Day 82: Wednesday 6 September 2023

Straumbu-southwest of Spranghaugen via Bjørnhollia, Rondvassbu

Yesterday evening as we went to sleep, there had been some gusts coming out of nowhere. Not a problem, just a bit odd and annoying. This morning on the other hand, was very calm. No winds at all, cold and very humid. But the sun was shining, and we stood in the sun when we had breakfast, to keep warm.

While eating, the sun dried our tent which was great because it meant that we didn't have to separate the inner and outer tent, and pack down a wet outer tent.

After breakfast we immediately stepped inside Rondane National Park. We crossed the water, and followed the path, that was wide and in the beginning almost stroller friendly. We could see traces that Hans had left here too - a lot of gravel had been washed away. We hiked behind three women that had started a bit earlier than us, but about halfway or so, we caught up and passed them.

It didn't take too long until we reached Bjørnhollia, the first manned DNT hut so far!

It was beautiful, but unfortunately we arrived at a very bad timing. Everything looked closed and almost abandoned, and the staff was off cleaning somewhere. We had been excited to see how things worked and get to know if there was anything we could buy to eat, but we decided we had to continue and check out some other manned hut instead.

We kept having amazing weather and was really happy. We talked all day, and only stopped for a quick rest when we, again, caught up with the three women that had started before us this morning. When we had taken a longer rest at the hut to charge some batteries, they had passed us. They were from Belgium and were hiking around Rondane National Park for a few days.

We kept going at quite a good speed. Today really felt great.

We reached Rondvassbu. Also a super beautiful place with turquoise water beside it. All the beauty was hard to take in, and it didn't exactly help that we were so hungry we could barely think or even talk to each other.

But again, we had bad timing. Dinner wouldn't be served until more than 1.5 hour later, so we decided to buy something small and quick so the worst hunger would go away. We bought two cardamom buns... That were huuuge! The size of ostrich eggs! Kim was really hungry and hangry but after the bun she was really happy again. And also full. That bun was so big it was enough to replace a whole meal!

We decided to keep going as long as possible. Before we left, the Belgian women arrived and we said goodbye and good luck to them.

Then we continued along the gravel road that was a lot more trafficked than one might expect of a road where no cars could drive because of a gate on the other side. But there were some hikers, and a lot of bikers.

We passed the gate and crossed a parking lot with a lot of cars. Then the sun was about to set, so we didn't walk much further until we had to pitch our tent by the side of the road.

Today's

Distance: 27.38 km

Start time: 09:54

End time: 19:39

Ascent: 842 m

Descent: 521 m

Tent: 55/83