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Published: September 1st 2018
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In front of Vangshaugen
The hut was built at the beginning of XX century as a hunting lodge. Today it contains a reception, a kitchen and common areas equipped with beautiful original furniture. The rooms are located in another not-so-pretty building. In Norwegian
fjell means
mountain (or
fell) and hence we have National Park of Dovre and Sunndal Mountains. Despite the fact that the park was founded only in 2002, the region features in Nordic mythology and Norwegian history. It was here that Harald I Fairhair, the first semi-legendary king of the united Norway (on whom one of the characters of the show
Vikings is loosely based) was brought up by trolls, according to sagas. From a less mythological period comes the motto of the current Norwegian constitution. After the chaos of Napoleonic Wars, Norwegians declared their independence and adopted the constitution on May 17, 1814. The motto of the constitution, as declared by the undersigned, reads
united and loyal until the mountains of Dovre crumble. Back then it was believed that mountain Snøhetta (meaning Snow Hood, 2286m) was the highest mountain in Norway. (Btw, this kind of oaths always makes me uneasy: after all Macbeth believed to rule forever, as it was impossible for the forest of Birnam to approach Dunsinane.)
The mountains themselves are of a very typical Norwegian kind. Vast, empty plateaus full of rocks and lakes, with little vegetation apart from some resilient grass and bushes. Higher
Train station in Hjerkinn
All train stations I have visited in Norway so far are beautifully decorated building like this one. Many of them are open 24/7 and are very clean, so that one can even spend there a night waiting for an early train. In Hjerkinn there is almost nothing more than a couple of hostels and so the train stops only on demand. When on train the conductor knows who goes there and so the train stops (usually the conductor confirms first the passenger really knows what they are doing getting off in a middle of nowhere). On the other hand, the train slows down when passing the station and stops if someone waits on the platform. parts of the mountains, over 1500m, feature some snow and slopes around the highest peaks are covered by small glaciers. The plateaus are cut with deep, wide, U-shaped and green valleys. Dwarf birch groves cover the slopes of the valleys, starting at altitudes of about 700m, and subsequently turn into proper forests deep in the valleys. The bedrock is monotonous with little or no variation at all, a sort of a metamorphic gneiss, to my unskilled eye, and usually covered by lichens and very slippery when wet.
One of the best Norwegian invention is the hut system. Entire Norway is covered by a net of tourist huts owned by various branches of Norwegian Tourist Association. Huts range from large hotel/hostel-like buildings to small houses, described best by the word
hut itself. Distances between huts vary between 10 and 25 km, perfect for a full day hike. Most of the huts are not staffed, everything is based on trust. A typical hut contains a fully equipped kitchen, a dining room and a living room, usually welded into a single large central hall. Bedrooms are located around the hall and equipped with 1 to 3 beds or bunk beds. Each bed
Modern church in Hjerkinn
There is an old pilgrims' trail passing through Hjerkinn. The pilgrims have been hiking from south to St. Olav's grave in Nidaros, i.e., contemporary Trondheim. King Olav Haraldsson died in a battle in 1030 and was canonized the following year. Since then pilgrimages have been taking place and the major pilgrims' route crosses the Dovre Mountains over a pass in Hjerkinn. Modern trails: the E6 road and the Olso-Trondheim railway cross the mountains over the same pass. comes with a thick quilt and a pillow. One needs to bring their own sheets and clean the room after the night. The huts do not have a running water nor electricity, but it does not really matter. Norway is full of water and the closest stream usually runs next to the hut. Dinner can be cooked on a gas stove in an excellently equipped kitchen and rooms are heated by iron stoves. Most huts possess a storage room, where food can be bought from. Prices are surprisingly reasonable for a place where everything must be hauled by a helicopter or during winter (and considering it's Norway too). After spending a night in a hut one must only clean the room and common areas and fill in a payment form indicating all the food bought at the hut.
Norway is a country where I would proudly call myself a tourist. Hiking the mountains is regarded a noble activity and people respect that. No one is denied a bed for a night and people are very friendly. While in principle there is a limited number of mattresses in a hut, the number of beds always exceeds a number of tourists.
The only picture of Snøhetta (2286m) from Hjerkinn
This is the only picture of Snøhetta from this side, since the next day the weather was absolutely awful and one could not see further than 50-100m. A pity. Usually I would choose my own very comfortable room and would not need to share it with anybody. Only in the first hut, Åmotdalshytta, I shared a room with Lisa and Pieter-Paul, a couple from Amsterdam. After the first day, with absolutely awful weather, after eight hours of hiking in unceasing rain, I reached the hut. There, among other people, I met Lisa and Pieter-Paul, who, as it quickly turned out, were walking in the same direction as I was. The next day, although we had left separately, we met on the trail and together reached the second hut, Loennechenbua. This is the smallest hut in all Norway (among those belonging to tourist associations) breathtakingly located on a shore of a small lake and containing only 4 mattresses. We ate dinner together and went to sleep. During the night something weird happened to my neck: I was unable to turn my head right in the morning and felt rather scarred about it. Lisa and Pieter-Paul comforted me and carried out all required chores for me. Then we started hiking towards the valley together and in a few hours the neck situation got much better (and everything went back to normal
Snøhetta from Åmotdalshytta
The weather got better and I could finally see Snøhetta from the other, northern side. The white strip is a small glacier, which one needs to cross when hiking the mountain from this side. If Łukasz had been here, we would have definitely hiked it. the next day). By the end of the day we split, me going towards another hut, located beautifully in a picturesque valley, on an old cheese farm. A few days latter I saw their names in the registers of two other huts, Vangshaugen and Eiriksvollen, so I hope they had a good hike and reached their destination safe and sound!
The following day I hiked entirely in two valleys, going from one cheese farm to another. The sky cleared up and the weather was fantastic. Full sun shimmering in rivers and lakes, with sun rays glimmering through tree branches. It was the only day it had not rained at all, although the weather on the next two days was great as well. During these two days I climbed up to another plateau and descended on the other side towards Vangshaugen. More a hostel than a mountain hut, this was the only staffed place on my trail. While the place had electricity and showers (yes, finally!), it did not have an accessible kitchen nor a storage room with food. Reluctantly, I decided to buy a not-so-cheap dinner, but very quickly it turned out to be a great decision. While I
That's how much you could see on the first day
Yeap, it was raining all day and the clouds were as high as you can see, or lower. do not think this is a general situation among the staffed huts, the dinner was cooked by the guardian and it was delicious! Three courses of a simple but exceptional food of great variety, including a great tomato soup and my favourite salmon! The dinner was served to around 10 people, all seated next to each other along a wooden table in a beautiful former hunting lodge built at the beginning of the XX century. This was a perfect opportunity to meet more people, among others Toril from Norway. Toril is an actress and an artist, mostly photography and painting. When I was there, one of her photographs has just been shown on a national TV.
On the last day I crossed a mountain range towards the last hut, Eiriksvollen. This is a new hut built only a few years ago. It is located very conveniently in Sunndalen, a deep and very steep valley, only five minutes from a bus stop. From there I took a bus to Oppdal and then a train to the Oslo airport. It is worth pointing out that to get to this hut one needs to borrow a special key, to borrow the key
Plateau close to Loennechenbua
The plateau if covered with irregular crystal clear lakes. Snøhetta in the background. one needs to be a member of one of the tourist societies, and to become the member one must pay. Or count that there would be other people with the key in the hut. While this last option was to dangerous, buying the membership provides also discounts in all huts, so this is what I had done before I started the trip.
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