Norway - Roadtrip, Forest & Such - 5

This morning I woke up quite refreshed but Ben hadn't really slept due to the cold. He was exhausted. After breakfast we tried to decide on what to see today. I had my mind set on Galdhøpiggen, the highest peak in Norway. Seeing the actual peak would've required a 2 hour hike and 600m ascent though, and we didn't really think that one was very plausible. We decided on driving along route 55 throught the mountainous area. The route passes by Jotunheim, the nature reserve of Galdhøpiggen, and crosses a plateau area at an altitude of 1300m.

All rivers we saw on the way were glacial water. Our first stop was at  Riddersprånget along the river Sjoa, The knights Leap the spot is called. The story is that a knight had fallen for someone elses bride. She had a liking for him too, so he stole her and they fled to the river where he jumped over a gorge with her in his arms. The other knights were chasing close behind, and he actually pushed one of his own men into the water to show the pursuers what would happen to them if they followed.
Our second stop was at Stuttgongfossen, a 22 m fall. The forest around the area was fabulous too. It was filled with moss-like lichen. There was so much of it that the forest bed was almost white grayish-green.






We drove upriver and after a while we reached a whole lake of glacial water. It was extremely beautiful and looked treacherously much like Mediterranean water. It almost beckoned one to come take a swim, but glacial water is FREEZING!

The route continued up to the plateau area where we ended up inside a cloud. The mist was so thick we had to creep forward carefully because we really couldn't see very much. This slow going kept on for quite a while,

until we began the descent.
Ben was freezing for a long time this day due to the previous chilly night. We decided on not sleeping outside the upcoming night, and instead did a long drive back over the border to Sweden. That night we spent back home.

Sweden to Norway - Roadtrip, Forest & Such - 3

The 18th of August we started off by exploring the Rista fall. There was a nice trail walk along the river. The walk was not very long, but we spent hours looking at the different parts of the waterfall and rapid.


The weather was warm and moist and generally pretty ok for this kind of excursion.

After having spent quite a while in the forest we drove to Åre, a winter and summer adventure area. Ben has been there skiing as a youngster. I've never been there before, but have been wanting to see it in summer.
The larger ski resorts have a mutual webpage for all kinds of activities, Skistar. We saw loads of mountainbikers descending along the hillside, all muddied up and happy. Most of them took the first lift up again. It all looked fabulously fun! Dad had never been in  a cable car so we decided to hop on one up to the Åre plateau, close to the summit, Åreskutan. The summit is actually another 300 m ascent and we didn't have time to go there, so we enjoyed the view at an elevation of 1020 m. Besides, with the via ferrata of the day before and the hike down along the Rista river and back up again, I was quite exhausted and another 300m ascent was pretty much a no go.




We enjoyed the view from the plateau for a while and grabbed the last cable car back to ground level.

We had time for one more stop this day. Tännforsen, the highest water fall in Sweden. Its 37 meter from top to bottom. It has a perpetual rainbow on one side. The rocks in the fall are jagged and the very thought of falling into the water there is quite horrifying.

The walk from the parking lot to the water is a slight descent and I actually had to skip going to the bottom of the fall, due to some Braxton-Hicks contractions. Had been way too active the last couple of days. Well, Ben and dad did the whole tour and took loads of pictures.

Camping that night was at a spot quite nearby right at a road off the main one. We found the perfect spot for the tent and built a closed space between the tent and car with the tarp and mosquito net.

We went to bed in a dry, fabulous night, but woke up in a cloud. Phew it was wet and chilly. That day was a transportation day. We got up in a chilly and moist forest. Actually it had been so chilly that condensation had water dripping off the inside of the outer tent, onto the roof of the inner one and down on us. The shade was quite chilly, but luckily the sun showed up over the treetops within just a little while and within moments my car was steaming off the drops of water. By the time we'd had breakfast and packed our gear the tarp and tent were more or less dry.



This day we crossed the border to Norway, heading west on route E14. We had planned to stop at Brudesløret waterfall on the way (its right at the border), but the place was so small we missed it and drove passed and decided to just keep going.

We did some border shopping in Storlien- prices differ quite significantly between Sweden and Norway and the grocery store was filled with over border shoppers.

After making coffee at a pit stop we drove to Trondheim, a town on the coast. Here we had a break for an hour or so to make further plans. We will be working our way back to the South now. Tomorrow the plan is to visit Trollkirka. More on that in the next post.

The evening and night was spent on something like a marsh land in a no name place situated between tiny villages called Vinjeøra and Orkanger. A gravel road led to an abandoned exit overgrown with small pine that my car just about could drive over without scratching. A flat space at the end was perfect for the tent and car with a tarp.

We saw not one single mosquito during this evening. It was silent and calm. We had dinner and a walk and tucked in for the night.