear, but I could see clouds moving in covering the tops of some of the mountains. I hoped the rain would hold off until I got out of the park. It was another stunning hike, as all the hikes had been, passing glacier covered mountains so close you could almost touch them.
Around 1:30 pm I arrived at my 'exit town', Turtagrø, which was really just another hut/hotel along a road which the bus would stop at. The bus would come at 3:15 pm and around 2:45 it started to sprinkling. Again my timing was perfect.
The bus ride back to Lom was incredible. I can't really put it into words though. It passed through high mountains where you could see glaciers just across the lake. Lots of cross country skiers out and about in this area too. We stopped at one hut where apparently a lot of cross country skiers stay during the summer, and a lovely Norwegian girl got on the bus. She spoke with the driver and another passenger and as she passed me said something in Norwegian. Not wanting to be rude if she was talking to me, I blurted out, "sorry, I don't speak Norwegian." Her response, "okay". So I guess she wasn't talking to me!! I felt a little embarassed. But a few minutes later she started talking to me. We had a nice chat (all the while I'm missing the 'other' scenery) until she reached her stop. She - Ida - was working at that hut during the summer and was taking the bus down to her grandparent's farm on her day off. I think that was the first Norwegian I had a real conversation with! Nice lass, she was. She spoke perfect english but was still frustrated with her english skills. I think that is common here.
When the bus pulled into Lom at 5 pm, where I was to catch my connecting bus, I still wasn't sure if I was going to the fjord town of Geiranger or back to Otta. I couldn't decide. As we stopped the bus driver pointed me to the bus to Otta which was leaving soon. Then as he was looking up how I could get to Geiranger that bus pulled away. Unfortunately the bus to Geiranger didn't leave until to 4:15 the next day. Well, guess I'm going to Geiranger and I'll just catch the next bus to Otta. OOPS! that was the last bus to Otta!!! Guess my timing isn't always so perfect.
So I entertain the idea of hitching a ride to Otta but stop by the tourist office first. I wanted to find out what time the Otta train station opened and closed as I needed to get my stuff out. Well it was closed for the day so getting to Otta now didn't help any. So I got to either spend the next 15 hours in Lom. Hmmm. Normally it may not have seemed so bad, but I was dirty, tired, and hungry and really didn't feel like hanging out for 15 hours.
After finally getting some food with some nutritional value it was 6 pm. I needed to catch the bus to Otta at 7 am the next day and then the train from Otta to Trondheim at 11:30 am. I headed over to the only campsite in town, which was actually 'in town', next to a road, full of cabins and RVs. How much for a campsite? 140 NKr! $25 to put my tent on a piece of grass between 2 RVS next to a road for a few hours? Uhmmm, I pay less than that at most hostels. Out of principle I refused. But this left me with few options. So I wondered around town for a few hours trying to figure out what to do. It it hadn't been raining, I would have thrown down my sleeping bag in a nearby park, but as it was, the only free shelter I saw was at the bus station. It was actually a loading dock for trucks. But it was dry and free so I 'slept' there for a few hours from roughly 11 pm until 6 am. Lots of buses coming and going all night so I didn't sleep much.
Finally at 7 am on Tuesday (4 July), I caught my bus back to Otta from where I caught the train to Trondheim that afternoon. What a fine bit of adventure that was!!
posted by Dustin at 1:23 AM
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