Summer vacation, day 10
Index
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP/FP | MAP |
| 22.07.25 | Høgstjerna | 820m | 660m | Gildeskål, Norway | – | MAP |
| 22.07.25 | Litt-Stjerna | 726m | 30m | Gildeskål, Norway | – | MAP |
Continued from summer vacation, day 9…
Tuesday: My main goals for my week in the Finnes area, were Høgstjerna (820m) and Høgnakken (1045m). I had seen these mountains several times before, and I was determined to visit them one day.
The day to visit Høgstjerna was today. Anne was happy about settling in at Finnes, and Karma would most certainly be happy, sitting this one out. The temperature was still extreme and besides, she had gotten too old for these kinds of mountains.
After breakfast, I drove to Forstranda, with my bike in the car. The first part of the route was a 3,1km forest road, followed by a 1,3km tractor road. That sounded too boring to walk.
I didn’t have any other information than the recommended starting point and that it was a bit steep near the top. I reckoned I would be able to get up, one way or another.
With my main goal ahead of me, I started biking from Forstranda…
I reached a gate, which sort of concluded the forest road part. The second part, I would call a dirt road. After a 2km (from the start), the dirt road forked. I went to the right.
After 3,1km, I got to the part which I called a tractor road. I was a bit surprised about seeing a road sign (marking a bump). Are people driving here? At least, I was able to bike up although it was really hard work.
I reached the top of the hill and wondered where the path was. I didn’t see any and so I left my bike and just went off-trail into the forest.
It only took me 2 minutes before I found the forest path. Ot must have started a little bit down the road. I assumed it would take me directly up the hill ahead of me, but I was wrong.
The path curved around on the outside and took me up to Bogfjellet, at the drain of Skvettelva river. The mountains looked tall and mighty from here!
I didn’t see any path up the mountain, so I just aimed for the ridge and curved around Litt-Stjerna, through a boulder field.
Oops – didn’t Høgstjerna look a bit steep from this side? But I could also see that it was way less steep on the back side, and so I was quite sure I would reach the top.
I decided to try to get up Litt-Stjerna from the ridge. After a little while, I didn’t feel I had a secure enough route and decided to find another route, on my way down.
Høgstjerna looked less intimidating, seen up close. There was even a vague path, and I was quite sure I would get up here.
Safety was priority #1. I didn’t want to end up like this poor bastard.
A few minutes later, I was up!
One down, one more to go. I really looked forward to taking on Høgnakken – another day.
Having said that, the upper part of Høgnakken looked steep. I didn’t see any obvious, safe routes. But I know 3 people who have gone up here. They are all much more seasoned scramblers than I am, but at least I would give it a try.
I decided to stay with the present and enjoyed the mighty views.
After a while, I went down the way I came up, eager to get to the top of Litt-Stjerna.
From the ridge, I just descended a little to the right, curved around and found a neat stairway up to the summit ridge.
I was not alone up here.
As for “stairway”, getting to the top required some easy scrambling, before moving up a very exposed summit ridge.
And then I was up!
Man, that was fun! Now I was very motivated to return to Anne and Karma at Finnes. I thought about traversing Litt-Stjerna, but didn’t want to waste time looking for routes.
I also looked forward to getting to the top of Finnesfjellet, together with Anne. That was the plan for the next day.
I followed the same route back to my bike, and I blasted down the forest. Very fun indeed!
Back at Storvika, I stopped to take a picture of Høgnakken. In case the Nakkdalen route would be too challenging, maybe I could try from the Storvika side.
In the afternoon, we got a visit from friends from Sogndal – Heidi-Kathrin and Svein, currently on vacation at their summer house near Inndyr.
They told me that they had been to Høgstjerna some years ago, and that a guy drove them all the way to the place I left my bike. I found it difficult to understand how someone would do that to their car. Svein told me it was a bumpy and very slow ride, but better than walking.
They had brought ingredients for a wonderful salad, and we had a very nice afternoon at Finnes.
Trip statistics: 6km on foot, 8,6km on bike, 945 vertical meters, 3h:02m
Great photos. Relaxing ambiance in the area.