Bjørgovarden 1138 m n.p.m. & Fjellenden 1145 m n.p.m.
It’s been over one month since I came back to Norway and I still haven’t been at any mountain trip. I don’t count Bjørnåsen, which has only 138 meters above sea level. I needed something more.
Norway is mainly known as a mountainous country but it has also lowland landscapes. Unfortunately I ended up in one of them, called Østfold, close to south border with Sweden. There are single hills with height rarely exceed 100 – 200 meters. And that could be a bit frustrating if you love mountain trips. To get to the nearest mountains range you need at least two and a half hours drive.
I decided where to go after spending a lot of time of study the map, choosing interesting walking destinations. And I found quite nice area in Oppland region, Nord-Aurdal Komunne, near Etnedalen valley. Two highest peaks of this mountain range are called Bjørgovarden and Fjellenden and I was going to reach both of them.
Get Directions
It took three and half hours to get there from Moss. I wanted to start walking near Nordfjellstolen mountain, in summer houses area, but at place I found out that I have to pay 50 kr to pass that gravel road. Instead of this, I left my car along road 33 at rest stop, approx. 1 km before that mountain area.
I grab my backpack and started my adventure. After reaching the gravel road I continuously went up, passing by wooden cabins. It started to be difficult and I didn’t even get close to the beginning of the trail. But finally I came to the last houses and found the path leading to Bjørgovarden. And now I could breath by clear, mountains air which I missed for a long time.
Track to Bjørgovarden was quite short and took maybe twenty minutes. Now, I had to get to my next goal, Fjellenden, which layed about 5 – 6 km further. The path led me through next no named peaks, I passed by bigger and smaller leaks on both sides of my route. Far away on north I could see majestic mountain range, Jotunheimen, still covered by snow and raised up from the flat ground. Compare to that mountains, those ones where I actually was seemed flat as a plate.
I meet few other wanderers during that route and when I finally climb to the Fjellendene, I could say hello to group of several persons which came here before me. They reached the summit went from other cabins area, called Danebu. Some of them decided to go further to another peak in the same direction, where I was going in my way back. And for a while we were marching together. Then they went down back to Danebu and I walked alone again, returning to Bjørgovarden.
The way was long and exhausting. The sun was heating more than I expected. And in every meter I made, I felt more and more tired. The landscape was monotonous and is seems that I walked forever but finally I reach Bjørgovarden one more time and I could start descending. To get down to the car took some time. And after the final step, when I could touch my vehicle and check gps in the smartphone I found out that I made 31,5 km. And I had to spend next 3,5 hours in car in addition.
I came back to Moss at the evening that day, exhausted but happy. The distance I made was a bit too long, but the time I could spend in mountains recharged my inner batteries.
This post was originally published 2019-06-16 on https://kraina-trolli.pl.
