When I think about my summer 2022 trip in Norway, these below are the subjects that first and most often come to mind.

Scenery

This almost goes without saying but let me remind myself that Norway is painfully scenic. I wouldn’t need to try to find the beauty, it’d just be there, all the time, no room for doubt. Add to that the diversity in environments and landscapes but let me elaborate on that under its own title.

Looking downstream from the upper reaches of Grovudalen in Dovrefjell

Variety

I structured the trip across 4 different areas. At the time of planning, they were different to me only in little else than their names and it was very interesting to find out how distinctively away from each other they actually were.

Trollheimen was first in my southbound course. It was the most rugged, alpine profiled and wettest of all. Lake basins and lingering snow in the high areas, lots of climbing up and down, this latter often going low enough to meet the treeline. Then it was Dovrefjell. This was higher, smoother profiled, drier and more desolate, with long stretches with no vegetation other than low grass on the rocky ground. Next was Rondane, which was the driest of all to the point that I could even tread on some loose dirt at times. Big, dark rock mountains but more open than Trollheimen and just as desolate as Dovrefjell.

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South of Rondane, there’d be no big peaks anymore, hilly open moorland instead, often wet underfoot. For the last couple of days of the trip in Hedmarksvidda, I’d go low enough to hike in the conifer woods.

Hedmarksvidda marshlands

I’ll go into more detail about each area in upcoming entries.

Solitude

I was somewhat surprised at how little people I met. It was a very solitary trip. For most of it I met almost only day hikers and nearly all the tent parties I saw were on a single weekend night in Rondane. Oddly enough, it was south of Rondane towards the Lillehammer region that I crossed paths with most of the backpacking traffic, apparently I had joined a named hut-to-hut route that’s getting popular.

Being south-central Norway in peak season, I had expected more traffic. I was more than fine with the solitude.

Wilderness

I wasn’t sure what to expect and now I’m not sure how to qualify. It certainly feels wild in these mountain regions, if only for the solitude and the desolation. At the same time, populated areas were never too far throughout my route and I’d go by a couple of huts, stuffed or not, on any normal day. You get the picture.

Huts

The first thing I feel like saying about the hut system is how much more of a challenge it’d be to backpack these regions without it, the huts can be a real life-saver. The second outstanding feeling is how nice, cozy and welcoming the huts are.

Even though camping was my default, I counted on the huts for those times when I’d feel too vulnerable, for which I got a Den Norske Turistforening membership and the master key to the unstaffed huts. I ended up staying indoors 7 out of my 14 nights on the trail. If not a literal life-saver, the huts spared me some misery in 4 of those nights and provided for very nice times that I also consider an important part of the trip.

Jammerdalsbu

I’m aware I need to work on my gear, skills and mindset so I can stay comfortable in the often challenging conditions in the Norwegian mountains.

Blisters

This is an entirely new chapter for me. It’s the first time ever that I get blisters on my feet on a backpacking trip. Why not so far and why now, I have no idea. I did nothing unusual and even the shoes were well worn and known to my feet, yet I got the exact same blister, center ball, in both feet so it wasn’t a freak event.

The blisters revealed themselves in the afternoon of day 3. In a two week trip, I knew they’d be with me for pretty much the entire length and I was aware they’d plague the whole experience. They did. I’m aware there’s pain and glory in every trip and this one was no exception but this one had pretty much every glorious time riddled with pain, fine camps the only exception. Knowing this from day 3 was tough. I soldiered on.

Almost healed

The rocky tread

It maybe was the blisters that made me aware of how rocky the tread was most of the time. I really wonder if I’d be even writing about this if it wasn’t for my feet problems, probably not. That said, this hard, irregular ground was the worst news when every step was painful already. I kept waiting for easier footing and it never really happened for any meaningful length of trail except some marshland areas in Hedmarksvidda.

It wasn’t always this rough but you get the picture

Other than the issue for blistered feet, this was not a route for easy, careless walking. Big miles wouldn’t fly by.

The tyranny of a plan

I didn’t have a set end for the trip other than coming down to the main valley with the transport infrastructure to Oslo on time so the only plan was to keep hiking until the time came. I didn’t fancy improvising a trip extension on the spot though so I drew a route ambitious enough that I wouldn’t run out of planned trail links. I knew what would happen: I felt so attached to all those trails I drew over in the map that I wanted to hike them all. Getting all the way to Hamar town became a goal. This made my trip tough and, at times, stressful.

I was glad I made the effort and I was happy to get there but I also missed some slack sometimes. It’s the old balance conundrum. The key here for me is how an oversized plan became just a plan and the pressure this added to the whole trip.

Camping

Even though I didn’t camp as often as I had expected, this was still a key part of the experience, probably the one that provided the most satisfaction, the best sense of being in the place and the most powerful feeling of accomplishment. Add to that the super-scenic sites, nothing that you’d need to look for, it’s just the way everything is.

Night two in Trollheimen

It was often windy but never too serious. I felt like camping in the Norwegian mountains was about feeling welcome in a seemingly inhospitable place.

Backpacking rocks (big time)

I felt this trip as a challenging one for me, Type 2 Fun kind of stuff, yet the minute it was over I started reminiscing about it and I felt a deep love for what I had just done. It’s again the old mind trick, some happiness hormone thing, I guess but whatever, there’s this clear thought: backpacking is one of the things that makes me feel alive and I can only start dreaming of the next one.