Lake Femunden, day 4
Peaks visited:
| Peak | Height | PF | Location |
| Elgåhogna | 1460m | 685m | Engerdal |
| Staupåsen | 802m | 109m | Engerdal |
ELGÅHOGNA
After having visited Stor-Svuku the day before, I was highly motivated to visit Engerdal’s high point – Elgåhogna. Anne wanted to spend the day kayaking in lakes Glen and Halvorsjøen, so it would just be Karma and me.
The road to Glen was a gravel road and packed with reindeer – tame. The reindeer were licking something from the road, and I can only imagine that the road is salted, to minimize dust from the cars. But to whose benefit, I wonder? The only sign of people was at Gunnarsjøsætra, and this was a very, very, very long forest road network.
At Glen, I said goodbye to Anne and hoped that she would have a good day on the water.
I continued north, in the direction of Elgå, and found the trailhead just before Dalset. The signpost said 6,1km to Elgåhogna, but I didn’t believe this was correct. The peak wasn’t THAT far away.
The parking was full, but I found a place to park just up the road, and we were on our way by 11:42am.
The first leg was a 1,2km forest road up to the Hammarvollen cabin, seemingly a private cabin. The path went discretely around the cabin on the back side.
Then followed a very nice walk up the birch forest, along the Bjørbekken creek – where Karma satisfied her thirst several times. It was a hot and gorgeous day.
Above the tree line, I could see Elgåhogna straight up ahead of me. I passed a few hikers who had the wisdom and patience it takes to sit down and enjoy life. I’m always in a hurry, and I envy those who can relax.
The upper part of the mountain was boulder, but of the gentle sort – the kind that doesn’t easily move.
We reached the top 1:01pm, after 5,3km (not 6,1km) and 710 vertical meters. I noticed that there were a few reindeer on the summit plateau, and Karma observed them with great interest.
Elgåhogna is a great viewpoint. One can see lake Femunden in almost its entire length from up here, in addition to characteristic peaks like the Sølen massif, Elgspiggen and Sålekinna, to name a few.
We sat down by the cairn for a snack, then the ground started to rumble.
I didn’t get to count the herd, but there must have been more than 50 reindeer passing the summit cairn. Karma looked like a spectator at a tennis game.
My first thought was – what on earth are they doing up here, where there’s nothing but rock?
Eventually, the herd went away while a few lingered on. Although they are “tame”, they are still a beautiful sight.
At 1:16pm, I decided to leave the mountain and return to Anne. More reindeer crossed my path in the boulder and really, really would like to know why they were there…
After a nice descent, and multiple stops along the creek for Karma’s benefit, we returned to the car 2:32pm – not fully 3 hours after leaving it.
Before I left Anne earlier in the day, I said I would be back at Glen by 3pm, and I arrived there 2:59pm. How’s that for timing!
Anne had done a nice 10,6km kayak trip along the shore in Glen and Halvorsjøen and was very pleased about the experience. In a way I envied her the trip, but I would not had traded it for the Elgåhogna hike.
STAUPÅSEN
It was still early in the day so we started looking for something else to do. Being at Glen, I wanted to hike Staupåsen – another pf100 top in this region. Anne considered kayaking in the river Staupåa in the meantime, so we drove to Staupådalen valley to check out the area.
Anne didn’t fall in love with the area and decided to bike all the way back to Femundtunet (25,7km) while I hiked Staupåsen.
Staupåsen was a boring 55 minute, 4,3km walk from and back to the car. The terrain was not interesting at all and the summit was below the tree line. The only reason to go to this peak is if you are collecting pf100 tops in Engerdal municipality. I just wanted a new top.
Driving back to Femundtunet, I was curious if I would see Anne along the road. But she had arrived at the cabin approx. 7 minutes earlier. After a content-rich day, we were both happy with calling it a day, in respect to outdoor activities. Another nice evening with a nice dinner was awaiting us in our cabin at Femundtunet…
Pictures from the Elgåhogna hike:
Pictures from the Staupåsen hike:
