From ac975cc6373b1848f1d6259b621f9dd84baa12cc Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Pim van Pelt Date: Fri, 9 Sep 2022 12:42:54 +0200 Subject: [PATCH] Finish the log for day15 --- content/blog/day15.md | 128 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++- 1 file changed, 126 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/content/blog/day15.md b/content/blog/day15.md index 40b5c77..0408cae 100644 --- a/content/blog/day15.md +++ b/content/blog/day15.md @@ -5,8 +5,134 @@ Tags: [] Categories: [] --- +## Our trip today + +{{< image src="/img/thumbnails/2022-09-08/IMG_7706.jpg" width="400px" float="right" >}} + +I was excited yesterday and put my alarm at 07:00, however completely unexpectedly, I woke up at 06:30 already and could no longer sleep, +despite the bed being reasonably comfy. I beckoned Paul who was (obvioulsy) already awake, and he booted up his morning ritual program. At +07:15 we were downstairs making breakfast, boiled eggs (to perfection, if I might say!), the usual bread, salami, smoked salmon, and to mix +it up a little _Italienisk Salat_ rather than my usual _Sommarsalat_. We were in the car at 07:45 and despite a tiny obstruction along the +way in _Beitostølen_ where the local goat herd was having their yearly general assembly on the road, we managed to drive up to the +_Gjendesheim_ parkinglot by 08:30, which was great. + +We put on our hiking boots and at 08:38 we were off to the races - our trip today starts at _Gjendesheim_ parkinglot, about 1.5km walk to +_Gjendesheim_, where parking is only allowed up until 2hrs. We're going to be up here all day, of course, so we got the extra proveribal +mile from the lot to the start of the trail. + +{{< image src="/img/thumbnails/2022-09-08/IMG_7722.jpg" width="400px" float="right" >}} + +Our first task is hiking up the mountain to the summit of _Veslfjellet_ at 1743m / 5718ft which is a hike of about 5.5km, and it takes us +2h20m to get to this point. What I found helpful is that some of the steeper climbs have man-made staircases where the folks who maintain +this trail put flat rocks one after another so you can just walk up. We both appreciate these, as they are less bumpy and easier on the +knees. At the top, there is a huge cairn. I march past it, because I can't wait to see the _Besseggen_ part of the trail, but Paul insists +that we make photogenic proof of being here. We take the required selfies and we measure the elevation here using Paul's phone. It measures +us at 1751m while the summit is 1743m high, pretty accurate for a cellphone! + +{{< image src="/img/thumbnails/2022-09-08/IMG_5543.jpg" width="300px" float="right" >}} + +From there, the trail mosies up and down until it hits the _Besseggen_ ridge after another 1.8km or so. Although it's cloudy and overcast, +we keep on chasing the clouds away. Every time we're at a local tippy-toppie, we see fluffs of cloud overhead. But then, every time we get +to that next part, the clouds once again are a bit higher. In the end, we manage to avoid all of it, and the Sun even comes up to tickle us +a little bit, which is nice. + +The path here is gorgeous though, every now and again we're treated to a view of the lake below, in all of its blue and aquamarine hues and +tints. The Sun wants to / tries to break through to give the lake that little extra sparkle. We're just very grateful that there is no rain +(because climbing down slippery rocks != fun) and limited wind. In fact, the wind that is blowing up here helps us cool off, because we're +both sweating like pigs. + +## Besseggen + +{{< image src="/img/fullsize/2022-09-08/IMG_7726.jpg" width="100%" >}} + +{{< image src="/img/thumbnails/2022-09-08/IMG_7729.jpg" width="300px" float="right" >}} + +We reach the top of _Besseggen_ after about 2h45m of hiking, and here is where the magic starts. From this angle, we can see down on two +lakes and one very thin ridge. The lefthand side lake is called _Gjende_ and it's at around 984m / 3227ft altitude. It's very blue water on +account of the minerals that the mountainous smeltwater brings. Then, on the right is lake _Bessvatnet_ at an altitude of around 1373m / +4505ft. Lake _Bessvatnet_ lays on a slab of basalt rock, inherently dark which makes the (otherwise very clear) water appear black. +Dividing the two lakes, there's a very narrow (at times only 5-8 meters wide) ridge called _Besseggen_ and comes down from where we are here +at 1650m / 5400ft all the way to the black lake below, and it does that descent in about 600m of, let's say, hikeing/bouldering. We make it +down there at the 2h51m mark, and this is 8.77km from where we started. + +{{< image src="/img/thumbnails/2022-09-08/IMG_5563.jpg" width="400px" float="right" >}} + +_Besseggen_ is **not** an easy path. On the way down we come across several groups, amongst others some quite terrified kids who are hiking +the trail the other way around (from _Memurubu_ to _Gjendesheim_). Their teacher / climbing guide explains that for most folks who are afraid +of hights, going up is easier because you can focus on the trail ahead of you. However, even though I also have vertigo, I pretty much always +will walk this trail in our current direction **to** _Memurubu_ because the views makes up for the suffered anxiety. + +{{< image src="/img/thumbnails/2022-09-08/IMG_5559.jpg" width="400px" float="right" >}} + +We have lunch, some Wasa crackers with Jarlsberg cheese, at the lake. I convince Paul not to go skinny dipping in _Bessvatnet_, because we +still have a long way to go. In my memory, from here is'a ll simple down-hill. But as we find, this is not actually the case (and Marina; I +apologize because you've literally told me a hundred times that it's not downhill here at all!). The weather is still overcast, with some +whiter and darker grey clouds above us. Looking up at them, it's reasonably clear to us that we'll not need our Peak Performance waterproof +hiking jackets today. Good for me, I was stubborn and left it at home. + +{{< image src="/img/thumbnails/2022-09-08/IMG_5570.jpg" width="400px" float="right" >}} + +After lunch, we make our way to _Memurubu_ but only after passing a few more ups- and -down hills on the trail. Most of them have a lake +associated with them, but nothing can hold a candle to the view (and feeling of accomplishment) on the main attraction of the trail: +_Besseggen_ itself. Paul kind of stays ahead of me, and does not stop often. He later informs me that my promise of the trail being downhill +and easy going was _not_ a true representation of the factual situation on this last part of the trail (which, in a span of maybe 2km drops +600m of elevation). + +{{< image src="/img/thumbnails/2022-09-08/IMG_7741.jpg" width="300px" float="right" >}} + +But, we make it to _Memurubu_ and find our way to the docks. Maybe a boatride isn't too bad after all. However, we arrive to _Memurubu_ at +2pm or so, 5h36m and 17.2km into our hike. The boat will leave at 16:55 (as we noted yesterday) but there's only one afternoon boat, somehow +we thought they would be every hour or so, but alas. We do the math while eating chocolate chip cookies on the dock: it's about 10km back +via the trail on the lakefront, which should not take more than 3.5-4hrs to do. We figure, we'll be half way back once the boat arrives to +pick us up, and we (at least: I) don't really feel like sitting around for two hours. + +So: off we go, on foot back to _Gjendesheim_. We put our cruise control to 3km/h and start clocking 19-21 minute kilometers, and at this +pace it shouldn't be long before we reach it. + +{{< image src="/img/thumbnails/2022-09-08/IMG_5577.jpg" width="300px" float="right" >}} + +Here's where things start to go less than perfect. We eat some salty beef jerky (which is delicious, we both agree, and totally hits the +spot on this hiking trail), but it makes us thirsty and we both finish our water bottles. We should've topped off at _Memurubu_ but we did +not do this, so now we're hiking (or in my case, perhaps it's more like stumbling forwards), and we're optimistically counting meters not +kilometers; using our GPS we see it's 5.5km left to go, then 5km left to go, then 3 miles (4.8km) and so on. I am **broken** at this point, +about 24km into the hike, we try to keep our cruise-control setting of 20min per kilometer, and achieve it, but only at somewhat gnarly +physical expense. My legs are burning and surly with me, my knees are killing me. Paul's legs and knees are no better off, we're just not +super used to hiking this far (9.5hrs and 28.6km when this is all done). + +{{< image src="/img/thumbnails/2022-09-08/IMG_5584.jpg" width="400px" float="right" >}} + +Although the terrain is objectively easy going, certainly compared to _Besseggen_ up there, I think the worst part is that the trail takes +us up 100m just to round a boulder and take us down 100m again. Paul asks me to complain to Slartibartfast, I send him a text message and he +replies pretty quickly that he is in charge of Fjords, not inland trails, and to take our beef to Loki. Ah, that wretched Loki, who puts in +extra 500m of trail here with up-100m-down-100m just to mess with us. Well, Loki, I hope you're having fun today, because I decidedly am no +longer enjoying it! + +We arrive at _Gjendesheim_ after what seems like an eternity, although it's only 18:45. One spot of good luck we have is that the last +shuttle from here to the parkinglot leaves at 19:00 so we take a load off and sit down on the benches at the bus, eagerly awaiting for it to +shuttle us to Tessa. This allows us to avoid 1.5km of extra walk to pick up the car (which, normally I would not really mind, but right now, +everything is incredibly sore, so fuck-it). We arrive at the car to be treated by ... a parking ticket! This morning I noticed that the +parkinglot had a bunch of yellow plastic bags over the parking meters -- but we now see that this was only on the far end of the parkinglot, +not the near side. Oh well, we'll figure that one out tomorrow. + +{{< image src="/img/thumbnails/2022-09-08/IMG_5592.jpg" width="400px" float="right" >}} + +Paul makes us dinner - a delicious chicken-tonight with parboiled rice and red onion. It really hits the spot, and so does the shower. Just +after dinner, he fires up the Sauna. We were in there yesterday with Irving, our AirBnB host. On the way back from _Gjendesheim_ we made a +quick stop in _Beitostølen_ to pick up some beers. He offered me a few yesterday and I want to repay the favor. This AirBnB is super, the +hosts Tonje and Irving are really nice, and we get to use their kitchen and living room and Sauna: eleven stars on Yelp. + +# What's next ? + +Tomorrow morning we check out of this AirBnB, and drive to Lillehammer. We'll visit a few museums there, spend the night, and make the small +trip to Oslo the day after, in time for our boat on the 11th at 14:00. + + ## Pictures of the Day +**NOTE:** There's a few more pictures than usual for today, but we wanted to share all of them because making them came at great physical +expense :) The _Besseggen_ trail and in general this area of _Jotunheimen_ in Norway is absolutely the best, possibly my favorite place in +the world to go hiking, and to be humbled by the vast beauty of Mother nature. + {{< gallery-category >}} {{< gallery-photo fn="2022-09-08/IMG_7706.jpg" caption="A herd of goats believes the road is theirs">}} {{< gallery-photo fn="2022-09-08/IMG_5527.jpg" caption="Pim and Paul are chipper at 08:35 at Gjendesheim parkinglot">}} @@ -47,8 +173,6 @@ Categories: [] {{< gallery-photo fn="2022-09-07/IMG_5504.jpg" caption="Our private wood-burning Sauna">}} {{< gallery-photo fn="2022-09-07/IMG_5525.jpg" caption="Our private Sauna in a beautiful sunset">}} {{< gallery-photo fn="2022-09-08/IMG_5592.jpg" caption="Paul relaxes in our private wood-burning Sauna">}} - - {{< /gallery-category >}} {{< gallery-modal >}} {{< gallery-script >}}