Hiking to the top of Landegode island
Index
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | MAP |
| 28.07.23 | Rypdalstinden | 802m | 802m | Bodø, Norway | MAP |
Friday: From the point when we arrived in Bodø, it was just a matter of time before we would go to Landegode and hike Rypdalstinden. We had delayed the trip to this island just outside of Bodø just to get a bit more sleep in the morning, but our stay at the Geitvågen camping ground was coming to an end and now that the decision about going was made, it was easy enough to get up early in the morning. The hike to Fjærkjerringa on Kjerringøy the day before wasn’t really exhausting…
We left Geitvågen around 6am, although we probably could have left half an hour later. We found parking in a garage near Scandic Bodø – where we had spent a (bad) night a few days earlier. We pulled out our bikes and went down to the harbor.
The boat left 7:10am and were now on the “milky route” and we hadn’t really thought about the fact that in addition to the hike, we would get a nice cruise to the outer islands.
The first stop was Givær – approx. 27km west/northwest of Bodø.
Our next stop was Helligvær – 13-14km northeast of Givær.
The final stop before Landegode was Vokkøy – just north of Helligvær.
Dogs were not allowed inside the cabin and so I hung out with Karma on deck. We could have put her in a cage, but that’s not how we do it…
Finally, we had course for Landegode and wondered how this hike would turn out. We had very little information about this mountain. Some friends of us had been there, and from what we understood, this would not be a hike with any technical difficulties.
8:45am, we were on Landegode and ready to head out. We had brought our bikes to make the 3,5km approach to Klevikdalen valley less boring. Anne had brought her EL-bike, while I was going old school.
When we got to the entrance of Klevikdalen, we left our bikes and looked for a path. We found a vague path that we decided to follow.
It didn’t take long until we lost sight of this path, and I could feel and hear Anne being moderately happy about the start of this hike. The dense birch forest and high grass wasn’t the optimal way to start a long hike…
But after the initial bush fight, the terrain opened up and we got Rypdalstinden in clear view. Our optimism went up a notch or two. The meadow ahead of us seemed easy enough, but what would Trolldalen valley offer, in terms of pleasure or pain?
I can take a lot of pain to get an 800m pf top. That’s a rather decent prominence, by Norwegian standards. The current rank is #221 in Norway, based on prominence.
We had found a vague path on the meadow, and we hoped this path would take us up through the Trolldalen valley. But it didn’t take long until we lost sight of it and entered a small nightmare.
High grass without knowing what was below us – holes or firm ground. I will hate Trolldalen for the rest of my life.
But there were upsides, of course. The surrounding mountains were awesome!
And, for each painful minute, we were one minute closer to easier ground…
I was super-happy when we could trade the high grass for a boulder field…
And FINALLY, we reached the top of Trolldalen valley, with Rypdalstinden and Kvigtinden surrounding us.
A little fog came drifting in. After this strenuous ascent, I didn’t want our views to be obscured by fog!
But it seemed to be a false alarm. The weather stayed OK as we conquered meter by meter. We all felt the heat. Fortunately, there was lots of water of Karma – at least until we reached the foot of the mountain in Trolldalen.
The final 400 vertical meters were hot and hard, but the reward was waiting up there!
And finally – the summit came into view!
Whatever small obstacles the south ridge had to offer Karma, vanished when I chose to curve around and ascend the top from the back (north) side. Rypdalstinden was now officially “in the bag”
The views were just crazy. Mind-boggling!
I really, really wanted to hike the other main tops on this island – Gjura, Navaren and Kvigtinden. Navaren looked especially cool…
But there wasn’t time for any additional hiking. We had a boat to reach and fortunately, we had plenty of time and didn’t have to rush.
We took the same way down the mountain. We followed a path for a little bit, then the rest of the descent into Trolldalen was off-trail.
When we headed into the Trolldalen forest, we agreed to just go straight ahead and deal with whatever terrain we got. And we got a lot to deal with. This was truly agonizing terrain, and I don’t use that word often…
We were relieved when we reached the meadow and could follow the vague path, going out the valley.
This path led us in a different direction from where we came up. Instead of sticking to the Klevikdalen valley, the path went on the other (east) side of a ridge, separating us from Klevikdalen. This would have been a much easier hike if we had known about this route.
We arrived on the gravel road only 270m northeast from where we headed out. Aargh!
Next, we sat course for the nearest beach to go for a swim and change clothes. Very nice!
We had 5,9km back to the ferry, which was easy for us but way harder for Karma. But she’s strong and kept going all the way! Our little hero!
We stopped by the local store before going down to the harbor and wait for the 16:25 boat.
We got the same cruise on our way back – via Vokkøy, Helligvær and Givær. We arrived in Bodø 18:00 and were back at the Geitvågen camping ground some 15-20 minutes later.
This would be our 4th and last night at this camping ground. We had paid NOK 200,- per night to have a tent here, and it had overall been an OK stay. With one exception – when the owner one evening came complaining about the car we had parked next to the tent. “This looks like a parking lot”, he said. “Move the car!”
Anne and I fired on all cylinders, and the guy left. Our car didn’t. All of our stuff was in it. Eventually, we were able to put this stupid incident behind us and left the next morning in peace and harmony…
And – very much looking forward to our next “project“…
Trip stats: 9,9km on foot, 9,3km on bike, 1000 vertical meters, 6h:44m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max) from the hike:
