Bad weather, more trail work and a nice Sunday hike…

Peaks visited:
Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP |
Melshornet | 807m | 564m | Ørsta, Norway | WCP |
Grøthornet | 745m | 57m | Ørsta/Volda, Norway | WCP |
Huldrehornet | 271m | 113m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP |
Aksla | 188m | 188m | Ålesund, Norway | WCP |
Skeidshornet | 311m | 13m | Ulstein, Norway | |
Nystøylhornet | 600m | 382m | Vanylven, Norway | WCP |
Melshornet (807m), Oct 1 2018
Monday: Today I returned to Sunnmøre, after spending the weekend in Sogndal. I had a nice drive all the way home, enjoying the mighty fine views around Fjærland.

When I arrived in Volda, I decided to go for an afternoon hike up to Melshornet, and chose to drive up to Bratteberg, where I’d never hiked from before.
I followed a forest path all the way to Dinglavatnet (via Turnhytta cabin) and continued up to Melshornet. Upon descent, I hiked across Grøthornet and Sandhornet, and realized that I would have to use the headlamp for the first time this season.
I hiked down to Reset and followed a forest road back to the path where I ascended. It was pitch dark when I returned to the car. Unfortunately, I must have misplaced or not uploaded the pictures from this hike, so all I have is the track…

Trip statistics: 7,8km, 680 vertical meters, 1h:35m
Pictures:
Huldrehornet (271m), Oct 2 2018

Tuesday: The plan was to meet up with Jonny and Hans in the local trail group and to cut a couple of trees that we would use for “bridges” across the wetlands in Huldrehornskogen forest.
I made sure I had time to take Karma across Huldrehornet before meeting up with the other guys.

And there was also time for some trail work before the others arrived.

It had turned dark by the time two trees were down and we had enough timber for two “bridges”. I would spend the next days making these bridges “walkable”.

After the job, we went to the nearby Gapahuk, where Hans had coffee and treats for us. Yum!

Trip statistics: 4,1km, 290 vertical meters, 3h:13m
Pictures from the hike:
Huldrehornskogen forest , Oct 3 2018

Wednesday: Back in the Huldrehornskogen forest, working on the new “bridges”
Trip statistics: 3km, 100 vertical meters, 2h:54m
Aksla (188m), Oct 4 2018

Thursday: Ålesund day. And a quite rainy one too. I had no desire to walk at all, but I had a dog that had been in the car from 6am to 3pm – except for the walk in my lunchbreak.

Afterwards, I was quite happy having pulled off 6,5km and the dog seemed happy enough, soaking wet as she was…
Trip statistics: 6,5km, 250 vertical meters, 1h:15m
Pictures from the hike:
Huldrehornet (271m), Oct 5 2018

Friday: While waiting for Anne to come for the weekend, I took Karma to the Huldrehornskogen forest to continue on the “bridges“. I was really happy about we soon would be able to cross this section of the forest without getting soaking wet on our feet.

Afterwards, we went up to the windy Huldrehornet. We had to seek shelter during our stay, and it struck me that working in the forest was actually quite nice, even though it was raining most of the time (I’m talking for weeks here). Because – there is no WIND in the forest. I really, really, really HATE the wind on the coastline.

Trip statistics: 3,6km, 260 vertical meters, 1h:46m
Pictures from the hike:
Osberget, Skeidshornet (311m), Oct 6 2018

Saturday: The weather was still shitty, but both Anne and I wanted to do a hike. Just not above 400m, as it was windy as heck up there.
So, we drove to Ulsteinvik and up to Bugardsmyrane where we parked. Then we went up to Osberget.

We continued across Osberget to the place where the “fun trees” are. My challenge for Anne today was to start at one tree, and see who could climb the longest distance without touching the ground.

The slippery trees made this a real challenge, but it was actually quite fun. And not because I won. By a “mile”. But because I haven’t lost the child in me. And I hope I never will…

Then we followed a path down to Skeide, which I had never done before. And I truly enjoy discovering new paths!

From Skeide, we followed the lit trail in the direction of Bugardsmyrane, but got onto the path towards Nibben. Halfway up, we went into the forest when we saw the “Skeidshornet” signpost. I had done this path many years ago, but I had totally forgotten it existed.

After a nice, although wet hike up the ridge, we reached the top of Skeidshornet and followed the new mountain trail down Morderbakken – “Killer hill”. If you think it can’t be THAT bad, try to run or bike up…

Trip statistics: 6km, 350 vertical meters, 1h:45m
Pictures from the hike:
Nystøylhornet (600m) – Oct 7 2018

Sunday: Much better weather, and I decided to invite Anne to Vanylven and hike Nystøylhornet – where she hadn’t been to before.
We parked by the Åram church (down by the ferry harbor) and followed a very muddy path (murdered by ATVs) up to the antenna.

After passing the antenna, the mountain path was nice to follow.

It was such a delight to do a hike without rain and we took our good time to get up the mountain. Anne could just not believe the views that this mountain offered.

Eventually we reached the top, and had already agreed that it would be boring to go back the same way.

So we decided to descend to Sandvikdalen and follow the main road back to Åram. OK, it would be a boring walk along the road, but a round trip hike was still the preferred choice.

After a while, we left the path and took an off-trail, cumbersome short-cut down to the gravel road in Sandvikdalen, with 1,7km down to the main road.

If I had known that we had additional 5,3km back to Åram, I might have suggested a different round trip instead. Too late now. After a while, and as I could hold a higher pace than Anne, I went ahead to pick up the car. Which saved her 2km.
Afterwards, we drove to Hakallegarden farm to get lunch. We were both starving. We were not particularly interested in the animals, as we had a deadline for the ferry. They don’t run that often on Sundays.

The sour creme porrage made me forget the boring walk along the main road and minutes later, I was no longer starving. Well, perhaps for more. I just LOVE sour creme porridge. Below us, we could see (through a window in the floor) a donkey walk back and forth…

It was a nice day, a nice hike and a very nice ending to a wet and windy week.
Trip statistics: 3,4km, 500 vertical meters, 2 hours
Pictures from the hike: