Documentation week II and trail maintenance
Index
| Date | Peak/Place | Height | PF | Location | WCP |
| 08.06.2020 | Øyrahornet | 417m | 42m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| 09.06.2020 | Huldrehornet | 271m | 113m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| 10.06.2020 | Skåla | 184m | 497m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | |
| 11.06.2020 | Nonshornet | 485m | 7m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| 11.06.2020 | Sollia | 661m | 661m | Herøy/Sande, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| 13.06.2020 | Sandvikshornet | 352m | 13m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | |
| 13.06.2020 | Storehanen | 493m | 67m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| 13.06.2020 | Selsteinen | 598m | 90m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| 13.06.2020 | Øyrahornet | 417m | 42m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| 14.06.2020 | Rjåhornet | 421m | 68m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP |
| 14.06.2020 | Sollia | 661m | 661m | Herøy/Sande, M&R, Norway | WCP |
My current health condition can be measured by a simple question – DO I want to hike or not? It’s that simple, and as last week ended on a good note, I was very optimistic as a new week was on my doorstep.
But the week started out with a visit to a new Vet – as Karma had been struggling with an ear infection for several months. I was hoping that the new Vet would be able to cure it. He eventually did, and little did I know that we would keep the Vet busy this summer. Unfortunately…
Øyrahornet (417m), June 8 2020
Monday: Not only did I want a hike, I also wanted to rip some bush – which is a very good sign! So I decided to do some work on the normal path from Tjørvåg to Øyrahornet.
The real work happens at the foot of the mountain (where there is bush and forest) and I got busy with my lopper. It feels good to know that when I remove the roots, it will take YEARS before we have to go at it again. When the dog grew too impatient, we moved on up the mountain.
As “punishment” for her impatience, Karma had to put in some extra work for the summit treat…
On the way down from Øyrahornet, we took a quite steep off-trail route into the lower part of Øyradalen valley.
And the river crossing went just fine…
Trip statistics: 4,5km, 420 vertical meters, 1h:53m
Huldrehornet (271m), June 9 2020
Tuesday: I was still in the mood for trail maintenance, and decided to pay the Huldrehornet forest a visit – with my lopper. I chose the route from Myrvåg – a route that is not among the most popular ones and the path can quickly become a bit overgrown.
After a good session, we rose above the thickest forest and aimed for the top.
It was such a nice day, and we both enjoyed being up here.
And then we reached the top of Huldrehornet – a top I’ve been to FAR too many times this year. But something happened during my “lows” this spring and summer. I’ve sort of lost the inspiration to drive very far for a hike. Which is good news for the hikers using our trails, as I’m out there to maintain them…
I was still documenting all the trails – updating my picture archive, map route overview and the list of all the signposts – so that I could get in sync with what was “out there”. I had made good progress in week 23, and today I would cover the Huldrehornet – Dyrkyrkja – Myrvågneset route.
Karma has still not been to the top of the Dyrkyrkja rock. It’s too steep from the mailbox, but I *can* get her up on the other side – if I just remember to put a harness on her. Not that she needs one, but it feels safer for me…
Trip statistics: 5km, 330 vertical meters, 2h:20m
Skåla (184m), June 10 2020
Wednesday: Exactly one week after our last visit, we were back on Skåla. With the lopper. Trail maintenance for the 3rd in a row. I was clearly on a roll…
After some hard work of ripping bush, I was happy with my effort and we moved on to the top.
I then took the below picture towards the neighbour mountains, not knowing that I would spend a LOT of time up there in the next two weeks. More on that in next week’s report.
We did a round trip hike (of course) and returned to the trailhead via a nice gravel road that runs alongside the main road.
Trip statistics: 3,5km, 190 vertical meters, 1h:14m
Nonshornet (485m), Sollia (661m), June 11 2020
Thursday: Today I decided to hike Sollia from Tjørvåg – via Nonshornet. It was a route I still hadn’t documented and I was somewhat “nervous” about a hike of this length. Relative to my recent health status, that is. I didn’t want to overdo anything – yet another time and go back to scratch. At least, I would take it nice and easy. And no trail maintenance, even if the path really needed it.
It was yet another lovely day and it felt so nice to reach Nonshornet and take in the views up north…
From Nonshornet, we continued up to Sollia. This was the 3rd time up there so far in 2020, which is an unusually low number. But it’s been a weird year – one to just “write off” and enjoy every good moment.
Nice weather all around, except for Runde island – which had some local sea fog.
On our way back, we stopped by lake Holmevatnet and Karma found a place to cool off. Snow up here in mid-June is just crazy…
We finished off by following a vague path that I’ve only done once before. It’s definitely a candidate for becoming a member in our route network, but we’ll see..
Trip statistics: 10,1km, 710 vertical meters, 2,5 hours
Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the hike:
Sandvikhornet (352m), Storehanen (493m), Selsteinen (598m), June 13 2020
Saturday: I took Friday off to start painting the house. A job that would keep me busy in the afternoons for the coming month. I live in a double apartment house and I have 5 outside walls. 3 are easy enough to paint, but the final two means being higher up in a ladder than I am happy with. As such, I decided to get an offer from a painter. He wanted ~NOK 40,000 – like 4000 Euros for the two walls. Norway is an expensive country… That was just a no-go deal and so I decided to do it myself. Not only were there walls that required immediate attention, but also stuff like the terrace…
On Saturday, I decided that I would finish my documentation project this weekend and today I would cover the Sandvikhornet – Storehanen route. But I would never think about returning the same route, so it would clearly be a round trip hike around the Øyradalen valley. I was in for a LONG walk – again – relatively speaking.
The first top was Sandvikhornet (352m).
It is a mighty fine coastal view from up here…
It was a super-hot day and I was so happy when we finally reached water where Karma could satisfy her thirst.
The next top was Rysseviktua (452m).
Then we continued to Storehanen (493m) above Moltudalen.
From Storehanen, we crossed a long meadow and hiked up to Selsteinen (598m).
We were now on our way back to the trailhead and at this point I didn’t know that I would be back up here several times the next two weeks. With a heavy load…
Eventually, we reached Øyrahornet (417m) where we once again enjoyed the “bench view” …
…before cooling off in the Øyraelvi river.
Trip statistics: 13,1km, 870 vertical meters, 3,5 hours
Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the hike:
Rjåhornet (600m), Sollia (661m), June 14 2020
Sunday: The final route in my documentation project was the Stemmedalen – Rjåhornet – Sollia route. It would be yet another long hike (relatively speaking) and I crossed my fingers for “getting away with it”.
It was overcast weather, but it was still a warm day. I was a little worried about the lack of water for Karma along the way, but I assumed she would find “something liquid” in places I hadn’t thought about. And she did…
Eventually, we reached Rjåhornet and at least – the hardest climb was behind us.
Next stop was Sollia.
What I learned on my way to Sollia that the paint on the sticks were for the most part OK on 3 sides and totally rubbed off on one side. So, when I’m done painting my house, I just have to get back up here and continue painting…
And then we reached the top of Sollia. All routes in our route network (51km in total) had now been documented and photographed. I was *very happy* having completed this, getting back in sync with what we had put out there.
On the way down from Sollia, we hiked off-trail down Høgsetdalen before rejoining the Stemmedalen – Rjåhornet route.
Trip statistics: 15,2km, 940 vertical meters, 4h:07m
