Roadtrip to Kongsberg, part 3
Tops visited:
| Top | Height | PF | Municipality |
| Haglebunatten | 1278m | 253m | Sigdal, Norway |
| Hesteleinnatten | 1177m | 105m | Nore og Uvdal, Norway |
| Stornatten | 1211m | 114m | Nore og Uvdal, Norway |
| Kupanatten | 1188m | 104m | Nore og Uvdal, Norway |
| Fagerfjellet | 1255m | 150m | Nore og Uvdal, Norway |
Continued from day 2...
Saturday: I woke up 7:30am in my hotel room, happy I maintained some discipline in terms of beers at the company event last night. After breakfast, I checked out of the hotel and sat course for Haglebu in Eggedal.
My plan was to hike 5 tops, which is a bit more than I normally do on a regular hike. But the will to get more “needles on the map” is greater than the fatigue…
I would start with Haglebunatten – the highest of the 5. I find it’s always good to start out with the highest top, even if all the mountains were around the same height.
I followed the road from Turistheimen and up to Haglebu Seter, from where I got on the forest path. When I had to make a choice, I went for the shortest route. The path was well worn, and it wasn’t difficult to see that is a popular hike. I’m curious how popular it is in winter. I’m sure that skiing up on the mountain is nice, but it’s a bit of a climb to get up there…
It was a bit windy, which was just nice. Worse was that I had pain under my left foot. Some kind of light inflammation. I took a look under my shoes and decided I would not use these for hiking anymore. There wasn’t much sole left…
After 3,2km I reached the top of Haglebunatten. One down, four to go! From what I could see, the total distance wouldn’t be overwhelming. I guessed somewhere between 17 and 20km.
I continued towards Hesteleinnatten and as good as all of the 3km hike was off-trail. I enjoyed the terrain. Off-trail was easy. I’m sure Karma would have loved to be here. She would just have to spend a couple of days with Anne, wondering where daddy is…
After reaching the top of Hesteleinnatten, I was just eager to move on and my next goal was Stornatten.
On a less dry day, some parts of the 2,4km off-trail route to Stornatten would have been quite wet. But still, my feet were fairly dry. The good news was that my foot wasn’t worse. But the pain was a bit annoying.
I passed lake Gymletjørni on the west side and found an OK route to the top. Three down, two to go!
My next goal was Kupanatten – a 2,7km hike from Stornatten.
As I passed lake Fagerfettjønne, I came across a small flock of reindeer. They didn’t scare easily and moved just a little just to keep their distance.
The signposts were mostly focused on skiers, so I concluded that this is probably a popular skiing region.
I could choose between following the valley up to the pass between Kupanatten and Fagerfjellet, which would clearly be the best route. But since I planned to descend there, I began my ascent to Kupanatten quite early. I had to fight a small bush war, but all in all it wasn’t so bad.
A bit higher up, I found a path that led to the top.
Yup, I definitely enjoyed the terrain. I felt a little bad. This was absolutely a region that would tick all boxes for our easter vacations in eastern Norway (no pun intended) and now I felt I had “used up” one of them. We’ve been many places for the past 10 years and there are not too many places left that tick those boxes.
The final top was Fagerfjellet. I descended to the pass and continued (still off-trail) Fagerfjellet’s west ridge. The route from Kupanatten to Fagerfjellet was 2,6km on easy terrain.
After visiting the top, the question was now – where should I descend? Fagerfjellet’s south side was pretty steep – according to the map. And, although I was sure I would always find a way down if I took on a steep route, I decided to play it safe and followed a ridge that took me down to the middle of lake Fagerfettjørni. Looking back on it, there weren’t any other good routes on this side of the mountain.
The 3,8km back to the Haglebunatten path was not fun at all. The terrain was a bit cumbersome, and I was surprised that there was no path in Fagerfetdalen valley! I was quite happy when I joined the Haglebunatten path at 870m.
Back at Turistheimen, I asked if they had a cabin for rent. They didn’t have any free ones and so I drove to Haglebu Fjellstue and asked the same question. After waiting 10-15 minutes (young foreign workers having to call the owner) I was told that the charge was NOK 1300-something for a cabin. That was the same price as I paid for the hotel in Kongsberg (with company discount) and that included breakfast. I decided to save my money and camp in the car.
The plan for the next day was to hike Hallingnatten a bit further north and so I drove to the Gørrbu trailhead (toll road, number plate scanning, pay within 48 hours) and found a place to stay for the night, close by.
By now, I was really motivated for spending the night in the car. It’s been a while since the last time. While my dinner was bread and cheese (I had not brought cooking equipment – bummer) I had the PC and a few beers that would keep me company throughout the evening. I feel asleep around 23:00 – happy…
Trip statistics: 18,4km, 1250 vertical meters, 5h:40m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max) from the trip:
Continued on day 4…
