Hiking in Sunndal: Stortuva

In Sunndalen you have two opportunities if you want to train: run on flat ground or hiking up one of the mountainsides that are too steep for running. After studying a map, I found a place where I thought it could be possible to go for a run without it being just flat. A 20 minute drive from home the track to Stortuva starts. It's a summit at 1036 meters, and since it starts at nearly sea-level it makes for a good exercise:) It was just to follow the path all the way to the top except from one place: At the first mountain pasture I missed that the path took a right turn, but if you take it slow and take a look around the path should be easy to find:) It took me approximately 1,5 hr to the top and 1 hr to get back down. If you want to make it a hike, it could take a bit longer depending on the pace. 

An old mountain pasture

Ahead: The only part that wasn't possible to run 

The view towards Sunndalen

Enjoying the view towards Nesøya:)

Hiking the triangle in Trollheimen

This hiking trip is one of the most popular ones nearby. Information about the trip can be found here. In spite of the long lasting winter in the mountains my friend Marte and I took the trip early in July. We started at Gjevilvasshytta and were told that up to 60% of the trail were covered in snow towards Trollheimshytta and a bit less on the other stages. We decided to start towards Trollheimshytta, we followed the signs from Gjevilvasshytta and thought we were on the right track. I thought it was a bit funny that we never turned left and after a while we met some people saying we were on the track to Jøldalshytta, not Trollheimshytta. Haha! Lessons learned: do not follow signs, read the map instead. Check if the sign is telling the winter or summer route.

So there was a change of plans, and we spent the first night at Jøldalshytta. What a luxury! It was like being at an all inclusive hotel. After taking a shower and hanging up the clothes in the drying room, we got a three course dinner followed by coffee and cake. It is funny how much better food tastes after a day of hiking=) By 9 pm we were ready to hit the sack! The area around the hut was very nice, but sadly there were too many mozzies around to be outdoors. Even though I was tired when we got close to the hut, the mozzies were so aggressive that I had to find the energy to run the last part.

All routes are marked with red signs. But a map is handy when the signs are covered in snow.

A lot of reindeer between Gjevilvasshytta and Jøldalshytta

Food has never been better:)

A mountain pasture near the hut

Jøldalshytta

Ready for stage number two

On the second stage we took the track across Geithøtta. The more demanding route across Trollhetta had not been taken by anyone else this year due to the amount of snow that still was lying in the mountains. The hiking was fine, but we had to be careful several places where the snow was covering streams. But this was nothing compared to the amount of snow we had to cross the following day. But this snow was thicker and not to many streams to cross, although there was one river that gave us some difficulties. This was the only day I had to wear hiking boots, I am not sure if you have to wear it all if the tracks were free of snow.

Road block. Why do sheep prefer the road and paths?

At the top of Geithøtta=)

Trollheimshytta. The hut you do not see until it's suddenly right in front of you

Ready for the last and final stage:)

The information was correct, plenty of snow!

Where is the snow thick enough for us to cross?

Gjevilvatnet:) almost there!

All in all a beautiful trip that I would recommend to everyone! Ut.no has sat the level of difficulty to demanding. This rating is mostly based on the length of the stages, so do not get scared off it.

Happy and tired back at Gjevilvasshytta=)

Løykja -a short hike and lots of ixodidaes

After a week of no exercise, I wanted to get an easy start. I read about this hike, Løykja, that was fairly short, and decided to do it even though it involved some hills. It's all about getting a view in Sunndalen. The trip was okay, and it gave a nice view of Grøa and the valley for being so short. So far so good. But when I got home I found ixodidaes crawling all over me! They are such nasty creatures, and ruins the joy of being off the main path.(We went through some high grass, so I was not surprised when I got home). It is not just that you can get seriously ill of them; the whole thought of something living on you and sucking your blood to survive is unpleasant, to say the the least!

But I love nature too much to let these small insects scare me away from it. The main thing is to get them off before they find a place to bite. So from now on this is the first thing I do whenever I have been out in the woods. It is ironic that it is not a big animal like a bear or a wolf that everyone is scared of that that injures most people, but a small insect. Yes, many have started to fear the diseases, but still it seems that it is more difficult to acknowledge the danger it represents, than an obvious one(like a bear).

Tanya enjoying the view:)

Pretty happy to be exercising again!

Grøa

Hiking in Sunndal: Vettafjellet

After a late and long lasting winter it was finally possible to start hiking late in June. But not many of the surrounding mountains in Sunndalsøra were free of snow. I got a tip that both Stortuva and Vettafjellet were free of snow, and decided to make my first hiking trip this year to Vettafjellet. It is not a high mountain, the summit is only at 969 meters. The trip is very easy and does not require hiking boots which I only use if it is absolutely necessary. Neither does it take long, and is possible to do as an afternoon trip. It is a nice path almost to the top and then it is just to follow the marks made to show the way. At the time we did the hike, it was still very wet and it was quite slippery. Downhill it was some falls, but since it is never very steep no damage was done. A hike for everyone:)

Service all the way to the top:)

The view down to Øksendalen

Sunndalsøra:) Notice the amount of snow in the mountains!

It is important to write ones name in the book placed in a post box at the top.