Sep 9 Jostedal Glacier - On the Ice

 

Our guides for the hike today are from Nepal. We are on the Jostedal glacier. The largest glacier in Europe. The ice is dirty and granular like gravel. In order to walk on this glacier, we needed some special gear. Our lead guide, the fellow in yellow, has participated in more Everest climbs than he can remember. He does remember his four summits, of course. 

Crampons over your boots, ice axe in hand and harnesses so we could be roped together are part of the preparation. 

This used to be glacier here. Now it is a couple miles away having melted. We have to take a boat to a trailhead and then it is another hour hike to the glacier.

Before we get to the glacier, we cross over the area it has melted back from.

We are just about at the glacier now, looking back at the lake it has created. We are told that the water is murky with particles and not good to drink. 

We get geared up and head onto the ice. A quick instruction and safety meeting gets up ready to venture out on the ice. We are roped together in groups of 6. The ice axes serve as hiking stickes. The crampons really grip in the ice. 

Years of dust and pollution have settled on the ice, giving it a dirty look. Freshly exposed ice appears blue. Often cracks or crevices form but they do not penetrate too deep due to the lower ice being so dense from the weight above it. 

Although I felt secure and safe with the crampons, it was tiring just to move around. We probably spent no more than 20 minutes moving on the ice. Our leaders brought hot coffee and a hazelnut cream liquor for an ice break. 

Everyone had their photo taken by the blue hole. It was deep and there was running water somewhere down there. I saw many small holes filled with ice melt and kept thinking I'd step into one. 

It was a little precarious walking alongside some of these deep cracks in the ice.

After crunching along on the ice, we removed our gear, then headed back the way we have come. It was at least 2 miles on the scoured rock to get to the boat taking us back the staging area we started at.

Sep 8 Gudwagen Royal Postal Route

 

We are transported to the village of Bakka for a short boat ride across the fjord to the trailhead. It takes the small boat 3 crossing to get out group of 20 across. This is the narrowest fjord in Norway, so the boat took just 5 minutes to cross. The hike is along the fjord on what was once the Royal postal route. 

The fjord is a mixture of sea water and fresh water tumbling down the mountains. Throughout the day we saw several boats and a few ferries pass by. To get anywhere around here, you need to cross water. For our Backroads tour, our luggage was transported by a van and trailer. Several times, we took a short boat trip while our luggage took a circuitous land route to get to where were going. 

On this hike, we were on flat ground almost the whole way. There was a small margin of level ground along the fjord. The trail often went through pasture land and we climbed over fencing several times. 

Of course it rained some and when it did, the mountainsides suddenly lit up with silver waterfalls. 

It's all very photogenic here. When it stops raining, the phones come out.

Most barns I have seen here are not on level ground like this one. They all have ramps going to the loft. Since most are built on a hillside, the ramps can be almost level. This one has a steep ramp.

We were treated to scenes like this along the entire hike. Waterfalls and the fjord! Everywhere you look. 

Someone important must have been buried in this burial mound. It was a nice spit of land jutting out into the fjord. 

Up close and personal. 

Almost to the end of our hike

We reached a small dock to have lunch here. Our tour leader had made arrangements with the ferry to make an unscheduled stop to pick us up. We continued by ferry boat another two hours.

Traveling through this narrow fjord was quite scenic. At times the ferry would rock a bit. This set off the car alarms. I wonder what it is like to work on this ferry for a living and hearing car alarms throughout the day.

Sep 7 Naeroyfjord Valley Nali Walk

 

Our 6 day tour with Backroads began at the train station in Voss. Our group was transported in a couple taxi vans to our hotel for the evening. Along the way, we stopped to visit this waterfall. We saw countless waterfalls along the way. Most were just silver ribbons dropping vertically. This one has some character and a small souvenoir shop for the hordes of tourists. 

A view from our hotel was obscured by the weather. There was a verdent green valley and river below. We could see it on a few occasions and we coulkd always hear the river. Our hike today, called the Nali Walk, had this valley in view the entire way.

After a brief stop at the hotel to get orieted, we hiked up a steep narrow road to an old barn for a lunch spread and orientation. 

Then, we began our hike for the day. Beginning on a faint road, the route crossed this raging torrent of water, fueled by the rain we were walking in. 

A steep and rocky trail took us relentlessly upward to this meadow which had been the site of a mountain farm. Norway doesn't have a large population. There just isn't enough room for many more. This farm is a great example why that is the case. Level land in Norway is very scarce. This land was shaped by tectonic events and glaciations. This tiny bit of land, high and almost inaccessible in the mountains, was level enough to eke out a living for a family years ago. Stone foundations show that there were several buildings here and maybe enough land for some sheep, goats and maybe a cow to graze. It had stunning views but was seemingly inaccessible. 

 

Everywhere you look, there is a waterfall. Norway has more of them than anywhere else.

The trail was steep and took its toll on folks. The rain made it slippery and there were a few falls among our group. Offtrail scrambling here would have been extremely difficult. 

Sep 5 Stavern Norway

 

Stavern is a small coastal community along the southern coast of Norway, about 2 hours from Oslo. We are in town for 3 days for a wedding. Our room at the Wassiloff Hotel has a coastal view and is located next to a former defensive fortress, now a fort. A coastal path meandeers throug the former fortress. Our morning walk through this natural area presented a great selection of late summer wildflowers unknown to me. 

We are looking south here. Sunrise is confusing. I'd expected it to be in the east but it was northeast and set in the northwest. 

This looks like a cannon swivel hidden in the rocks. 

The park had several of these rock scluptures.