A “long” plod…
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP/FP | MAP |
| 29.05.26 | Seterfjellet | 599m | 226m | Brønnøy, Norway | WCP | MAP |
Friday: Still in Brønnøysund, helping out my mom with garden work. After finishing my regular job, I drove to Vedal to hike Skogmofjellet (458m). It looked like a short hike. I had been there once before, back in 2009.
I drove to the racetrack and parked there.
I knew there was a path from here, but I didn’t find it (I didn’t look very hard for it either) and just went through the forest until I found the mountain path.
It was fun to hike this ridge again!
But then I thought – hmm – if I turn right here, then Seterfjellet wouldn’t be very far away.
I was just about to the check the map when I came across this signpost. It said “Sæternibba”, which I didn’t know what was, but I assumed it could be local language for “Seterfjellet”.
The path was marked well. First, it took me to lake Nerseterstigvatnet…
… before it climbed upwards.
On the other side of the lake, I could see Skogmofjellet – which was my original plan. It didn’t seem like a long hike.
A little bit later, I thought I was closing in on the Seterfjellet top.
But I wasn’t. Clearly, I still had a bit to go.
Then I saw a cairn and I was certain that it was the top of Seterfjellet. But it wasn’t.
The top was still 1,2km further south. And Sæternibba was clearly some viewpoint further northwest.
1,2km is nothing but today, it felt like a lot. I was tired from the cocktail of medication I was on after removing a molar two days earlier. Moreover, the pain killers I took at noon had now worn off and the pain was for real. According to the dentist, I was still not on the peak of the pain. That was expected to be the day after.
But I wasn’t turning around now. And – the mountain terrain was easy. I enjoyed the views while keeping a steady course for the top.
And then I was up…
This was my 3rd visit to the top. I hiked from Vedal back in 2000, and then I hiked with mom from Seterlandet in 2009. 17 years later, I was back again.
But, I enjoyed being here. I could see many mountains from here, although the higher ones were in the fog.
I returned the same way I came and then I met Helge Nilsen. I didn’t know him, but he knew my name. He told me had been using westcoastpeaks.com to find routes to mountains in this region. I was happy to hear that. We had a good chat before we went our separate ways.
Back at the cairn I mistook for being the top of Seterfjellet, I decided to check out what Sæternibba was. Could it be the hump 2-300 meters away?
It wasn’t. It was another hump 400 meters northwest of the first hump. This path was also well marked, and the terrain was easy to hike.
This time, I remembered to register both Seterfjellet and Sæternibba (I suspect the locals say Sæterfjellet although it’s Seterfjellet on the official maps) on the Fjelltrimmen app. It doesn’t make any difference to me, but if the registrations help in the bigger picture, securing more funding for maintaining the trails, it’s absolutely worth it. A big shout-out to Kjell Iver Johansen, the driving force for trail development and maintenance in the Brønnøy region.
From Sæternibba, I hiked off-trail northeast in easy terrain, until I joined my ascent route.
It had been 6,5 hours since my last pain killers and now the pain prevented me from focusing on anything else.
I kept a fast pace down the mountain, eager to get back to mom’s place and get pain relief for a few hours. I sure hope the dentist was correct in that I could soon face better days.
Trip statistics: 10,2km, 685 vertical meters, 3h:03m
