Moving around…
Index
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP/FP | MAP |
| 06.05.24 | Rjåhornet | 600m | 107m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 07.05.24 | Huldrehornet | 271m | 113m | Herøy, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 08.05.24 | Rørene | 295m | 72m | Ålesund, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 08.05.24 | Myklebusthornet | 329m | 329m | Ålesund, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 09.05.24 | Steinheia | 896m | 210m | Førde, Norway | – | MAP |
| 10.05.24 | Tirsholten | 820m | 91m | Sogndal, Norway | – | MAP |
| 11.05.24 | Stedjeåsen | 625m | 123m | Sogndal, Norway | WCP | MAP |
| 12.05.24 | Bleia | 1821m | 430m | Lærdal, Norway | – | MAP |
Rjåhornet (600m), May 6 2024
Monday: The week started out with a hike to Rjåhornet from Djupvika. The weather was absolutely gorgeous.
What was not so gorgeous was that Karma’s hot spot near the tail had spread and needed medical attention. I did what I could but would have to seek help from the Veterinarian.
It was almost too hot. Little did I know that this was the vague beginning of a very, very warm period!
I hiked light today. No Canon or backpack.
I was hoping the sea fog would roll in, in a fast pace so my only view was the fog and the mountain tops.
But the fog didn’t seem to make much progress…
I met another hiker on top. He was from Volda, and we decided to keep each other company on the way down. We were typically hikers hiking alone. As such, meeting a “colleague” every now and then is welcomed…
After the hike, I spent a little time with the brush cutter near the Djupvika trailhead.
Trip statistics: 6,8km, 610 vertical meters, 2h:09m
Huldrehornet (271m), May 7 2024
Tuesday: This afternoon was dedicated to more trail maintenance on the Dyrkyrkja trail. This time, I made it all the way to the top of the hill.
I also got started on the long pitch towards the Huldrehornet forest. This will take days on end to complete.
I left the brush cutter in the main trail fork in the forest, and we hiked up to Huldrehornet, just to get a top to show for it.
We returned on the trail to Myrvågane and I had a good chat with the new owner of the farm next to the forest. He has gotten goats. I applaud that. Maybe I can finally get some help, cleaning up this forest…
Trip statistics: 5,2km, 350 vertical meters, 2h:46m
Rørene (295m), Myklebusthornet (329m), May 8 2024
Wednesday: Ålesund day and a morning appointment with the Veterinarian, regarding Karma’s hot spot. It felt so bad to go at this for a second time in a row. The dog doesn’t really seem to be focusing on the hot spot, but it looks absolutely horrible. After shaving her tail-area completely down, I hoped that fresh air, antibiotics and a lot of rinsing would fix this quickly.
I got late off from work, and it was the worst rush-hour. As such, I decided to drive to Ellingsøya island to hike Myklebusthornet. It was not my #1 choice, but I can get there during rush hour without getting stuck in traffic.
I decided to start from Grimstadvegen (Eidsvågen) and set course for Nøringen.
The path was quite overgrown, and it was in desperate need for someone … like me.
Starting from Grimstadvegen doesn’t make for an obvious roundtrip hike, but I like this route nevertheless.
The path got easier once we passed Nøringen.
We had a good view towards Ålesund, although it was overcast.
Our first stop was the Rørene high point.
I’ve done a lot of hiking on this island, but primarily back in the 2006-2008 days when I lived in Ålesund.
Our next goal was the island high point – Myklebusthornet.
It’s a nice path along the forest ridge…
Some ups and downs…
On a clear day, this ridge offers fantastic views!
And then we were up!
I took the usual pictures while Karma was enjoying her treats.
There was no way we would be going back the same way, so I decided to take the path down to Liamyra and take it from there.
At Liamyra, I discovered a path I’ve not hiked before. It took is down to the main road (via a water reservoir).
We followed the road for a little while, then took the road to Leiteneset. The plan was to follow the shore back to Grimstadvegen.
We spooked so many geese that I didn’t have the nerve to count them…
A good hike!
Trip statistics: 8,7km, 540 vertical meters, 2h:02m
Steinheia (896m), May 9 2024
Thursday: Public holiday, and I was on my way to Sogndal. When I was looking at the map, in order to figure out where the afternoon hike would go, I discovered that I had completely overlooked Steinheia in Førde. I had done all the tops near Førde but missed this one.
Which meant my trip to Sogndal would include a detour to Førde!
When I got to Angedalen, I chose to follow the path east of Gryta river, thinking it was the same route I followed when we hiked Førdsnipa back in 2013. But it turned out that I hiked a different path back then.
The route started out as an old tractor road…
…and then it became a regular path.
It was apparent that our chances of getting views from the top, were slim!
Actually, it had been raining most of the way to Førde. But now, it just stopped.
Eventually, we reached the point where you cross the river to get to Hjellestølen. But the river crossing wasn’t tempting. Moreover, why would I cross the river? Slettheia was on THIS side of the river. So, we went off-trail…
Heading into to the fog, I decided to make an effort to memorize the terrain so that I wouldn’t have to rely on the GPS, going down. It’s a good practice, which I recommend!
Every time we passed a characteristic feature, I gave it a name and repeated the previous ones.
Once we had passed 10 features, it became a challenge to remember them all. Age takes its toll…
When we reached snow and thicker fog, remembering details was a HUGE challenge!
We reached the top without other navigation than gut feeling + moving upwards.
I’m sure this top offers nice views on a clear day…
Then it was time to head back down. It went OK for a little while, until I started drifting. I had to check the GPS on two occasions, just to get back on track. Other than that, I was able to retrace my steps.
Happy about getting a new top, the drive to Sogndal was so much more enjoyable!
Trip statistics: 9,4km, 875 vertical meters, 2h:29m
Tirsholten (820m), May 10 2024
Friday: After work, it was difficult to decide on where to do the afternoon hike. But in the end, I chose to hike Tirsholten in the Kaupanger forest – getting as much off-trail and new GPS tracks as possible. I didn’t have my glasses on and read that the top is 620m from the map.
We started out just before the Amla tunnel, at ~150m. Getting up to 620m should take “no time at all”
I completely adore this forest! One can hike off-trail almost everywhere…
Every now and then, we stumbled onto a deer track and followed it as long as it went in the right direction.
We stayed just right of terrain that was too steep to take on.
Near Stigafjellet, we got into a tractor road that I decided to follow until it ended.
This was when I decided to check the map with glasses on, and learned that the top was 820m, not 620m. Those 200m made quite a difference here up in the deep forest!
Thinking about Anne and her preference for a not-too-late dinner, I decided to speed up the pace…
Eventually, we reached the top. Or at least – a point that could be the top. We would have to check out the entire summit ridge to be sure.
I had been up here once before but had no recollection of it. But once I was confident that any high point had been visited, we headed back down.
There was still quite a bit of snow in the forest, but we avoided most of it. Except one time – where I took a jump and expected to land in soft snow. I did land in snow, and it was soft and below was a pit full of water.
I had soaking wet shoes upon our descent…
We made it back to the trailhead in decent time and I assumed Anne wasn’t too upset…
Trip statistics: 8,2km, 730 vertical meters, 1h:55m
Stedjeåsen (624m) and Confirmation in Fjærland, May 11 2024
Saturday: As we would be attending a Confirmation today, at Sogndal Kulturhus, followed by a photo session in Fjærland (I was the appointed photographer) and then dinner at Brevasshytta, there wasn’t much time for hiking today.
But there was time for a quick lap across Stedjeåsen in the morning.
We did the usual zig-zags up the forest and reached one of the very few vista points in this forest.
I settled for the mailbox today. No reason to go the extra 200m to the high point. At the highest, we would only be 1m lower than the high point anyway…
I looked forward to spending the day with good friends but let me be perfectly honest. The day would be so much better with a mountain top for starters…
This day would be a long, waiting game for Karma, so I was really happy about her getting this walk.
A bit later, we went down to Sogndal Kulturhus to witness the Confirmation. Here, we met the part of confirmand’s family that came all the way from the U.S. Very nice folks!
Then we went to the beautiful Fjærland to take pictures.
Afterwards, we stopped by Skeisstølen for another photo shoot. While waiting for the others, Anne was the model…
Next up was dinner at Brevasshytta. What a location! Just below the Bøyabreen glacier. The Americans were flabbergasted…
The dinner went on. I took a LOT of pictures. But eventually, the dinner came to an end…
Late evening, Anne wanted to take a swim in the lake below the glacier…
I was good…
Anne is a tough broad…
The final chore, before we could he home was to fill up the car with wood that Anne had permission to take. This was only part 1 of 3 for me. First, I had to carry them. The next time I’m in Sogndal, I have to cut them with the chainsaw and eventually, they have to be converted to fireplace logs…
Trip statistics: 6,1km, 645 vertical meters, 1h:23m
Bleia (1821m), May 12 2024
Sunday: This trip is featured on a separate post…