Munkebu Hike

So last night on our ferry, after the amazing aurora show which was about an hour long, I tried to sleep some just lying down on a bench cause I was tired. We got in at 12:45 and drove to a place to park and were in bed by 1. It was no surprise that we slept in (well I was actually surprised I slept till 7:30 without remembering waking up once! Then just laid there drifting in and out till 8:30), so we got a late start today.

The only item on the agenda was the Munkebu hike, 10km up in the mountains and going by some lakes. It was good we got a late start as it was raining when we got up, but by the time we started hiking it was clearing up! And it was sunny gorgeous for us while we were out! And the hike was gorgeous! My photos really do not do it justice! It was so so beautiful!!

Now the hike itself was…at first we went off on a different trail as ours went up some rocks, but there was no indication that was where the trail was. So once we got back on track it was fine, Raymond led as he is much better at trail finding that I am and this one was a mess, but not too bad. Then after we went by the first lake it got a bit trickier. There is a photo of rocks with a chain railing - well we had similar on our Svartisen hike and it wasn’t too bad. Well…this was like the rocks were almost vertical and I was literally pulling myself up the chain with my hand and arms as with my feet just in the rocks as you really couldn’t walk up. We got halfway up and Raymond was like are you sure you want to do this?? We can go back…but we were halfway there and there was a viewpoint at the top so I was like let’s just do it! I will figure out how to get down later! And oh I was glad we made it to the top! It was gorgeous!! All the mountains and the lakes and waterfalls and everything!

We had lunch up there and I said about going on until our next break then heading back (so not doing the whole trail as it was slow going and we were only doing about 1km/45min (we walk 45 min then take a 15 min break to get some water and something to eat and give our feets a rest - our air mine out as they get so sweaty when I’m hiking!). Well we started on and after about 15 min we were in a giant, super muddy mess. We could see it got better, but we had to get down this hill to get to the better part and…the mud was so deep and watery and a mess it would surely get in our shoes…I tried to find a way to do it without getting super wet, muddy feet and couldn’t so we decided to just turn around early. It was still a good amount of hiking and we had fun.

The way down the chain section I was not looking forward to, but it wasn’t that bad! When we got there another couple was going down so we were going to wait for them and I was like they are like me and Raymond! He went in front and was helping telling her what to do and how she is doing well and whatnot, and she was slow and wobbly and having a harder time which I figured would be me. When we had gotten to the top I was like I am so glad we made it up here, but I am not sure we should have as that chain section really is outside my wheelhouse, but I did really well going down! Much better than the other lady which I was surprised by. There was only one section that was wet and super steep where my feet couldn’t get any traction and I was just like oh shoot…what do I do now as I am clinging to the chain to keep myself from just sliding down the steep rock and my feet are like they are in ice and sliding all over the place…but I figured it out and it was much quicker and easier than in expected! So hooray me!!

When we got back to the car we did a bit of errand running then went to where we are camping for the night. The last photo is the view from just outside the car, which also doesn’t do it justice. The mountains are huge and scraggly and I love them!! Though it is raining now and they are in clouds I did enjoy them all evening! All in all a pretty good day even though I was pretty tired from the late night last night! Tomorrow we have a crazy hike so we shall see how that goes! Hopefully it is clear as the views from the top are supposed to be amazing!Read more