Festvågtind Hike Part 1

Today we woke up to a rainbow right outside our window! And it was the only one we saw today because it was absolutely gorgeous and sunny all day! No rain even in the distance!

So we got up and decided to try the Festvågtind hike, the one I said yesterday we may or may not do. The trail looked crazy from below and there were so many warning signs like it is totally okay to turn back! Partway up is a lake and it was like it is an admirable goal to try and make it to the lake and back! Don’t worry if you don’t make the summit it is still a good hike! And stuff like that which made it sound like we might not make it up. And honestly we almost got stopped right at the very beginning as the sign said stay to the right, don’t go to the left as that trail goes to the rock climbing area and you will have to turn around. So we tried staying right, and there was a sign pointing the way, but it was pointing at a bunch of giant boulders…with no indication of where to go! So we found some reviews that were like you have to climb over the boulders and well…they were very big and steep and lots of big cracks between them and we got to one point where I had to step over a wide gap which if it were flat would be fine, but the rock on the other side was steep facing me and wet so…I didn’t want to slip and fall! I thought we were going to have to turn around, but I found a different way that was easier and then I was like how much more of this do we have?? Cause if it is a lot I am not up for that…and Raymond want to look and was like oh you just need to come over to this one and then one more and then it is a trail trail. So hooray! We made it to the trail.

So we started heading up and it wasn’t too bad, there was a split partway up and the sign said to keep right to go to the lake. Well a group of 4 ladies was coming up behind us and they were faster than us and they looked and said the right trail was longer and in water runoff so they decided to go left…which looked SUPER steep once we got up to the lake! We split and went on the other trail the same time they went left and we explored the lake and took a 15+ min break and were at the summit not that long after they were! So that left trail must have been harder!! I’m glad we stayed to the right!

There were a few points on the way to the lake that were steep and muddy, but it wasn’t too bad. The lake was gorgeous and when we got there we took a break at a viewpoint for Hennigsvær, the town on the little islands below. On our break we were discussing if we should try for the top and part of me was like yes!!! We should definitely at least try, and part of me was like eh, this is nice let’s just go back and explore town. Well we ended up trying the summit and the first half really wasn’t bad, the second was pretty steep but not as steep as that other trail we did so we made it up no problem. If it were rainy and stormy maybe we wouldn’t have, but it was fine.

And of course the views from the top were amazing!! The town below on the islands, the mountains to the right of that are the ones we hiked/drove through already and then there were lots of mountain peaks in a row on the one side that were so cool!! The photos of that are not very good as I loved it!! The behind the islands and you could see mainland Norway and lots of snowy peaks! It was so so nice! I was glad we were able to do it!

The way down was slow, partly because it was so steep and partly because there were so many people coming up!Read more