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Norway 2026
  • Jen Ritchey
  • Jen Ritchey

Norway 2026

Et 24-dagers eventyr av Jen. Les mer
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  • Jen RitcheyNorway 2026Reisende

    Havøysund NSR Part 3

    27. september, Norge ⛅ 10 °C

    This afternoon was all about the waterfalls and the reindeer! There were so many waterfalls by the side of the road we stopped to look at, plus all the reindeer were still in the pass!

    Then it was back to Lillefjord to do our hike! I had thought maybe we should have done it this morning as it started getting cloudy and rained a little before lunch, and got much colder (as soon as the sun goes away and you get a little bit of wind it gets freezing!), but by the time we got back there it was sunny and gorgeous again! Plus you could see all the things!

    The hike was up to the waterfalls and phew! We got so hot hiking up! I was in a t-shirt! 11C outside and in a t-shirt! Crazy! It was a pretty steep hike near the top and a bit muddy. I had been thinking that our hikes this trip have been easy and not too bad and last time all the hiking was kind of crazy straight up the mountain (Norway has some of the craziest trails we have ever hiked!!) and then we got to this and I was like here it is. Here is the just climb straight up hiking! And it was on the tourist route so I had assumed it would be easier…it wasn’t that bad, want that long, but still I don’t know that most non-hikers should have/would have done the whole thing! I did think this is not going to be fun going down as it was so steep, but just like last time going down wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be! So that was good.

    When we got to the top we sat and enjoyed the view for a while. It was absolutely gorgeous! In the photo before the two of us if you zoom in where the water comes in you can see our van in the parking lot! It did get cooler sitting up there as there was a light breeze so I put a layer on again, and thought I might need my other layers going down since I won’t be so warm, but it was still too warm! I had to stop and take them off again! The sun was so warm!!

    After the hike we drove back the rest of the NSR and off to camp!    Les mer

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  • Jen RitcheyNorway 2026Reisende
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    Drive to Camp

    27. september, Norge ☀️ 10 °C

    On the way to camp we saw all the reindeer! I know I said that before, but we really did this time!! We drove by an area where they were doing something with them (herding them?) so there were a ton in different areas! I actually made Raymond turn around after we went by the first time cause I not paying attention and didn’t have enough time to see them all! So we drove slowly by again (there was no traffic) then by a third time to be on our way. It was so much fun! All the reindeer!

    Then we got to Kvalsund and there were reindeer everywhere in town! In people’s yards, walking down the street, in the hills by the school, walking down the sidewalk, everywhere! It was crazy! Every two feet more reindeer! And two decided to fight on the road right in front of us which was fun! All the reindeer!! We saw so many today! I asked Raymond if he thought if you lived up here and saw them all the time that you would stop caring about seeing them and he thought you would…but we won’t be here long enough for me not to be excited every time we see some!

    Then not far down the road we got to where we are parked for the night. It is gorgeous here!! The last three photos are the views from the van, the ones before that are at the top of the small hill we walked up. By the time we got here it was freezing again, but we bundled up and sat up there until I got too cold and had to come back down. It was so gorgeous!! The photos are not as nice as it is. And I was like oh, we are getting into an area that is more like last time! This trip has been gorgeous so far, I’ve loved all the fall colors and the hills and the wide open spaces, but it is very different from the giant mountains and fjords of our last trip. Still gorgeous, just in a different way. Across the water here some of the mountains have a bit of snow on them! Bigger mountains! The rest of the trip will be all the hiking in the bigger mountains!    Les mer

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  • Jen RitcheyNorway 2026Reisende
    111

    Tyven Hike

    28. september, Norge 🌬 9 °C

    Today was so much fun! We got up and drove to Hammerfest to hike up Mt Tyven. We knew we were getting a wind storm today, but we were hoping it wouldn’t be too bad while we were up there (and it was supposed to get windier as the day went on until finally stopping in the evening so I was hoping if we got there early enough it would be okay).

    The hike up started and it was windy, but not too bad. There are 325 steps throughout the hike and they had brought in sherpas from Nepal to carry the stones and make the steps. We got up some of the steps and then two birds flew up the next set after we startled them so we stopped to try and see what they were…and after we stood there for a bit they started coming back towards us and back into the rocks next to the steps! They were Rock Ptarmigans and they were so silly! Eventually a third one joined them and if you look at the photo with just rocks there are all three in that photo! They are almost in a vertical line and we sat and watched them run around for a bit. It was a lot of fun!

    Then we kept walking and oh my goodness the wind in the last 500 meters was crazy! I kept having to stop and turn my back to it as it was so strong it was blowing me a little bit! And whipping my hair into my face! We were hiking head into it and it took us forever to go that last bit. But finally we made it to the top and there was a shelter up there and we could get out of the wind! But then it was too warm in the shelter. Once I warmed up I went back out to try and take photos of the view and that wind! I was thinking it was good it was wide open space so if/when it blew me a step it was fine. If it would have been on a cliff or something we would have had to turn back as don’t want to chance stumbling off! So that was crazy, and after we had a little break (and Raymond tried out the firewood splitter) we headed back down. There were two ways to get up there/down and we took the 3km one on the way up and at the bottom I thought we would take the 7km one on the way back and see what else we could see…but not after that wind! We could see where the other trail went and there was a good long section that was still in crazy wind! You could see the lakes it went by and the white caps on them and the spray blowing off the lakes from the wind! I was like well there is no way we are doing that! We just have to get down a ways here to get out of the crazy wind and who knows what the whole 7km other way would be like! In just wanted out of the wind!

    Even going down with the wind to our backs took a while! It was still trying to knock me over at times and stairs+ super strong wind = not great! But we took another break when we got out of the wind and enjoyed the views! It was so nice!

    On the way down we saw so many snow buntings flying around! I took a short video, but it was like a constant stream of them flying through! And they would land for a second and completely disappear into the rocks/grass.

    Then expert mode find that bird - when we got down to where we saw the Rock Ptarmigans we were trying to see if we could find them. I thought they had left the area until one flew up to some rocks. Then we were like okay, where did they come from? Because the other two are probably nearby…and we looked and looked and Raymond finally found the one! So then we looked and looked and I was like there is not a third…I even used my binoculars to look and was like yup! No birds! Only rocks! And we were about ready to give up when Raymond saw the third one move…and it was right next to the second one! It was crazy! I was like I looked there and no birds, but once you see them it is like oh, obviously there is a bird there. But the photo of rocks/grass in between the videos has two of the birds in! If you want a challenge you can try and find them. I showed Raymond and he only found one and he knew where to look! He said if I posted it no one would find them and he may be right…I remembered vaguely where they were which is why I found them, but the second bird in the photo really is quite hidden! Then I added two videos of them walking around - I don’t know why but they made me laugh so much! The second video the bird is so silly! Then after the videos are some of the Snow Buntings! They don’t look like it, but when they are flying they look so white!

    This hike was so much fun even with the crazy wind at the top! All the fun birds watching! And just a really nice area to be wandering in!    Les mer

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  • Jen RitcheyNorway 2026Reisende
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    Hammerfest & On to Camp

    28. september, Norge 🌬 11 °C

    After our hike since we were there we walked through downtown Hammerfest to see what we could see! The downtown is one small street (maybe 5 min to walk from one end to the other) and a square on the water. We learned that Hammerfest built northern Europes first hydroelectric power station and this is the fourth music pavilion (the blue pavilion) the others lost to fire, poor maintenance, and WWII!

    After our short wander we headed on toward our next stop and man it was windy! We got out a couple of places and it was blowing us over/hard to open the doors! At the one stop we couldn’t get the side door open even! In the photo of the bridge you can even see it blew over the construction signs!

    We had to drive through reindeer town again and I was like would there still be reindeer? And there was! They were not all over like yesterday, not in every yard, but more in larger groups. We had to stop and get water right by a group of them! And found a random rock with a stone carved reindeer on (the sign said 4000-6000 years old!) at the same stop. So that was fun!

    We were driving out of town and there were reindeer in the road and Raymond was like what are you doing in the road? There is no food in the road! And right after he said that the one in the middle of the road looked at us, turned his butt towards us and peed! It was so funny. But then he did move off the road after that.    Les mer

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  • Jen RitcheyNorway 2026Reisende
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    Camp (& Rest of Drive)

    28. september, Norge 🌬 10 °C

    The rest of the drive to camp we went up on a plateau and it was crazy windy up there! But there were also a ton of large groups of reindeer! But the wind…I was glad when we got back down in elevation as the wind wasn’t so crazy then.

    The last 7 photos are where we are parked for the night near Alta. We are in the woods a bit off the road and the water is not far! One thing I don’t think I mentioned yet - it takes forever for it to get dark here. It looks like sunset all day, but once the sun actually sets it’s a good hour until it gets dark. In that hour it is still light enough to see - sunset at 6 tonight and I went out at 6:50 and walked through the woods without a light and it was fine! But once that hour is up it feels like it suddenly is pitch black. It’s kind of crazy, but has been nice having a bit more light than I expected!    Les mer

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  • Jen RitcheyNorway 2026Reisende

    Komsatoppen Hike

    29. september, Norge ☁️ 8 °C

    This morning we woke up to sunny by cloudy skies. We had a few chores to do (groceries and spy on a bakery where we did find some things for afternoon treat! And at the one grocery store we found this vanilla donut that was actually pretty good! It was nice they had all the ingredients listed for their baked goods as most grocery stores do not).

    Then we walked up Komsa which is right by the main road and I thought was going to be a more difficult hike! I thought there would be a lot more elevation change, but it was pretty easy going. It was only 1km up, and we were going to go up and back the same way, but once up there we saw there was a slightly longer way back that went out and around so we decided to try that way and see all the views! The views at the top were gorgeous! All the water and mountains and I loved it!! We sat and enjoyed until I got too cold and then we headed on. It was warm in the sun, so once again t-shirt hiking weather, but at the top it was breezy so got a bit chilly. A really nice walk and great start to the day!    Les mer

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  • Jen RitcheyNorway 2026Reisende

    Orvossfossen Hike & Camp

    29. september, Norge ☀️ 10 °C

    After our morning hike we headed up in the mountains to the end of the paved road to hike to Orvossfossen. When we got to the parking area it was so sunny and gorgeous! Almost no clouds in the sky! But the sun was not my friend on the hike…I forgot to bring my baseball hat and we were walking straight towards the sun! The sun doesn’t get very high in the sky and even though it was only 1pm it was very low and blinding me! I couldn’t see where to go very well…luckily it was an easier trail, but by the time we got up to the waterfall I was like me and the sun are no longer friends!! At last not at the moment…but once we sat in the shade for a bit and I started to freeze I decided we could be friends again. It’s not suns fault I forgot my hat.

    The waterfall was much nicer than I was expecting! We sat on the rocks and watched some white throated dippers flying around it in the water and the rocks (no photos though they were too quick! But on the way up we did see a Siberian Jay! That’s the bird photo). But boy it was cold in the shade! I put on all my layers I had brought and then finally was like okay, time to head for the sun before I turn into a popsicle.

    On the way back we saw a giant nest made of sticks up in the trees. No bird what lives there! But most of the trail was a nice walk through the forest (with a ton of tree roots on the path!). I also realized today, even though we parked in a pine forest last night, that we are back south enough for pine trees again! We had been too north for them for a while so it was nice to see again.

    After our hike it was on down the dirt road to where we are camped up high in the mountains! I expect the road to be full of potholes, but it was actually pretty nice! We are just above the trees so we can see everything! It is beautiful!! Though I had to laugh when we got up here as where we were going to park for the night was not at all level, just a pretty steep slope, so we obviously needed another place. On the way up we kept track of other places we could stop for the night if the parking area didn’t work and we saw at least 3 close by. Well there was another camper that followed us up and so Raymond was all worried we weren’t going to be about to get a spot to camp and we had to go quickly to get one!! I was going to get out and spy for a bit, but he was so worried I was like alright let’s go find a spot! But I laughed because we have camped by ourselves almost every night of the trip. I think twice we had other people camped where we were so I wasn’t very worried. That and besides the hike to the rock bridge by the northernmost point the hike to the waterfall today was the only other time we have seen anyone else on our hikes (today we passed 3 families going to/from the waterfall). So I was not worried at all and we got a spot just below where we were going to (and an easy walk to the start of the hike we will do tomorrow!). And we are parked up here by ourselves again (the other camper left after a while). I think he was just worried because Alta is a much bigger town with more people than we have seen so far so there is a chance more people would be camping. But the views from the van are gorgeous and I loved sitting and enjoying them.

    Oh and our afternoon treat today - a cardamom bun and a sweet bread with raisins (I only cut off a small piece to try, but it is very soft!) and both are very tasty! They are from the bakery we went to this morning which had a sign with all the ingredients and the allergens on each item which was very handy! I could quickly see what definitely is not vegan and then check the ones that might be.

    All in all it was a great day! Sunny and gorgeous, though it is a tad windy and lightly raining now. Oh and we are definitely through fall up here - and the leaves are on the ground and brown now. But we will have second fall on the way home/when we get home!    Les mer

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  • Jen RitcheyNorway 2026Reisende

    Alta Canyon Hike

    30. september, Norge ☁️ 5 °C

    Today we hiked to Alta Canyon. We park close by last night so we could just walk from the car this morning. It was a longer hike than we have been doing - 13.5km - but was so nice! And not that difficult. Gradually up and down and fording rivers and through boggy muddy messes, but most of them had boards to walk on through the worst parts.

    When Raymond got up this morning and looked outside it was super foggy, but by the time we headed out the fog had lifted and was just really overcast. We could see rain clouds and we kept getting just a few drops and then it would go away. At one point it looked like the rain coming right for us, but then the path moved over a little bit so we were just waking right next to a big patch of rain! We were far enough over it didn’t get us! So that was really nice. It also was much colder today - it was 5C even at started hiking, high of 8C - so we both brought way too many layers! It was not windy so not very cold. I did wear my scarf again as my neck was a bit cold and this is the first time I’ve brought a scarf on our hiking trips. I almost didn’t bring it but threw it in at the last second like well why not? We have room. I’m so glad I did! I don’t usually wear one as it usually makes my neck hurt, but it hasn’t been doing that and it had been perfect keeping me warm without overheating! Normally I’m wishing jackets could unzip from the top and bottom so I could open the bottom, but his fixes that issue! Wear less layers, but also a scarf! It’s definitely going in the packing list from now on!

    Right before we got to the canyon there was a rainbow! I keep forgetting that last time we saw at least one rainbow a day while we were in Norway, but not on this trip unfortunately. Too overcast with no sun peaking through. Or just sunny with no rain. But we did today. And the clouds cleared up and it was sunny and gorgeous after that! And the canyon was so cool!! We got there just in time for lunch so we could sit and enjoy! This was one of my favorite places we have been on this trip!

    It’s hard to tell in the photos, but a lot of the rocks in the grass were like light mint green from all the lichen on them! It was kind of odd seeing all these light green rocks everywhere!

    We also stopped at a bigger waterfall on the way back. It was just off the main trail and we never would have known it was there if we hadn’t gone off trail to the rocks on the opposite side to have a break! We couldn’t see the waterfall from where we took a beach on the way to the canyon, but we could hear it and see the trail on the other side so we stopped in the way back. There was a trail to it, but no sign letting you know! And the rocks behind the water were interesting red and green.

    On the way back there were also a ton of little butterflies flying around. We haven’t seen any before this so that was fun! They were much smaller than any butterflies we have seen before!

    Overall this was a really great walk! Raymond was like that was a lot of fun, I’m glad we drove up here as we headed off to find somewhere to park for the night. A long day, but a good one!

    The first place we tried to park for the night was the bridge photo and those after. The photo after the bridge is a crater from bombing a German WWII boat that is still in the water right next to it, but we could not see it. It was gorgeous views which is why were stopped, but right next to the road and incredibly loud! We’ve been sleeping by the road most nights, but this spot for some reason was louder than normal. We use a white noise machine also which does an amazing job of filtering out other noises so they don’t wake me up, but even with that I think early morning traffic would be too loud. So we went down the road farther and stopped at the last photo which is much quieter. Tomorrow is our last hike in this area and then we head on to the next stop!    Les mer

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  • Jen RitcheyNorway 2026Reisende

    Nordtoppen Hike

    1. oktober, Norge ☁️ 4 °C

    Today we woke up to another gorgeous, sunny day! We got up and drove back to Alta to hike up Nordtoppen (and side trip to Hjemmelufttoppen since it was on the way). When we got up it was so cold! 2C when we started hiking at 9 so we bundled up…and pretty much instantly had to take off all our layers! The hike to Nordtoppen was the steepest one we have done so far on this trip, not too steep but man it was hot even though it was so cold! I was hiking in my super light long sleeve sun shirt with the sun headband as my hat was way too warm, but I wanted my ears covered or they would get cold. And my scarf of course. But I was so warm my glasses were fogging up! I had to take them off so I could see! And when we took a break on the way up I didn’t put on any layers! It was crazy.

    But the hike was gorgeous! It was listed as hard, but besides one very short steep section it wasn’t bad, just a constant uphill. There were also lots of big smooth rocks to walk on, but that’s easy enough. We did see a bunch of Willow Tits flying around and had some gorgeous views!

    There was a hut at the top, but we just peaked in as we were way too warm to sit inside. It wasn’t as nice as the other one, but on a cold or windy day it would be nice to warm up! But we sat and enjoyed the views outside and it was lovely. This was also a favorite that we have done! I loved it!

    Then on the way down we took the side path to Hjemmelufttoppen which had similar views over the water just farther down in elevation. We sat there for a bit too as it was just so nice out! And then I found a golden jelly fungus on the rocks nearby!

    We also passed a few people on the trail. First was one person, then two people, then three people and I was like are we going to pass four people next?! But no, another group of three, but after that was four! But definitely more people than we have seen!    Les mer

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  • Jen RitcheyNorway 2026Reisende

    Alta and Beyond

    1. oktober, Norge ☁️ 8 °C

    Raymond and I were talking about the plan for the rest of the day on our hike and I said head on towards our next stop, though I originally had planned to stay in Alta and explore the town tomorrow as everything online was like you must go to Alta! But we drove through town already and…there wasn’t much to see? Like no cute downtown, no Main Street, felt like suburbs. It was odd, but Raymond was like well we didn’t follow the signs to the center so maybe we should do that before we head on. So we did…and the “center” was this weird empty area that felt more like office buildings or a convention center or something with a few stores/restaurants mixed in. And it was super quiet. Most things were not open at 1pm on Thursday. But we did see the Church of the Northern Lights which was interesting. And we did stop at a different bakery on the way out of town and got some delicious smelling bread! The lady was super nice working there and it was just a tiny place with 4 different loaves to choose from. Should be delicious in the morning!

    Then it was drive towards our next stop which was gorgeous! We are getting into more sharp, scraggly looking mountains and not the rounded top one which I am loving! It was a really nice drive, and we passed out of Finnmark! We’v we traveled the whole way through Finnmark! Now we are back in Troms which is where we ended our last trip (Tromso was there last official stop last time).

    Our view for the night is the last two photos - it is so nice!! And I think the snow topped mountains in the second to last photo are where we are headed tomorrow for a few days of exploring. We have to catch a ferry to get there (or drive way out and around) and we wouldn’t make the earlier one today so we are camped close by and will take the one in the morning. Should be nice as it is supposed to be sunny and high of 14 tomorrow!! So warm!    Les mer

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  • Jen RitcheyNorway 2026Reisende

    Fort & Ferry

    2. oktober, Norge ☀️ 10 °C

    Today we woke up to another gorgeous sunny day! And it was warm! It was already 9C when we woke up!

    We had a bit of time until the ferry. There was one at 8:15 which we technically could have caught, but we would have had to rush and maybe eat breakfast once we got on the boat (they are small boats and you stay in your car, or like me get out and walk to the side and spy out) or there was a 10:05 one which gave us lots of time so we decided to catch that one.

    After we got ready to go I looked at the map and realized there as an old German WWII bunker on the way to the ferry so we stopped to spy. There were all these signs up with little made up stories on them which were fun. And some of the bunker you could go in with is always nice. It was a nice little morning walk.

    Then it was off to the ferry. It was only a 40 min ride across the water, but it was really nice. I love these mountains here! They are the same ones as saw last night from where we parked and I’m loving driving around here!    Les mer

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  • Jen RitcheyNorway 2026Reisende

    Drive & Lyngstuva Hike Part 1

    2. oktober, Norge ☀️ 9 °C

    Once we got off the ferry we headed to the northernmost point on the other side of the peninsula. But first a stop at the Lygen sign with a small Statue of Liberty in a cage? No clue why that is here, or why it is in a cage, but it is!

    Then a gorgeous drive through the mountains and some with glaciers! It was such a nice day! And such a nice drive!

    Then it was on to our hike for your day - out to Lyngstuva Lighthouse along the water until the end where you go up and over a small hill to get to it. The sun was so warm!! We stopped and had a break in the rocky beach and it was toasty! And we saw a seal! And there were a bunch of Eiders out in the water and they make me laugh so much. They sound kind they are going “oooh” like oooh that is so nice! By get all do it and it is super silly sounding! It makes me laugh so much!

    It was such a nice walk! And other people were out there too, but most of them seemed like they lived here and were just out for a walk.    Les mer

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  • Jen RitcheyNorway 2026Reisende
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    Lyngstuva Hike Part 2 & Camp

    2. oktober, Norge ☁️ 12 °C

    After taking a break at the lighthouse (and some macro photos of the plants and my fly friend that did not want to get off my backpack), we headed back. The clouds had come in and blocked the sun on the way back so it was much colder, but not too bad as it was still 14C.

    We took another break on the beach and took some macro photos of all the things! Those rocks are actually really tiny pieces of rock! Turning into sand! And Raymond collected all the white rocks and made a little art out of them. Oh and on the way back in the one puddle by the side of the trail was some very neon green algae!

    Once we got back to the car we headed on to camp for the night at the parking lot for our hike tomorrow. The last photo is from camp and we will be hiking up into those mountains in the morning! Should be fun!    Les mer

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  • Jen RitcheyNorway 2026Reisende

    Blåisvatnet Lake Hike

    3. oktober, Norge ☀️ 10 °C

    Today we woke up to another gorgeous day! There were some clouds in the mountains, but sunny and perfect for hiking (though we were mostly hiking in the shade this morning)! We headed off to go to Blåisvatnet Lake at the base of the mountains. The first part of the hike was really nice, lots of soft wide paths to walk down, but it quickly turned into just walking through a giant field of rocks. In some of the photos you can see red marks and those are the trail markers through the rocks…though it didn’t really matter that much until you got closer.

    We were walking up the first rocky incline when we heard bells and looked and a bunch of reindeer crossed the path ahead of us! It was break time and I had been thinking we should get to the top of the ridge and see if we can see anything, but we decided to sit and watch the reindeer instead! That turned out to be the right decision as it was just up and over a rise only to see more rocks on the other side.

    Finally you got up to a much bigger rise with bigger rocks (the photos where Raymond is standing on top of the rocky area after the reindeer) and you think okay! The lake has to be on the other side of this! And…nope. More, bigger rocks to walk through! Though you are almost to the lake by that point it was still like we are never going to get to the lake! This is our life now, constantly waking up to the top of a hill to see another hill we have to get over.

    When we did make it to the lake it was gorgeous!! The water was beautiful! Light chalky blue with little fish swimming by the lakeside. The sun doesn’t get high enough to go over the mountains so it was in shade and pretty cold! Earlier it might have been high enough to go between the peaks, but who knows. I had planned on taking a long break there and eating lunch at the lake, but it was freezing and so we eventually headed on.

    There was another couple up there already and another that was following us up, they both left before us, but on the way down there were so many people coming up! Just a steady stream of people which was kind of crazy since it was more people than we have seen on all our hikes combined! But there were 10 other people with hiking poles! We are usually the only ones! And a lot of Americans (or Canadians) which was odd. We don’t normally run into many on our hiking adventures, but it felt like half of the people coming up were. So this lake trail was a very popular one!

    On the way down we finally got the sun again and phew it was hot! I was glad we got up early and hiked up in the shade! There was also a second lake you could walk to on a side trail so we did that…and it was definitely not as nice! The trail to there was a muddy mess and very narrow and not great. Plus the lake was just okay after the other one with no real lakeside to sit on unless you go out into the rocks. So we didn’t stay very long, but on the way back we saw some people driving up the riverbed and then sat by the river at one point and put our feet in! That felt so nice after all those rocks we were walking on! Raymond was like I don’t know if nice is the word I would use, but I was like it is wonderful! So cold and feels so good on my feet!    Les mer

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  • Jen RitcheyNorway 2026Reisende

    Drive to Camp

    3. oktober, Norge ☀️ 12 °C

    After our hike we drove back to the ferry town and then down the coast a bit on that side till we found a place to park for the night. The drive was so nice! Absolutely gorgeous! I loved it!

    We did stop by the ferry area again as we had to go to the grocery store there and we noticed the G in Lygen is a swing! So had to get another photo!

    Our hike for tomorrow is close by, but we parked on the water instead of up in the hills for the night as the view is really nice. The last three photos are the views from where we are parked and the water was so still when we got here the reflections/photos look kind of fun!    Les mer

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  • Jen RitcheyNorway 2026Reisende
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    Steindalsbreen Glacier Hike Part 1

    4. oktober, Norge ☁️ 5 °C

    Today we woke up to what sounded like strong wind! Last night we both got woken to by the rain and the wind, the wind was so loud, but it didn’t rock the van very much with was odd. But we woke up and were both like if it is crazy wind today we are not doing this hike! It is way too long to fight the wind!

    So we got out of bed and I stepped outside to see what it was like…and it was barely windy! It sounded so loud in the van! Outside it was a light breeze! Though it was cloudy with lots of low clouds covering the mountains. We decided to have breakfast and get ready and drive to the trailhead and then make our decision.

    Well the trailhead was not windy at all! So off we went to hike to Steindalsbreen Glacier! The trail up was steep for the first kilometer or so and then evened out. Or was still lots of low clouds so you couldn’t see all the mountains, but it was along the glacial river so that was nice. The water was gorgeous! Plus there were lots of signs mentioning places such as “the resting place” - a place people usually rest of the way to the glacier. Or the birthing rock - a rock where a lady gave birth in the 1800’s. Or my favorite the rolling hill - where people would roll firewood down the hill. It was fun trying to guess what the next place would be!

    And those little green lichen apparently flower? I’ve never seen that before! And we found a Ruby Tiger Moth caterpillar right after our one break and on the way back it had traveled over to the rocks where we took another break! It was close by, but still interesting it was in the same area.

    The whole way up was pretty nice. You go along the river until you get to this wide open glacial valley that was very nice. I have more photos of that in the next post. But up near the glacier you have to hike up these giant moraines (giant mounds of rocks) to get to the lake at the bottom of it. You apparently could walk up to the glacier on the side (it looked like people had), but it was all on loose gravel that was pretty steep and the glacier was covered in some rock/dirt on the sides so we wouldn’t want to get too close anyways as we didn’t know where exactly was glacier. We were the only ones up there when we were there and it was so gorgeous!! Lovely blues! But very cold and I immediately put on all my layers and then was nice and warm. But we had decided to eat lunch there and taking your hands out of your gloves to eat your sandwich? Not the best idea! We ate quickly and then moved on as our hands were ice cubes and we were getting cold (we had already had a long break there so that was fine). If you zoom in on the photo after the second panorama you can see Raymond sitting in the beach. And the next photo he snuck of me taking photos!    Les mer

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  • Jen RitcheyNorway 2026Reisende
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    Steindalsbreen Glacier Hike Part 2

    4. oktober, Norge ☁️ 6 °C

    After lunch it was time to head back down and warm up! You can see the wide open valley we walked through and in the third and fourth photo the closer mountainy looking thing is the last moraine we had to climb up! Then the 8th photo is an older lateral moraine that was farther down the valley (it was much smaller so way easier to go up and over).

    At our first break of the walk we hadn’t seen anyone else (we were the only car in the parking lot when we left) and I asked Raymond how many people he thinks we will see. He guessed one other group (which at the next break we did see two people coming up behind us) and a I thought I guessed high at 8. We ended up seeing 13 people (7 groups - 2 were single people)! That is a lot more than I expected for this longer, more difficult hike on a day where the weather is not amazing!

    It was a really nice walk! On the way back it was still cloudy, but they had lifted so we could see the other mountains which was nice. There may be duplicate photos in this and the prior post as I’m too tired right now to go through and check. It was gorgeous! Though I am exhausted! Last night I told Raymond that we will do this hike today and then tomorrow is a rest day!! Don’t let me be like oh, let’s do this hard 8km straight uphill hike! Say no! We need an easy day! And right now I’m like yeah, a day of exploring easy things will be nice. I knew the trip was backloaded with the harder hikes, but not much I could do about that as this is where the bigger mountains are. So easy day tomorrow!

    Oh and the three photos after the last river pic are from the drive to camp and the rest are from camp. We got here and had to get water/empty water and we pulled up and were both like I think we were here last time to get water? I didn’t think it was this exact place, I thought it just looked an awful lot like the other place, but then looked on the map and was like no, this is the same place. So that was odd. But we are staying the night this time (last time we just got water). There were lots of birds out in the water including a bunch of grey herons when we got here! But this place is very popular! So many other people parked for the night!    Les mer

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  • Jen RitcheyNorway 2026Reisende

    Drive to Narvik

    5. oktober, Norge ☁️ 5 °C

    Today we woke up to some cloudy skies, but also snow up on the top of the highest mountains! I think the ones around the glacier from yesterday would have has some! But it was much colder today and windier so I was glad we were not hiking up there today. We decided to start heading south so we will have a long time to drive back instead of fitting into 3 days like on the way up.

    Our first stop was some art and a memorial of some sort. Then on to a waterfall that ended up being dry as the dam was closed, but the rocks were fun! And the drive there went by a military place that had planes out front and an old timey museum for local farming history (it was closed, but fun to walk by!).

    Next stop was Sir Henrik waterfall which I had marked from last time, but I could not remember going to. So we pulled up and were both like we did this last time! It was a very short walk to the waterfall so we went to spy again, but I can’t believe I didn’t remember Sir Henrik!

    We stopped for lunch at this viewpoint that had a rainbow when we got there! We also stopped at this the last time we were here as it is off the road a ways that I remembered and there is a sign about the battle of Narvik which was interesting. Then it was in down the road to Narvik which is in the next post.    Les mer

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  • Jen RitcheyNorway 2026Reisende

    Narvik to Camp

    5. oktober, Norge ☁️ 9 °C

    Narvik has been one of those towns that I have wanted to stop at for no other reason that forever ago we took a train in Sweden to the start of a hike in the north and the train ended in Narvik. We hadn’t been to Norway yet at the time and so I just imagined what it would be like and since I knew the name now wherever I see it I’m like ah! Narvik! We didn’t drive through last time we were here so of course we had to stop and spy.

    It is a strange town. Lots of statues on the main road, but there is also a train that runs right through town and it’s really industrial/big malls and stuff on the other side of the tracks. I had a bakery marked that had vegan things, but when we got there just before 2 it was closed. I was so sad, but thought I read the hours wrong and it was only open until 2 not 4 like I thought and wished as would have gone there earlier (we had groceries to get so we went to the grocery store first), but then I looked and it is closed Mondays! So no treats for us. Though I did look in the one souvenir shop and found some tea made from whisky barrels? I might have gotten some just because it was so odd, but it was 25 euros for a tiny bag and I didn’t want it that much!

    Then it was time to head on and do some chores and stop to spy on waterfalls and viewpoints. We did have a ferry to catch and there was one at 4:20 or 5:00 and I was planning on the 5:00 one, but then it started raining lots so was like we might as we just go for the earlier one (it’s only a 20 min ferry so not long). Well I’m glad we took the 4:20 ferry! When we get across we stopped and had a spy where it was gorgeous by the water, but then it was on to camp. Well the first place I thought we would stay for the night was covered with construction equipment so no go. Then it got really rainy and the next place was just mud and we didn’t stop as we didn’t want to get stuck. So the next place was literally covered with trash…and then some places right on the side of the road with would be really loud especially with the rain and wet roads…so we keep going farther than planned, but finally found a place on a side road next to a lake. If we would have taken the later ferry it wouldn’t have been but great to have to keep driving on and on as it was already getting dark when we went through due to all the clouds. I was so glad when we finally found a spot! Tomorrow it is supposed to rain more, but hopefully it is not hard rain if it does as I have some short hiking stops for us. We shall see!    Les mer

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  • Jen RitcheyNorway 2026Reisende

    Drive to Hike

    6. oktober, Norge 🌧 6 °C

    Today was another cloudy, rainy day. We headed off and first stop was to see some rock carvings - the second photo. There are supposed to be 2 reindeer, but I could only see the head of one. Raymond tried to explain where the other was, but nope. Did not see it. But the area was really nice! Lots of fun rocks! And a giant waterfall not that far away!

    We kept heading south and there is so much water coming off the mountains! Waterfalls everywhere! And the rivers seem high with some tree trunks and grass in the water. We did get some sun at times and saw so many rainbows today! We had to have seen at least a dozen (I lost track after a while) and I joked it was to make up for all the days we didn’t see them this time! But they were everywhere!    Les mer

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  • Jen RitcheyNorway 2026Reisende
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    Kjemåfossen Hike

    6. oktober, Norge 🌧 4 °C

    After lunch we headed out on an easy hike to Kjemåfossen. It was a bit rainy, just light rain, but a nice walk through the forest. We kept passing smaller waterfalls that had so much water! And found some more weird fungus, and then we were at the main waterfall and my goodness there was a ton of water!! It was crazy. So loud! And so much mist coming off it we would have been soaked just from that if it hadn’t been raining. It was awesome. We walked up the one side to see it closer and then I looked and you could walk up the other side to the top and cross the river, but that trail seemed way longer than I expected. It wasn’t until the end of the trail when we saw the waterfall from across the river that we saw how big it was! We only saw the lower portion! So much water!Les mer

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  • Jen RitcheyNorway 2026Reisende

    Drive to Camp

    6. oktober, Norge 🌧 5 °C

    After our hike we headed on driving along the river and there was so much water! We found so many crazy waterfall that were really impressive, but could only stop to walk did you one. All the water!!

    Then we had to go up and over a pass and at the top it was flat for a while and I was like I wonder if we will see any reindeer?? So I was looking, but nothing…and then suddenly they were crossing the road in front of us! I love seeing them!

    Then we passed back across the Arctic circle 😢 Goodbye Arctic! But we stopped at the Arctic circle center and spied on all the things. There was the one monument thing that had all these carvings on it like the rock carvings which was cool.

    Then it was on to camp and it rained pretty hard most of the way. We are parked close to the beach in the last two photos. The spot itself is nothing special, but should be fine for sleeping. Another rainy day, but lots of fun seeing all the water flowing all over the place!

    Oh I almost forgot - we keep going by camping places with people with permanent structures there, but they ask have little houses attached (the second photo)? I don’t remember seeing this before. I’m so curious what is in the house and how they use it and their camper for all the things!    Les mer

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  • Jen RitcheyNorway 2026Reisende

    Nordåsen & Panorama Viewpoint Hike

    7. oktober, Norge ☁️ 4 °C

    Today we woke up to more overcast, rainy skies. Sunrise is so late here now! It didn’t come up until 7:30 so it was still really dark when we woke up! I also realized the light is more like normal - it doesn’t feel like it is super late/early all the time. No more sunrise/sunset all day. And no more hour after sunset still being able to walk around outside without a light. We headed off to what I planned for our big hike today and as we got closer it started raining really hard! I was like I do not want to wander in the pouring rain…but then we went through a tunnel and no more rain on the other side! So off at went.

    I had planned on just walking to the Panorama viewpoint near Mosjøen, but the map at the trailhead showed the Nordåsen viewpoint wasn’t that much to add to the hike so we made a big loop to go to both of them.

    First we ended up Nordåsen which had lovely views over the fjord and a big tower on top (and an open shelter to sit in to get out of the wind!). The walk there was pretty easy, a bit muddy but not bad. The way at took over to Panorama was a complete muddy/watery mess! This was the worst trail for that we have been on this whole time! My feet/shoes got so wet and after a while I was kind of like oh well! No use really trying to go out of our way to not step in the water now! I did step in some deeper mud like halfway up my shoes once or twice too, but eh. They were already soaked. The grass and stuff was very wet too so that washed the mud off by the time we got back to the car. There were some wooden boards through the worst bits, but they were so slippery! So wet so you had to be really careful walking on them.

    Panorama viewpoint was also very nice! And it was sunny when we got there! So took a break and put my feet in the sun to dry off a little bit until it started lightly raining and we decided to move on.

    On the way back to the car we took a much better trail! Still muddy, but nowhere near as bad as the second trail! And found some fun fungus! It was a pretty nice walk and nice getting up in the mountains again and seeing out!

    (I kept meaning to post the birds from the find the birds in the rocks photos from forever ago and I finally remembered! So the last two photos are that from the Tyven Hike post)    Les mer

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  • Jen RitcheyNorway 2026Reisende

    Formofossen

    7. oktober, Norge ☁️ 6 °C

    After our hike and eating lunch we headed on. First stop was the Northern Norway boundary…no longer in Northern Norway :( The trip is ending too soon!! We are getting too far south!

    Then it was on to spy on Formofossen which I thought would be a 5 min break, but ended up with another little hike to see all we could see! The water levels in the rivers aren’t as crazy as they were yesterday, but they are still high and so much water! And this waterfall was no exception! So much water! It might not look like much in the photos, but standing on the side of the river it was really amazing. So loud, so rough, so much spray! It was crazy! If you search on Google Maps for the waterfall you can see photos from other times when there is not nearly as much water. We’ve had so much rain it makes the waterfalls really fun!

    We walked down the other side of the river as well to spy as there was a sign for the waterfall that way too, but it wasn’t as nice as the main waterfall. But some fun rocks we had to walk on to get out to the water! So much fun!

    I had had another short hike to do this afternoon, but the waterfall took up all of our time (and I think it was the better choice as I loved it!). Tomorrow I have a ton of hikes in my want to do list so I need to go through and choose…I tried searching on Monday for things people recommended doing along this main road and pretty much everyone was like it is so boring! Spend way more time and drive out along the coast! Which sure, that was absolutely gorgeous last time, but this has been way nicer than I expected from what everyone was saying. We have been loving driving and seeing all the things!

    Raymond did comment the other day how there are too many trees down here blocking my views which is true! So many more trees, and lots of evergreens! It is also much greener down here with more diverse plants (up north it was like all berries that had turned red, whereas here not so many berries, but lots of ferns and other things. And all still very green!). So we keep joking about how boring everything is, especially the gorgeous views while driving!    Les mer

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  • Jen RitcheyNorway 2026Reisende

    Trondheim Area

    8. oktober, Norge ☁️ 5 °C

    Today was not the best day, but not the worst. I got up and turned on the heater to heat up the van before getting out of bed, and just when I was going you get out of bed we started hearing this noise. It almost sounded like a car was in the parking lot with us and playing loud music with the base high and that’s all you could hear, but it wasn’t consistent. We got up and realized it was the heater making that noise and kind of rattling things a bit right above it…which is not great so we turned it off.

    We only have a couple of nights left so I looked up what the temps would be overnight and yeah, not great timing! Where we were going to camp for the night is going to be -5C overnight which is cold!! We would need a heater for that for sure! We haven’t been using it overnight as it is so loud it keeps me awake, but in my blankets I’ve been fine as it’s be 4-5C which is apparently not too cold since I sleep warm now…but below freezing…so we called up the van people and they sent us to a place just south of Trondheim, which was about 2 hours away. We headed off to go get it checked out and drove through so much rain. We were making plans on the way of what to do if they couldn’t fix it/it would take days, etc. I looked up how far south we could go before it got too cold overnight…and it was only about an hour from Trondheim, then it was going to be really cold. And cold for too long to drive to the other side of it today.

    So we show up at the repair place and turn the heater on and let it run for like 15 min…and no noise. I was like this is like last trip with the check engine light! We explained what was happening to the guy and he said it sounded like a fan and it should be fine to keep running it if it happened again as long as there was not an error message…so we shall see…I think our plan is to turn it off if it starts making the noise and let it be, then turn it on again when needed. Luckily the van heats up pretty quickly so it should be okay for 2 nights. We decided to not go too far and still camp in the warmer location just in case it really stops working (plus I still don’t trust it to run overnight in case something really goes wrong while we are sleeping!). We have warm layers, but don’t want to sleep in a below freezing car! Tomorrow we should be through the coldest area and should be okay again. But kind of annoying and just a little stressful….

    We just ran the heater for about 20 min to see if it was still okay (and warm up) and it seems to be working fine so who knows what happened this morning. It at least was nice the repair place was where we were going to drive today anyways instead of way out of the way like last time. I just told Raymond on the plus side if it hadn’t have happened this morning I wouldn’t have checked the weather and we would be in freezing cold right now! And probably not sleep very well. I didn’t think to check how cold it would be as we are so much farther south! I can’t believe now is when we are getting the really cold weather, not in the arctic! But we might see some snow tomorrow which would be awesome as it was supposed to snow along the route today (and supposed to be clear and cold tomorrow so hopefully no issues driving)!

    After the repair shop it was lunchtime so we had some lunch and tried to figure out what to do with the rest of the day. Raymond was like we don’t have to do anything, and I was like we have been stuck in the car all morning I need to walk!! So I tried to find some trails nearby (the ones I was going to do were closer to where we parked last night or about an hour south of where we are parked for the night so would add a lot of extra driving and it was 2C down there and rain headed that way so not great weather! I couldn’t find anything, no walks along the river, nothing, so I looked north again and found some easy walks through the woods overlooking Trondheim so we decided to do that as it wasn’t far. It was sunny and gorgeous when we got there which was nice and the walk was a nice forest walk. Lots of evergreen trees and moss everywhere! It was so nice to stretch my legs! And more leaves on the trees turning colors again!

    Then on to camp and it is not the nicest place, right by the road, but should be fine noise wise, but there is a small river next to us. They must not have gotten as much rain down here as it is really low! But you can still hear it a bit in the van so that is nice. We have another camper already that joined us so we shall see if we get more neighbors tonight!    Les mer

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