3 forest tops in the outskirts of Mo i Rana
Summer vacation, day 4
Index
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP/FP | MAP |
| 08.07.24 | Risfjellet | 511m | 421m | Rana, Norway | – | MAP |
| 08.07.24 | Yttrafjellet | 291m | 175m | Rana, Norway | – | MAP |
| 08.07.24 | Rishatten | 375m | 260m | Rana, Norway | – | MAP |
Risfjellet (511m), July 8 2024
Monday: The day after Oksskolten should really be a recovery day. We had an easy morning, but then I could see *boredom* in Karma’s eyes. When I looked in the mirror, I could see the same. Anne would have a town day, but I wanted to bag more new tops.
Risfjellet – just outside Mo I Rana (above Yttern) was an obvious choice. The top is only 511m (511,8m to be precise) and how long could that possibly take?
I drove to Yttern and found the road to Loftfjellet. This was a private road, which I always respect and parked the car at the beginning of the road. So did a Finnish couple, quite upset because Google had told them they could drive all the way up to the farm.
I asked them what they were there to see but didn’t understand the answer. Their English was not so good.
Karma and I sat course for the farm at Loftfjellet, hoping to find a forest path. We met a local woman on her way down and asked her what she thought the Finnish couple was here to see. She had no idea.
After 1,5km, we reached the farm at Loftfjellet and there was one potentially good viewpoint with view towards Mo I Rana. But there was a signpost saying that access was prohibited. To me, this was a “stay away” place. “We don’t like visitors”. I could be wrong, though. I often am…
I located a tractor/ATV road on the north side of the farm. As an upside, it was possible to open the gate. Some farms lock these gates down tightly…
Then, it was just a matter of sticking to this dirt road, totally ruined by ATV tracks.
The tracks led us up to a weird-looking building on Risfjellet. I had no idea what this building was, or what purpose it used to serve.
On the other side of the meadow, I could see an antenna-looking device and assumed the building had something to do with that.
For nerds like me, it’s not the 510m cairn close to the antenna that is the high point on this forest top.
There is a top 1,8m higher, some 300m to the southwest. This is the top we visited first. There was a vague path from the building to the 511,8m top.
I also decided to visit the 510m top, and there was a vague path that guided us in that direction.
I considered hiking around lake Langtjønna and come back to the strange looking building but decided to retrace our steps from the 510m top.
There was light rain in the air, but it didn’t amount to anything. Hence, this was a pretty OK hike, except for the muddy ATV road and the feeling I got at the farm.
When I returned to the car, the Finnish couple’s car was still there. I could not for the life of me imagine how they had managed to make their stay – wherever it was – worth the while…
Trip statistics: 9,6km, 630 vertical meters, 2h:11m
Yttrafjellet (291m), July 8 2024
Monday: After Risfjellet, I drove up to the Yttraskardet pass and looked for the Yttrafjellet trailhead. I expected to see a tractor road (according to the map) but found a nice forest path instead.
We followed the path upwards. After a while, the path turned south, leading us away from the high point.
I then met a woman with an adorable Basset and we had a chat. She told me to just follow the path and it would take us to lake Lomtjønna, which was close enough to the high point.
At Lomtjønna, the path seemed to go in the wrong direction and so I decided to go off-trail. After hiking in the totally wrong direction, I adjusted the course and found the high point.
I liked the area surrounding the high point.
But I didn’t understand the path and so from Lomtjønna, I decided to hike off-trail through the forest until we reached the forest path.
All in all, a very nice hike!
Trip statistics: 3,9km, 260 vertical meters, 0h:57m
Rishatten (375m), July 8 2024
Monday: After the hikes up Risfjellet and Yttrafjellet, my shoes and socks were soaking wet and I had reached my goal for the day – two new tops. But it was still early in the day and so I called Anne and checked if it was OK to do one more hike. It was.
Rishatten is located just west of Risfjellet and Yttrafjellet and I figured that hike along – according to the map – a tractor road/path from Almlia (along Nesnavegen) was the fastest route to the top.
But when I got to Almlia, I could NOT find the tractor road (or path). The map was crystal clear. This tractor road (or path) would take us all the way up the forest. I just HAD to assume this was true and allowed a small amount of off-trail hiking, just to see if I could find it.
After crossing a fence (lifting Karma across), I found the tractor road. And from there on, there were no more problems.
The tractor road was clearly not being used in modern age, but it wasn’t completely overgrown. The progress up the forest was good, and after a while, we merged with a path from Einhågen.
We followed the path until we reached the forest ridge and then we turned right. We reached the high point within 5-10 minutes.
The only question was – was there a viewpoint on this forest top? I decided to follow the path to the east for 5-10 minutes, and we reached what looked like a spot people go to. There was a paper on a tree, telling a story about Rishatten. But no views.
I decided to call it a day and retraced our steps down the forest. Being a bit nonchalant and trusting my memory, we hiked too far in the direction of Einhågen and had to hike back for a little while. But at least, we got a fairly good viewpoint towards Mo i Rana!
Back at the car, I was hungry. We had hiked more than 20km and the vertical gain was more than 1000m. I had clearly earned a hot dog and stopped at the nearest gas station. In Norway – gas stations are primarily known for their hot dogs (or burgers), more than the gas/petrol…
I then drove back to Fjordgaarden Hotell in Mo I Rana and found Anne in the room. I had a shower and then we went to visit my uncle and auntie in their combined office building. My auntie is an artist (wire weaving) and my uncle fixes and assembles anything on earth, but particularly vintage cars and guitars.
Then we enjoyed Pasta at Osterie Kreol in downtown Mo I Rana before calling it a day. Very nice food!
Trip statistics: 6,8km, 500 vertical meters, 1h:32m
