A perfect camp-site!
Peaks visited:
| Peak | Height | PF | Location |
| Teldalsvola | 1142m | 129m | Tolga/ Tynset, Norway |
| Store Bjørsjøkletten | 1170m | 95m | Tolga, Norway |
| Tverrhøa | 1115m | 45m | Tolga, Norway |
Wednesday: After visiting Håmmålsfjellet, we drove to Tolga and enjoyed a late lunch. We didn’t have to be back in Sogndal until Thursday afternoon, and so we put our heads together and tried to figure out where to spend the night. Clearly, somewhere above the tree line would be nice, and preferably, close to the car.
While checking the map for the local area, we discovered a mountain road that looked very interesting. And after checking with the locals, we learned that we could take the car up there, but they weren’t quite clear on how far. So, we decided to find out.
After driving a bit back and forth, we found the mountain road. I believe it was called “Fjellveien” (the mountain road). To our delight, we could drive it until its end (10km), just west of Tverrhøa. Then we drove back 400m to a place where we could park alongside the road. There we found a perfect place to put up the tent, just 50m from the road.
Teldalsvola (1142m)
I was eager to hike Teldalsvola and Anne said she could be in charge of raising the tent. She’s a sweetheart!
Teldalsvola was “just” 4,5km west of our new base-camp, and offered flat terrain until the foot of the hill. But looks could be deceiving. The ultra-slippery moss and low bush made progress very slow. But after 1,4km, we crossed a path and I decided to follow it.
I had been so eager to get another top that I hadn’t even looked at the map. Now I saw that the path we were on went in the wrong direction but there was another path that would take us to the pass between Bannarhøa and Teldalsvola. Clearly, the paths were the best choice even if the total distance would be longer.
Fortunately, Karma got to satisfy her thirst along the way.
Once up in the pass I mentioned, we had to go off-trail. It was cumbersome, and I was really disappointed when I realized that point 1131m was not the summit. It was only 0,9km to go, but in this type of terrain it felt “endless”.
But eventually, we reached the top. We had hiked 5,9km so far and Anne was probably expecting us back soon.
But the views were really nice. I could see Sålekinna, Elgspiggen, Sølen massif and many more well known tops.
But it was time to get back to the tent. A short-cut effort didn’t give any advantage at all and I would be best off getting back on the beaten track.
The path leading back to the mountain road would put me 1,8km away from the tent, and I called Anne to pick me up. I had better things to do this evening than to walk a gravel mountain road.
It was really nice to get back to the camp. The big question was whether we should sleep inside our outside the tent and what we should do with Karma. But first, dinner! “Real turmat”. Yum!
Trip statistics: 12,1km, 250 vertical meters, 2h:30m
Pictures (Canon 80D) from the hike:
Store Bjørsjøkletten (1170m)
It was way too early to call it a day, and I decided to hike Store Bjørsjøkletten – only 2,5km northeast of the tent. But because of the moss, going direct, off-trail was out of the question. So I decided to hike up the path to Tverrhøa, from where the road ends and hoped that there would a path up to the top. The map didn’t indicate any.
Anne decided to join me up to Tverrhøa, but Karma had other plans. She did join us to the end of the road, but decided to sit down when she understood that there was a new hike was going on. We presumed that she would follow if we kept on walking, and our presumption was correct. As a presumption should be. Otherwise, it should have been an assumption…
At Tverrhøa, I parted with Anne & Karma and continued on a path that seemed to take me all the way to the top of Store Bjørsjøkletten.
The path DID take me all the way to the top, after almost 3km of hiking from the tent.
Nerd stuff: The celebration was a bit modest, as this was not a pf100m top. If it hadn’t been for lake Stortjønna (1071m), I would have interpolated the saddle towards Lettingshøgda to 1070m, hence giving the top a prominence of 100m. But given the lake, the saddle HAS to be higher and I decided to give it 1075m, which gives Store Bjørsjøkletten a primary factor of 95m.
I hurried back to the tent and we started to prepare for settling in for the night. We put Karma outside the tent, and we decided to sleep in it. But there were enough mosquitoes outside the tent to make me call for a reorganization. I didn’t want Karma to be eaten up. And we found a way so that all 3 of us could sleep comfortably.
What a perfect day this had been! The hikes, the weather, the campsite and last but not least – quality time with the family!
Trip statistics: 6,3km, 230 vertical meters, 1h:22m
Pictures (Iphone6) from the trip:
