2022 Week 25

The final trail maintenance week before summer break

Index

Date	Peak/Place	Height	PF	Location	WCP
20.06.22	Storehaugfjellet	1173m	990m	Sogndal, Norway	WCP
21.06.22	Djupvikhaugen	98m	29m	Herøy, M&R, Norway
22.06.22	Øyrahornet	417m	42m	Herøy, M&R, Norway	WCP
22.06.21	Sandvikshornet	352m	14m	Herøy, M&R, Norway
23.06.21	Rysseviktua	452m	34m	Herøy, M&R, Norway
24.06.22	Rjåhornet	600m	107m	Herøy, M&R, Norway	WCP
26.06.22	Selsteinen	598m	90m	Herøy, M&R, Norway	WCP
26.06.22	Slettheia	553m	49m	Herøy, M&R, Norway	WCP
26.06.22	Storehanen	493m	67m	Herøy, M&R, Norway	WCP

Storehaugfjellet (1173m), June 20 2022

Monday: After returning from my Kongsberg road-trip the day before, I was working at Anne’s place in Sogndal. I felt a bit strange. Could I have been picking up Covid at the company dinner with 2140 guests?

If that was the case, I decided to go out with a bang and sat course for the Sogndal airport just after work. The plan wasn’t to get on an airplane but to hike Storehaugfjellet – as fast as I could. The rush was just from the fact that I was on-call at work. But a good pace couldn’t hurt in any case…

Karma and I started out from “Storesvingen” – which is technically NOT the airport, but a place where many hike from. This was a route I knew quite well. I’ve been to this mountain 17 times and along this route on several occasions.

The path is nice and popular with bikers. The first “stop” is Bjørkestølen – a lovely place where sheep are often found in summer. Not today though.

The hike felt harder than it normally does. I always try to apply a good pace, so there was definitely something inside my body. Hopefully not Covid.

Morale was rising when we made above the forest and got some views.

It’s been a while since I stopped by Storehaugen (1169m) and today I really wanted to but had to skip due to the limited time I had allocated for this hike. Next time!

Once on the ridge below Storehaugen I spent a minute taking pictures, as this is a good viewpoint towards Sogndal.

Afterwards we hurried towards Storehaugfjellet.

It was a beautiful day. Too bad I was in a rush. I jogged all the way down. Once back home, I “collapsed”. If there was something lurking, it came out in the open now! I was very curious about I would feel the next day.

Trip statistics: 12,3km, 810 vertical meters, 2h:30m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the hike:

Djupvikhaugen (98m), June 21 2022

Tuesday: I didn’t feel better, but I didn’t feel worse either. I managed to pull off a fairly decent working day and decided to bite my teeth together and take the 4-hour drive home. Normally, it’s a quicker drive but with tunnel maintenance and convoys, then…

Once home, I drove straight to the Djupvikhaugen trailhead to walk the dog.

I was dragging my feet and Karma seemed to be worried about me…

Once on top, we took the same route back down. The time was almost 10pm. I was overdue for bed!

Trip statistics: 1,9km, 100 vertical meters, 28 mins

Øyrahornet (417m), Sandvikhornet (352m), June 22 2022

Wednesday: I felt better today, and although I really felt for jumping to bed after work, I had to walk the dog. And I really wanted to close in on the finish line for my “count and check sticks” project.

Today, I would hike from Tjørvåg, up to Øyrahornet and hopefully do the full 12km+ round around the Øyradalen valley and across 6 tops.

I decided to abandon the “decimal technique” and kept repeating the same number until I reached the next stick, so I wouldn’t lose count. I would just die for someone overhearing me… “fourteen, fourteen, fourteen, fourteen, fourteen” …

The hike up to Øyrahornet went OK. It was a little windy, but just fine. But what happened just before I reached the top, I had not seen coming! There was a gale on top. Most likely a strong gale. I was not able to stand upright or control my movements. My sunglasses and hat got ripped straight off. I had a small opening in the backpack and noticed that my orange bag with my phone also being sucked out. The phone hit a rock, so kudos to the Apple engineers – foreseeing incidents like this!

I know that it can get pretty rugged on the tops during winter, but this was just insane – given the time of season.

At first, I thought about turning around, but then I found that if we could only get across the top, then we might cover some more ground. Sure enough, once across the top, it was just a little windy, but the wind picked up as we headed up the “Rumpene” ridge. On the first ridge top, we just had to give up and get away from the wind.

We then sat course for Sandvikhornet on the other side of the valley and I could finish the Sandvikhornet – Tjørvåg route. This just meant that I would have to come back to do the rest later.

Trip statistics: 7km, 540 vertical meters, 2 hours
Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the hike:

Sandvikhornet (352m), Rysseviktua (452m), June 23 2022

Thursday: I was back on Sandvikhornet already the next day. The main reason was that on the way down the day before, I noticed that there were hardly any sticks on the upper mountain. I don’t know what happened to them, but today I brought 5 replacement sticks. And I will keep a darn good eye on them from now on!

It was windy today as well, but not even close to the day before and we were able to stand on top of Sandvikhornet as civilized folks.

We then continued towards Rysseviktua and could tick off yet another leg. I really wanted to complete the route around the valley as soon as possible, but as it had started to rain a bit, it would have to wait until the weekend.

Quite unlike me, I decided to take the same route back down.

Trip statistics: 7,1km, 540 vertical meters, 2h:14m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the hike:

Rjåhornet (600m), June 24 2022

Friday: At some point, I had to cover the leg between Rjåhornet and the Leikongeidet – Sollia trail. This was of course with respect to my ongoing “count and check sticks” project, where I could finally start to see the finish line in the distance.

It was a beautiful afternoon and really hot too. I hadn’t paid attention to the sudden jump of temperature to the mid-20 C. range and headed out in the same clothes I had been hiking in, all winter long. The only exception was that I didn’t have long underwear on today…

We hiked from Leikongeidet and after 2,6km I could finally bring my equipment out of the backpack. The equipment consisted of a club, a chisel and a wooden block. Probably weighing in around 5kg. I could literally feel weight coming off my shoulders!

The sticks stood reasonably firm in the ground, but they all needed a round with fresh paint. The winter is particularly hard on this part of the mountain. That will have to wait until after the summer break…

After reaching Rjåhornet, I decided to take a different route (off-trail) back to Leikongeidet. An inner voice said, “don’t do it”, but I ignored it. In any case, we ended up in a terrible bush war and I will never again set my foot on this side of the mountain!

We returned home and when it was time for the evening walk, I noticed that Karma was limping. That’s not totally unusual, and I didn’t think too much about it.

Trip statistics: 6,8km, 515 vertical meters, 1h:57m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the hike:

No hiking (!), June 25 2022

Saturday: The next day, Karma was still limping, and I did a close examination of her legs. At first, I thought the issue was a partly cracked nail. I decided to rinse it and put a bandage and socks on, and planned to call the Vet on Monday. This made me depressed. A cracked nail is no minor issue and not something we wanted to happen one week before the summer vacation. And on the very first week, Karma would stay with a friend of us.  

On top of this, she was in the middle of the heat. 2 months overdue, but hopefully she would be done with it come start of vacation.

After several examinations, I could not really find anything wrong with her nails. I took the bandage off and she didn’t not try to lick her paw. That’s a good thing.

I didn’t go hiking today. I wanted to observe my dog, and besides – it was raining, and I had stuff to do at work.

On the evening walk, she looked a tad better and I hoped that this was a transient condition. She has a generic shoulder dysplasia, and I gave her a glucosamine tablet, in addition to her daily mineral additions.

Selsteinen (598m), Slettheia (553m), Øyrahornet (417m), Rysseviktua (452m), Storehanen (493m), June 26 2022

Sunday: On the morning walk, Karma looked better than the day before. I decided to drive to the Djupvikhaugen trailhead and let her walk as much as she felt for. She felt for no walking at all, and I drove back home.

As it was a beautiful day, I decided to leave the dog home and finish the routes around Øyradalen – for my “count and check sticks” project.

Today, I had the wisdom to dress light – T-shirt and shorts. Still, in 25 deg. C., the backpack was heavy. In addition, I carried two sticks that was meant for Selsteinen.

I took the shortest route possible from the Moltudalen trailhead to the top of Selsteinen. Normally, this is a stroll but today it was bloody hard work!

I replaced two of the four sticks that someone had removed and will bring the rest when we have a signpost to go along with them.

The sticks along the route to Slettheia stood firm and there was nothing much to do, other than to count them and give them 2-3 knocks with the club. In case you wonder what the chisel was for – if I had to put a stick somewhere else, then the chisel comes in handy for creating a hole in the ground.

From Slettheia, I continued towards Øyrahornet. When I reached the point when we turned around on Tuesday, I put the equipment in the backpack and focused on my counting.

At Øyrahornet, I could take a break from the counting. Now I just had to find a good route across Øyradalen and to Rysseviktua – where we finished on Wednesday.

I was happy to see the swans at lake Øyravatnet. They’ve been here during summer ever since I moved out here in 2008. I can’t know for sure it’s the same pair, though. I never wanted to risk disturbing them for a closer look.

From Rysseviktua, I continued to Storehanen. By the time I reached the top, I had counted 110 sticks. I’ll not summarize until all the routes have been covered. I’m curious about the final number. It will be a manifest to a lot of hard work!

From Storehanen, I took the steep route down to Kvia. For amusement, I made a point of not using my hands during the descent. I still got it, although a bit stiffer than I care for…

I was happy about having completed this mountain area and get home to Karma. She was mighty pleased to see me. 3 hours+ is a long time for a dog who wants to spend ALL her time with daddy. That’s not just wishful thinking on my part. The Barbets are very, very connected to their owners. When I got home, I had to hold her down so she wouldn’t make her foot worse from pure joy.

When I took her out, she looked better than she did in the morning. I’m guessing that within 2 days, she’ll be back on the trail!

Trip statistics: 12,1km, 720 vertical meters, 3h:07m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max) from the hike: