Hurrah for Huts

I only have photos from the first day of our hike from hut to hut in the national park of Hardangervidda, because my camera ran out of battery power - doh! But in some ways that is okay because the landscape did not change that much over the three days - rocky mountains covered in snow patches for as far as the eye could see! Well of course that is not entirely true...there were lots of subtle changes. Some areas were covered in wild blueberry bushes that were like a form of ground cover rather than a bush. Unfortunately the berries were not ripe, which really was a shame. There were also patches of a local berry the Norwegians call cloudberries, also not ready unfortunately. In some very select places were also little fields of flowers.

The most dramatic change though was when we passed by a glacier, which is of course not captured at all well in this photo because that ghostly blue just does not show through.

The first day was actually a lovely walk. Relatively easy, lots of flowers, fields, snow, fjords, lakes, and a glacier.

The dogs of course loved the snow patches and everytime we crossed one would both have to stop and roll around in it for a while. After climbing some of the peaks I was tempted to join them myself on occasion! At the end of the first day we stayed in what is called a half service hut, tucked away in a mountain valley beside a rushing river. Basically this hut in the middle of nowhere had everything you need.

You get a bed, a pillow and a doona, just need to bring a sleeping sheet/sack. They have a kitchen full of gas appliances and cooking equipment, and even a pantry full of food. Any food you choose to use, you just add it to a list on your registration form, put down your credit card number and voila, your done! Great system. There was no running water at this hut though so you had to fetch it in buckets from the river, but thank goodness because otherwise it would not have felt much like a hiking trip!

It may be best if you don't ask me too much about the next day of hiking. It was a horror. To begin with, it rained all day. The map said it would be around 4 hours and it took us, without any breaks longer than 5 mintues, more like 6 and a half. The first four hours was slogging through mud and trying to find safe rocks to hop from one to the other. The mosquitos were as thick as I have ever seen them in my life and basically, it was just not much fun.

The most interesting part of the day was when the dogs had to cross a swing bridge over a river.
Mina did great (even if she did try and turn around and head back half way across!) but Mojo lay down at the beginning of the bridge and squealed like a girl! Somehow I managed to drag him across and they were perfect for the rest of the day, crossing really large strong flowing rivers with ease! Here they are relaxing at the first hut after a thoroughly enjoyable time back in their natural habitat. The only sad thing about taking them was they had to be on a lead the whole time - bad year for the reindeer apparently, and it must be because we didn't see any! - but they seemed to have a tops time anyway and having their pull going up the hills was fantastic!

Anyway, at the end of a long second day we arrived at a full service hut and when they say full service they mean it! Showers...ahhhh... a three course dinner with a bottle of wine, and a full buffet breakfast. Of course you pay for it, and being Norway you should never convert back to Australian dollars unless you want a heartattack, but Ireally appreciated it at the end of that day and didn't care what I had to pay.

I think the hut system here is really fantastic (certainly lightens pack loads) and only wish some of our national parks offered the same service. xxxx