Summer vacation, day 7
Index
| Peak | Height | PF | Location |
| Rødøyløva | 443m | 443m | Rødøy, Norway |
| Urtinden (Selvågtinden) | 228m | 39m | Rødøy, Norway |
Continued from day 6
Recap: We began our journey to Rødøy island a week ago, spending 4 nights in nord-Østerdalen – waiting for the weather in northern Norway to improve. We spent 1 night on Korgfjellet and now we had spent 2 nights at Jektvik. We were not allowed to get on the regular ferry the day before and the extra ferry they had set up, got cancelled.
The first thing on my mind this morning was the sea fog. Was it just as thick as the day before? Thankfully, no. We stood good chances on getting on the 09:20 ferry, even though we were far back in line. We were originally in 2nd and 3rd place, but because of very poor organization skills from the ferry crew we ended up almost last in lane 1.
The 09:20am ferry departed on schedule and now I could start believing that our Rødøy-revisit adventure would come to life. Bjørn Eirik, Anne, Karma and I had been on an island-hopping tour up here back in 2014 (which included a climb of Trænstaven) and the view from the top of Rødøyløva had made all of us wanting to come back. This time – primarily for kayaking. Unfortunately, Anne had injured her hand the day before, but we all hoped she would recover soon!
Once on Rødøy, I wanted to get to the Klokkergården parking straight away to secure parking. Lots of people had seen the weather forecast, promising nice weather starting Monday and there was not plenty of parking space. The parking fee (NOK 150,- per day) was pretty stiff and if you ask me – bordering to immoral. Bjørn Eirik didn’t want to pay this fee and decided to park elsewhere. He had found a place where it was easier to handle the kayaks now that the tide was low. And so we went over there, but a not-so-friendly man showed up and told us that we were on private property and had to move our cars. OK, fine – but we would still kayak from there.
We had 3 kayaks and 1 dog. That was incompatible, but solved as Anne volunteered to walk with Karma while Bjørn Eirik would be towing her kayak.
After 1,5km, we passed Hestvika. I suggested that this would be a nice place for a camp site (for several reasons). Bjørn Eirik wanted to continue to the main beach (Storsanden) and I followed him. The sea was much rougher there and I wasn’t comfortable. The wind was strong too. Besides for a couple of trips in easy waters earlier this summer, I hadn’t been kayaking since 2011 (before we got Karma). I needed some time to acclimate and I decided not to follow Bjørn Eirik. He eventually returned and reported about a part of the beach without any tents. But I didn’t want to go there.
There was frustration on both sides and we had to sit down and talk it through. We ended up by returning to Hestvika – where the wind was FAR less strong. Anne and Karma arrived at the same time, and we decided to set camp in Hestvika. We were only a couple of minutes from Storsanden, but we were in shelter of the wind. There was only one other tent there, and we were all – in the end – happy about the location.
A guided group of kayakers passed by. The guide noticed our kayaks and stopped by for a chat. I asked if they were heading out in the waters outside Storsanden (where I felt uncomfortable). If the answer had been “yes, of course” I would have felt rock bottom. Fortunately, the answer was “absolutely no!” I am by no means an experienced kayaker but I’m not a beginner either. I was out in quite rough waters back home in 2010/2011…
Rødøyløva was hidden in fog, but as the day progressed, The mountain began to present itself. Anne and I wanted to hike to the top. Bjørn Eirik had been there the day before (during his kayak adventure from and back to Jektvik) and decided to rest in the tent.
From the campsite, we followed the Storsanden path to the point where it merged with the Rødøyløva path.
New since 2014 was the Sherpa stairs. Quite impressive work!
Suddenly, the fog came back. Wow, that happened fast! But, I had strong hopes that we would rise above it and as we closed in on the summit, I was confident we would!
It was nice to be back on this very cool peak and we took our time to get the photographs we wanted.
Once we were properly above the sea fog, it was just a superb experience to be up here!
Eventually, we reached the high point. We found the same photo point as back in 2014, but the sunshine was a little stronger back then…
In any case – wow!
We could easily spot our tents from up here…
We enjoyed every second of our stay on top!
Then it was time to return to camp. On our way down, we noticed a halo and made sure to take a picture with us in it!
It was good to be back, and it was fun hiking Rødøyløva again but all I could think of now was the kayaking we had ahead of us…
I asked Anne if she would come along on a detour to Urtinden (Selvågtinden) and she did. Urtinden was however a sneaky bugger and it took some time to figure out how to get past a band of cliffs. By then, Anne had lost interest in the high point and waited with Karma while I visited the top.
Then we returned to camp and just took it nice and easy, observing the amazing difference between low and high tide. The BASE jumpers came by every now and then and took the time to chat with us. They were hoping for a jump late this evening, but that never happened.
After dinner, we called it a day. The next day, Bjørn Eirik and I would go on a kayak trip to Gjerdøya, where we would hike the two pf100 tops on the island. I could hardly wait to get going…
Continued on day 8
Trip statistics: 3,1km (kayak), 6,6km (hike), 600 vertical meters, 3 hours (the hike)
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/ Iphone8) from the trip:
Some superb photos there. Maybe the small frustrations in getting there made the exceptional inversion conditions seem even better?
We had inversions in Scotland two and three days before this:
https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=107006
https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=107008
All worth it in the end 😉 Some cracking photos and live motion from your hikes there! I wasn’t aware of the term inversion. I just thought of it as sea fog moving in. Either way, there’s no better feeling than standing on top of a mountain and *only* see the top of other mountains!
Agreed, regardless of the labels it is the experience that is the important thing. I think, though, that the sort of broken fog/inversion that you got where you see both part of the sea and coast and the summits is the best form.
Thank you for sharing this walk report and photos.