Vardenutane
This was my next trip along the road that crosses the Haukeli Mountains. I planned it in the same way as before. In way that I could have a break for a few hours to go hiking in the mountains. As before, I found a route that was not very demanding and was relatively close to the main road. Two peaks I was going to hike, were also not particularly ambitious, but the proximity of other summits and the location of the lake in the neighborhood, guaranteed quite good views during the hike. Again, I left home early in the morning in order not to waste any time, and I got there before it got quite bright.
Get Directions
The peaks that I was going to climb are Nybunuten (1141 m asl) and Vardenutane (1218 m asl). They both belong to the Lågefjell massif, 13 kilometers south of Edland. I was going to start the route at the cottage estate in Nybustøylen. On the place, it turned out that the entrance was blocked by a barrier. For a moment I thought what to do in this situation, but finally I got out of the car and opened the passage for myself. Soon after, I found a place to park the car and begin of hiking.
The sun was just emerging from behind the horizon, but I could not see much anyway, due to the low-hanging clouds obscuring the sky. All the surrounding peaks were cut with a curtain of clouds. All but not my two, which I could see at the beginning of the trek. It’s called lucky, I thought. I didn’t realize what was going to happen soon. I passed two Norwegian cabins, buildings of some abandoned farm, and then the road ended. In the distance in front of me I saw the peak of Vardenutane and on the right lower Nybunuten. I couldn’t see any path in sight, so I decided to climb the higher mountain first, find a trail somewhere along the way, and go back to Nybunuten. But when the area started to get wetter and overgrown, I pulled out my cell phone and launched ut.no. I figured out where the trail was and walked towards it. Having found a path, I tried to keep it, but after a while I landed again somewhere off the trail. And then the clouds came and obscured everything. Soon I could see only a dozen or so meters away. It even turned out that the path I was going took me away from my goal. Suddenly it hit me, which literally means the saying „wander in the fog”. Fortunately, the app on the phone put me on the right track and soon I set foot on the top. Unfortunately, even there I didn’t see much. The clouds did not show any desire to go away so I had nothing to do in this place.
I took a different route on the other side of the summit, and not long after that, I got to a place that overlooked Lake Sæsvatn. The clouds parted mercifully, giving me the opportunity for a short photo session. Once my photographic ambitions had been satisfied, I moved on. I decided that in such conditions there is no point in pushing to the second peak planned for this trip and it’s time to go back to the car. I somehow got to the road by the old farm and was walking calmly towards the car. In the meantime, the weather decided to make another surprise for me that day and began to take clouds off from the sky. Pretty quickly it got pretty nice and when I was already near the parking place both of my today’s peaks were clearly visible again. However, I did not intend to return to the trail. Games with unpredictable weather never end well. I already had my car in sight when I saw the view as in the pictures below. Well, at least I got a photo opportunity at the end. Packing into the car, I remembered my previous visit to Haukeli Mountains. I could now add weather conditions to the list of similarities at the beginning.
