Norway: First Backpacking Day

A little late, we wake up and have a Norwegian breakfast of bread, meat, cheese, and spreads. Kristine bought this fresh strawberry honey at the Viking festival which was really good as a jam replacement. Oh! And I finally had some good milk in Europe! Finally. After months of wishing I could buy some good, cold milk which is pretty impossible in Spain, my wishes were fulfilled.

We all made sure we were packed and ready for the mountains. Well, as ready as one can be for what we were about to embark on. We hopped into the car and headed off eastward, into the mountainous region of Norway.

The ride was gorgeous. Seriously, the country is something unlike I had ever seen. I never imagined myself winding through the mountains on roads that hugged the fjords, but here I was, taking it all in.

Soon enough we met up with Cecilie and Trygve, some Norwegian friends of Kristine’s, loaded our packs with food after a stop at a supermarket, and made our way into the mountains.

First, a little bit on Cecilie and Trygve. Cecilie is one of the most energetic and happy people I have ever met. For example, after our 14 hour, 15+ mile trek and climb through the mountains, she ran around 4 miles back to the campsite to set up for the night. Trygve is super outdoorsy. He planned the entire trip for us, and new all the best sites. He also lent us most of the gear we used. He was equally as excited as Cecilie, and since he was the most experienced with this type of lifestyle, he also had to do the running when necessary.

Well, like I said, we made our way into the mountains. A short drive and a few sheep filled roads later (I feel like I can qualify as an experienced sheep herder based on the amount of sheep that fled our vehicle) we were at the base of a mountain, near a waterfall that ran into the fjord, surrounded by sheep. This was the least picturesque it would get for the rest of the trip. Seriously, what a terrible country.

Okay, right, so we started on our way up the mountain, crossing over the waterfall at various moments, passing through expansive hillside fields and over giant boulders. Only a few hours in we made it to the first set of cabins. Trygve asked if we were interested in going a few hours more to the next cabin, but our large, out of shape, American asses were quite content on staying at these.

Wow, were these cabins nice. They were equipped with food, cooking utensils, a stove top, some had leather couches, beds, books, games, fire places. Everything you could want for a cozy cabin in the mountains, it was there. Hint: Stansted was the roughing it of the trip. Well, we settled into the cabin, prepared a fire and made tacos for dinner. Afterwards we enjoyed each other’s company over the Norwegians’ first smores and some rounds of Dutch Blitz.

Since it was still light out (Norway, by the way, never gets dark during the summer, even in the south), we took the row boat out for a spin. Oh, did I mention that these cabins were overlooking a mountain top lake and were equipped with row boats? We soon realized that we were terrible at rowing boats as we could only go in circles or lines approximated by arcs. It was still really enjoyable though. Eventually it got somewhat dark so we retired to the cabins and went to bed. What a day.