Hovåsen - Fjords And Mountains

It supposed to be windy, rainy and snowy Sunday. Waiting for weather apocalypse, I stayed at home. But end of the world didn’t come. It was even quite nice outside. And around the noon I had enough of this. I packed my backpack and went out for another mountain adventure.

Two days earlier I’ve been in Stokadalen valley and tried to find any way leading to summits Bukkanuten, Reset, Bårnuten and Høganuten (all of them are parts of one mountain massive). I didn’t find the path but later, when I studied the map, I realized, that on the other side of the road there is a smaller mountain, which looks interesting. Hovåsen has over 300 meters above sea level and I hoped that I could see from it Grytenuten mountain and three fjords: Yrkefjord, Vindafjord and Sandeidfjord.

The road to Hovåsen looks very simple. It started at main road goes through the Stokkadalen valley and goes south, passes the Stokkadalsvatnet lake and ends just before the mountain. I thought that I will find some path then, which will lead me up.

I parked my car at the crossroads where the road to Hovåsen starts. Going south I passed two spots for parking the car, but I didn’t care that I have to walk more. It was fantastic to breathe fresh, clean and frosty air and walk through nice area. When I came to the mountain the road became steep and I realized that it is covered by thick layer of ice. The trees on the slope have been cut and the rain water freely run down. Additional, the road with high sides was like gutter and when the cold came, everything froze. I stepped very carefully and soon, the road ended. Now I climbed among cutted trees.

When I finally stand on some flat ground, I could see on my right side that there is a wooded hill. It was the highest point in the neighborhood, so I guessed that I reached my goal for this day. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see from the top anything I wanted to see. All the amazing views I expected to see were veil by trees.

After several minutes I decided to retreat. Only the clearance area on the slope of Hovåsen gave me panoramic view on Stakkadalen valley and the majestic mountain of Kjort. I was not disappointed this trip. I had two hours of walking and breathing clear, fresh, frosty air. This was my reward for going out home.