Hello my friends! I write to you today from the Tromsø public library. I’m on the second floor landing with a spectacular view of old red and yellow two story buildings down the hill and the permanent background around here - mountains.
I spent the past six days exploring the Arctic region of Norway; two half days here in Tromsø bookending my time on and getting to Senja; the true destination of this northern excursion.
Senja is one of the many islands along the Western coast of Northern Norway. Due to the pace at which the glaciers that formed this part of the world moved, the west coast of the island has gorgeous towering, jagged mountain peaks. I climbed two of these mountains, on the days of my visit with the best weather. Though, I really never had bad weather. It was unseasonably warm throughout my visit and only rained once, overnight. 55 and cloudy is a treat in early June when it is usually 45 and cloudy! The day of my first hike was actually 70. So, overall boo global warming; but in this specific instance, yay for good hiking weather.
My first hike was of Mt. Hesten which alongside Mt. Segla, towers over the tiny town of Fjordgård. Segla is one of the jagged peaks I mentioned earlier, and might be the most famous mountain on Senja. The most striking view of Segla is actually from the top of Hesten, so that’s where I went. Here I learned an important lesson about Norwegian trails: there are no switchbacks - which are used on many trails to make the hike less aggressive by slowly winding left and right as the path climbs - these trails just go straight up the mountain. So that was a fun discovery! It was also more than a little bizarre to be crossing snowfields in a tank-top. This is was the grade of the trail for the majority of the hike.
June is early in the Norwegian summer hiking season - see snowfields and usual 45 degree temperatures - and I was there on a Thursday, so the trail was not at all crowded. From what I could tell, it was mainly me and locals who were taking advantage of the delightful weather.
Friday was extremely overcast and I was dubious of what I’d see from any peak. Plus, my calves and knees were quite tired from the nearly vertical ascent and descent of Hesten. So I spent the day driving along the Senja Scenic Route. The closest equivalents I can think of are the Pacific Coast Highway or Blue Ridge Parkway. It’s a two lane (though in some places that would be an extremely generous characterization) road that runs along pretty scenery and is designed for sightseeing not for efficient transportation. As expected, I stopped at many beautiful views of mountains towering over minor fjords or the ocean, and tiny little towns or clusters of homes and fishing shacks in inlets and bays in the shadow of the mountains. Less expected were the few sandy beaches and immaculate public toilets. Shown here is the Husøy lighthouse, the island of Husøy itself as seen from the mainland of Senja, and a walkway down to one of the beaches.
As you might guess, Senja is not a place that one travels to directly. I got there by way of two flights, New York - Oslo then Oslo - Tromsø, followed by a ferry ride from Tromsø to Finnsnes, where I rented a car and drove out to Senja. My ferry arrived in Finnsnes around 7pm and I rented a room for the night in town. One of my hosts politely enquired how I, a young American woman traveling alone, found herself in Finnsnes which is not exactly a major tourist destination. When I explained about the hiking, he excitedly told me that he was also an avid hiker! We had a great conversation about hiking and hiking on Senja specifically, and then he suggested I try to do one of his favorite hikes - Husfjellet. On Saturday, with my somewhat less tired legs and marginally improved cloud outlook in the weather forecast, I set off to do just that.
The trailhead for the Husfjellet hike is located in Skaland, yet another tiny village on the banks of a fjord. So, you know, just not at all pretty. Before I left, I saw one brief sun icon on my weather app for 3pm, so I tried to time the hike such that I summited around then. Usually, I would never start a hike after lunch; but in summer, Northern Norway is the land of the Midnight Sun, and it was not hot out so my usual concerns were non-issues. The mountains were obscured by low clouds when I started, but I crossed my fingers they might blow through. Little did I know clouds would soon be the least of my concerns.
Husfjellet is just one in a series of mountains over Skaland. On the way there, you actually summit a smaller mountain, Sommardalen. Behind the Sommardalen peak is a valley at the confluence of several taller mountains, including Husfjellet. All the snowmelt runs of these peaks down into the fjord through this valley and it was extremely muddy. This section of the trail was made from wooden planks. The planks floated deceivingly on the mud until you put any weight on them, at which point they kept you clear only if the mud was less than 4” deep. I didn’t have any way to test how deep the mud was other than just step cautiously on the planks. I did confirm my boots are waterproof, but was not interested in seeing how far up my leg the mud went. I had just turned around and decided to take an alternate route up, when another woman came up behind me. She had trekking poles (and longer legs) and decided to brave the mud, so I stopped to see if she would get through. She made it past the first major bog where I’d stopped and said I could make it too if I took one of her poles. I did, and we then tag-teamed our way through the rest of the bog by re-positioning rocks and pulling each other across long jumps. If only the corporate team building exercise people could have seen us.
Bonded by our bog hopping, we finished the hike up, hung around at the summit for about an hour waiting for the clouds to clear, and then climbed back down (via the significantly less boggy alternate route I was planning to try on the way up) together. It was great fun! My friend was a German woman named Julie on sabbatical from her job in Hamburg and we chatted the whole time about our plans for the rest of the summer, previous trips, and where the other should visit in each of our respective homelands. We took a picture together in the parking lot at the end, which I have included here. The clouds did break while we were at the top and the views were spectacular. The pictures do not do them justice.
Up next I am flying back down to Oslo to commence my tour of Southern Norway via train, trail, and boat. More to come.
Erin
