Jøronnatten, Troganatten, Sep 8 2021

Autumn break, day 4

Back on the Lifjell massif

Index

Peak Height PF Municipality
Jøronnatten 1175m 221m Notodden/ Seljord/ Midt-Telemark, Norway
Troganatten 1288m 152m Seljord, Norway

Continued from day 3

Today, Jøronnatten on Lifjell was the main goal. Jøronnatten is not the highest mountain on Lifjell, but it is the high point in the new Midt-Telemark municipality. Troganatten is also not the highest mountain on Lifjell, but being so close to Jøronnatten – I had a round trip in mind. I assumed that I would have to do Troganatten by myself so it had to be a quick detour if I were to catch up with Anne.

Today’s round trip hike

In order to get to the Røksbu parking (560m), we had to drive all the way down to Oterholt to get on the Livegen road, which turned into a toll road (Stavsholtvegen, NOK 50,-, VIPPS).  I am not sure why peakbook.org calls the trailhead Røksbu, but we found the public parking by Røytejuvbekken. The gravel road was long (5,5km), but quite OK!

Jøronnatten trailhead

The first part of the hike was tough in the heat (20 deg. C.) Straight up to the cabin on top of Stavsholtvegen. But from here, the marked path headed into the forest and climbed gradually to lake Langetjønn (949m). We were now above the tree line and looked forward to the hike up to Jøronnatten.

Rising above the tree line

We reached a valley that we followed up to the “foot of the mountain” at Åstul (1020m).

Jøronnatten ahead (near Åstul)

The path now gradually climbed northwest to the top of Jøronnatten.

Karma is taking the ascent route into consideration…

Two senior ladies (one was 80 years old) reached the top one minute before we did and we exchanged services of taking pictures of each other.

On top of Jøronnatten!

It was nice to be up here, and also nice to see Gaustatoppen again!

Gaustatoppen – visited in 2001 – 20 years ago…

Anne was in for a good rest on top so I decided I should move on towards Troganattan and we would catch up at lake Langetjønn. We decided that Karma should stay with Anne as I might have some steep terrain ahead of me.

Parting with Anne and Karma

I aimed to do the straightest line possible between the two tops. This meant a somewhat steep descent from Jøronnatten in unfamiliar terrain. It was never difficult until I got close to the valley. I was facing a scramble that could be fatal if I fell or find an easier route somewhere else. I chose the scramble. Big fun!

Where I scrambled/climbed down
My descent route from Jøronnatten

To get up Troganattan, I could go almost anywhere I wanted but I had already decided on the route and stuck to it.

My route up Troganatten

Near the top, I ran into some cool cliffs that I tried to climb up. But I wasn’t too happy about the handholds and had to find a safe route to the top.

Trying to climb some routes, but chickened out

And finally, I stood on top of Troganatten.

On Troganatten, due for a hair-cut. Which – has been taken care of by now…

But I was in a hurry and quickly sat course for the Bjørndalen valley.

Aiming for Bjørndalen and then Langetjønna

This descent involved a steep descent where I had to grab grass for security. Not too trustworthy, but I don’t think a fall would have been fatal…

Straight down here. A bit steep, but OK…

The plan was to follow a path that would eventually take me back to lake Langetjønn, but the path faded and I decided to just cut straight across. This “costed” me 100 vertical meters but eventually I was overlooking the valley I needed to get into in order to get back to Langetjønn.

Anne called me right then and told me she had taken a bath and would slowly continue down the forest. I decided to jog and caught up with Anne and Karma at Langetjønn before they left. I also got into the water. It was too shallow to swim in – at least the eastern part – but it was nice to cool off.

At Langetjønn

And then we headed down the forest path, back to the car. A very nice hike!

Continued on day 5

Trip statistics: 14,9, 1100 vertical meters, 4h:56m

Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone8) from the trip:

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