2020 Week 48

Some good evening hikes…

Index

Date	Peak/Place	Height	PF	Location	WCP
23.11.2020	Melshornet	668m	560m	Hareid, Norway	WCP
24.11.2020	Heida	239m	126m	Herøy, M&R, Norway	WCP
25.11.2020	Røddalshorn	563m	100m	Sande, M&R, Norway	WCP
26.11.2020	Rjåhornet	600m	107m	Herøy, M&R, Norway	WCP
27.11.2020	Rjåhornet	600m	107m	Herøy, M&R, Norway	WCP
28.11.2020	Roppehornet	412m	45m	Ulstein, Norway	WCP
29.11.2020	Storehornet	278m	78m	Sande, M&R, Norway	WCP
29.11.2020	Nupen (Nupatinden)	242m	69m	Sande, M&R, Norway	WCP

Melshornet (668m), Nov 23 2020

Monday:  After the miserable amount of hiking last week, I made a promise to myself to hike every single day this week – no matter how busy work would be.

So, after a busy working day I just had to pick a mountain. My choice fell on Melshornet above Hareid.

I started 3:33pm and sat a goal for myself to reach the top without using the headlamp. It was actually a little bit late for that, but the snow on top “saved me” – providing some extra light.

It was windy, and I tried to keep as much in shelter as possible. Which is not easy on a ridge with a steep drop on the sheltered side. Karma was clearly not affected…

We reached the top without using the headlamp and it was nice to find shelter behind the cairn.

I considered options for a round trip hike, but I tend to return the same way when I head out from Ulset. A good start to the week!

Trip statistics: 6,7km, 570 vertical meters, 1h:36m

Heida (239m), Nov 24 2020

Tuesday:  The weather was miserable, but we had to get out – as I hade made a promise. I chose a sheltered trip and Heida is a good candidate. The top of the forest hill is barely above the tree line.

Once on top, we continued down to Jøsokbakken and followed the main roads back to the car. It was altogether a wet experience and nothing much pleasant about it. But, at least we had been out!

Trip statistics: 5,6km, 270 vertical meters, 1h:20m

Røddalshorn (563m), Nov 25 2020

Wednesday:  Another day with not so pleasant weather. But not worse than I figured that we could get to Røddalshorn – which is a very exposed top when the weather is bad. I still remember the infamous hike up here in 2017, where I ended up on the hospital with Transient Global Amnesia after a light touch of Hypothermia (I was testing clothes and had not enough on). Or wait – I DON’T remember. That was the whole point of the diagnosis. Well, I remembered the hike up, but not the hike down or the drive back home. Fortunately, my girlfriend was there to “sound the alarm”…

Nothing like that on the agenda today. Again, the plan was to get up without using the headlamp before total darkness.

Which we did. I sure seem to know how to time these things…

After the hike, I pulled the bike out of the car and had a 5,2km bike trip while Karma was running as fast as she pleased. This combination of hike to Røddalshorn and biking around the lit trail and the forest loop is becoming the normal.

Trip statistics: 3,8km on foot, 5,2km on bike, 570 vertical meters, 1h:37m

Rjåhornet (600m), Nov 26 2020

Thursday:  Oh, there’s nothing much to report from this hike. The day had been a disaster – little sleep, tension headache and meetings end to end all day. I was a total wreck when I figured I would probably come back to life after hiking a 600 mountain.

Karma and I started out from Djupvika, in the dark, in rain and wind. We both felt utterly miserable by the time we took shelter behind the building on top. Well, I’m not really sure Karma was miserable, but she was the first one that took shelter.

We took the same route down, and the hike DID help…

Trip statistics: 6,5km, 590 vertical meters, 1h:53m

Rjåhornet (600m), Nov 27 2020

Friday:  Nice weather! And as I wanted to get as much daylight hiking as possible and chose Rjåhornet once again – being so close to where I live.

We started out from the Leikong church and took the path up to Bakkehammaren.

Higher on the mountain, the moon came into view. My new system camera is really struggling with capturing the details of the moon, but of ~ 30 pictures, one passed inspection.

It was dark, but not dead dark when we had the summit ahead of us.

The light in the horizon was just gorgeous…

And the views from the top were especially nice this afternoon!

There’s wind up here almost all the time, so even if the building is drop dead ugly, it provides welcomed shelter.

This was a true round trip hike. We didn’t cross our tracks once during the hike!

Anne came later that evening. We had a nice evening until the tension headache ruined most of my night. Not because of her…

Trip statistics: 6,1km, 600 vertical meters, 1h:45m

Roppehornet (412m), Nov 28 2020

Saturday:  Another nice weather day and we ended up on Flø, not exactly knowing where we should go. The car road up Midtflødalen valley was closed for the winter, which meant we would have to start our hike close to sea level. We chose to drive to Gåsneset and hike Roppehornet from there. The plan was then to descend to Flø and follow the path along the beach back to Gåsneset.

It was really windy, and Anne isn’t too much in love with the coastal wind (they hardly know what wind is – in Sogndal), but when the sun came out there were smiles all around.

And we never miss a chance to pose…

By the time we reached the top, I had another plan in mind and now was the time to reveal it…

The new plan was to continue up Trollvassegga and take it from there. The wind was strong and cold up there, and I realized that Anne would not enjoy spending hours up here. So it was just a matter of WHERE we should descend.

But for now, we would enjoy a nice walk along the ridge.

Eventually, we sat course towards Litlevatnet and played around with ice on lake Kjellstjørna.

We followed the road down Ulsteindalen and took an off-trail route over to Jensgården, from where we headed down to the beach.

We followed the shore back to the main beach at Gåsneset, but the beach was gone! Not because of tide but because it was flooded by seaweed (in lack of the actual word…).

Though, there was a little bit left and we enjoyed it to the fullest. A nice day out!

Trip statistics: 10,9km, 530 vertical meters, 3,5 hours

Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the hike:

Storehornet (278m), Nupatinden (242m), Nov 29 2020

Sunday:  Today, we repeated a hike we’ve done a few years ago, together with Bjørn Skoge. I also did this hike in April, early this year.

We parked at Drageskaret and the first goal was Nupatinden (aka Nupen) on the far side of the ridge between Gursken and Hallefjorden fjords. Then we would walk the shore back to Sandvika and eventually back to Drageskaret.

A shout-out to those who go the extra mile to make the hike across wet terrain a more pleasant experience. I guess you’re reading this, Bjørn and I’m also guessing you were involved in the trail maintenance…

The first stop on our “journey” was Storehornet – the highest point on the entire hike.

From here, we had a good view towards the Gursken fjord and the mountain ridge on the other side.

Then we moved on.

I took a short detour to Litlehornet (214m), just to have been there (again)…

Eventually, we reached Nupatinden and it was time to figure out how to get down to the shore. For some reason, I never remember the right way.

So, today we played it safe and took a direct northeast route that didn’t offer any obstacles than BORING bush.

We had exactly 2km along the shore ahead of us.

Anne seemed to lack inspiration to hike the 3,4km and 200 vertical meters up to Drageskaret. So, me being a gentleman and all, proposed that she could wait while I went for the car. These are the small things in life where the man think the woman will never forget, but always do…

Trip statistics: 10,1km, 520 vertical meters, 3 hours

Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the hike:

My neighbourhood, Nov 29 2020

Still Sunday:  I was asked by a neighbour if I could take some pictures of the opening of the new “gapahuk” at the local playground. They wanted to send pictures to the local newspaper and weren’t sure how good the mobile cameras would work in the dark.

I brought my new monster headlamp that would serve as camera flash, as my camera didn’t have a flash on it. 2800 lumen would surely light up the playground. What I didn’t realize what I gave all the mobile phone cameras all the light they needed.

When they posted pictures on the local Facebook group, none of my pictures were there.

But in the newspaper, however… You just can’t beat image resolution…