Trolltunga, Norway Sept 23, 2018

[mike_offerman]

My wife and I took a 2 week vacation to Norway last summer to celebrate our 25th anniversary. A few days after arriving we had made the drive over to the base of the hike and checked into the airbnb that was literally a few steps from the start of the hike. We were able to leave our car at the house while we hiked and as it wasn't much more than they charge to park in the main parking lot. We got up at 4:45 and were out the door at 5:15. There is a road that they allow 20 cars to pay to drive up and cut a few miles and 1,200' off the hike. There is also a shuttle that lots of people take. They were not supposed to open the road until 7, and I was surprised to already see 20 cars sitting there waiting. The shuttle doesn't start until after that at some point and it just drives up and down as people show up. We were here to hike, so up the road we went. It is paved and easy to follow in the dark. I was a little bummed that it was overcast and drizzling out, I was looking forward to the views I had seen from other peoples photos. We were almost to the upper parking lot when we could hear cars starting to drive up, they must have opened the gate early. Only a couple passed us before we cutoff onto the trail. Now that it was starting to lighten up, we could see a few breaks in the clouds, so that gave me hope that the weather might be improving. The next 2 miles were fairly flat, with the trail wandering around lots of little ponds and streams.


The trail started to steepen as it went over a little pass and this is where the views really started to open up. It was also around here that the drizzle stopped. We had seen a few people in front of us, and slowly we passed all of them. Living at 5k' has its advantages!



The trail is about 16 miles long. Lots of signs along the way to let you know how far you have come, and telling people to turn around if it is past a certain time of day. I imagine that they end up with lots of people who need help getting down.



The views and easy trail made the miles fly by. There were many places I ended up tripping on rocks as I was a little distracted by the views.



The trail goes along the rim, with Ringedalsvatnet almost 2k' below us. The waterfalls dropping into it were amazing. It had rained hard the previous 2 days, so they were all running.



As we got closer to Trolltunga, the terrain got much rockier with lots of little lakes and streams.



We made it right as the sun was starting to peak through the high clouds. It was 8:30 and there were maybe 10 other people there. Most of them had camped close by. The pictures don't do the place justice. You wouldn't hit the water if you fell off, but the drop was hundreds of feet down. We waited just a minute for our turn to head out and get our photo taken by someone we met there. We went back out a couple of times as the light changed.



I had seen photos of a few people who do handstands out here, but sitting with my legs over the edge was good enough for me! We stayed out here for around an hour, and lots more people started to show up. The rain the past few days had pushed those people to hike today.



On our way out, we decided to count the number of people we passed heading up. We joked that maybe we would see 200. We had maybe hiked 2 miles when I heard a guy say '6'. I asked him what that was and he said that was the number of people heading down. I told him '178', as that was how many we had already counted! He didn't look so happy after I told him that! I have heard that in the summer, you can wait for an hour to get out and get your photo taken. We kept counting people, enjoying the amazing views and making comments on how we were so lucky to get up early. We saw all sorts of people as we were going down, lots that looked like they shouldn't be there. The trail was long enough and we were going against the flow, so it wasn't that bad. Once past the last emergency shelter, the day hikers started to quickly thin out and there were just some backpackers coming up now.

By the time we got to the bottom, we had counted over 750 people! That was on a Thursday late in Sept, wouldn't want to be up here on a weekend in the summer! We got back to the airbnb at 12:30.

It is a busy hike, but by getting up early, you can beat the crowds. I can see why this is such a popular hike and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to others. It was a great warm up for the rest of the hikes we would be doing.

 

[Miya]

Wow!!
This is the exact location my friend Bobbi and I had planned to hike this year, in honor of her passed husband. She ended up switching jobs and we will have to delay, but I am definitely going to give her your numbers on how many people go there!
Such a beautiful place!
Congratulations to you and your wife on your 25th anniversary!!

 

[Titans]

Norway has spectacular scenery (and a good amount of overcast and misty weather)! I remember a trip where we bought 1/2 of a cucumber, because it was too expensive to buy a whole one. It’s a long time ago, maybe it was just a saying, but maybe not, he..... It’s not just the hike, it’s Norway.... it seems to be getting more popular, our neighbors went last summer, spur of the moment decision to head to Bergen, because Norwegian airlines had (and still has) great air fares and a straight flight from Stewart airport just south of us. One of the few advantages of living on the east coast. So how did you hear about Norway and what prompted you to choose it for your anniversary trip?

And thank you for posting the photo with your legs dangling over the edge, you managed to instantly give me sweaty feet .
Beautiful location! If we ever go, Rick would do a high definition multi stitch 360 sphere photo out there. I would be far away taking a photo of him taking the photo.

Did you do any dispersed camping on the trip? Norway has great laws with regards to dispersed camping, very easy to do almost anywhere. Did you see any of the impressive Viking ships in the museum in Oslo?

 

[Stephanie B]

And here I thought dangling of feet at Toroweap was a bit risky! Thanks for posting.

 

[mike_offerman]

It was an expensive place to visit, but we kept the cost down by camping 1/3 of the time, staying in DNT huts and airbnb type places. The DNT is the Norwegian Trekking Assc. We joined it for something like $100. They have hundreds of places to stay, some are just cabins, some are cabins with food stocked in them, others are like a hotel. They really made a great way to save money. For car camping, we usually just stayed at a local place, they are everywhere. Basically you get a nice place to camp, but also have a little house or trailer that has a kitchen and bathroom with showers. They ran maybe $40 a night. Most of the time we stayed at those places we were one of only a handful of people there.

I had seen a trip report where they went up around the Lofoten area. It really sparked my interest in the entire area. It was also a big plus that everyone spoke English very well. In the 2 weeks we were there, I think that I ran into 2 people that didn't speak English. I was recently in London, and I had a harder time understanding them then people from Norway!

We stayed one night in Oslo and two nights in Stockholm (we got cheap airfare to there). I was more impressed with Stockholm. We stopped and saw the Vasa, which was a warship built from 1626 - 1628. It was almost complete and were sailing it on it's maiden voyage across the harbor when a gust of wind blew it over and sunk it (so it only ever sailed 1000 feet)! They raised it in 1968 and after something like 25 years of stabilizing it, built a museum around it. It is something like 90% original.

I will try and post a few of the other hikes we did while there.

 

[wsp_scott]

The Vasa museum is pretty cool if you like history and boats

 

[Titans]

It was an expensive place to visit, but we kept the cost down by camping 1/3 of the time, staying in DNT huts and airbnb type places. The DNT is the Norwegian Trekking Assc. We joined it for something like $100. They have hundreds of places to stay, some are just cabins, some are cabins with food stocked in them, others are like a hotel. They really made a great way to save money. For car camping, we usually just stayed at a local place, they are everywhere. Basically you get a nice place to camp, but also have a little house or trailer that has a kitchen and bathroom with showers. They ran maybe $40 a night. Most of the time we stayed at those places we were one of only a handful of people there.

I had seen a trip report where they went up around the Lofoten area. It really sparked my interest in the entire area. It was also a big plus that everyone spoke English very well. In the 2 weeks we were there, I think that I ran into 2 people that didn't speak English. I was recently in London, and I had a harder time understanding them then people from Norway!

We stayed one night in Oslo and two nights in Stockholm (we got cheap airfare to there). I was more impressed with Stockholm. We stopped and saw the Vasa, which was a warship built from 1626 - 1628. It was almost complete and were sailing it on it's maiden voyage across the harbor when a gust of wind blew it over and sunk it (so it only ever sailed 1000 feet)! They raised it in 1968 and after something like 25 years of stabilizing it, built a museum around it. It is something like 90% original.

I will try and post a few of the other hikes we did while there.

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Very cool- Don't think I saw the Vasa ship, I only did business trips to Stockholm (I use to cover the Nordic area, so Scandinavia plus Finland). The Viking ships are for sure less impressive than the Vasa, but they Vikings wanted get further than just out of the harbor! It's cool that they raise the ships and display them.

That's a great idea, staying in DNT huts. I will let my neighbor know, because their oldest daughter can't wait to go back hiking in Norway, they loved it.
Glad you and your wife got to experience Norway, hope the weather was not too rainy. If the weather was good all the time, then all of Europe would vacation there. I only did dispersed camping, didn't have enough money back then, hence the 1/2 cucumber purchase!

Look forward to more photos, thanks for sharing. The scenery is awesome!