Skrimfjella

May 17 is the Norwegian national holiday. The inhabitants of the fjords country celebrate it loudly on parades in the city streets, wearing their colorful, traditional folk costumes called bunad. At every step you can see Norwegian national colors and flags waving. Norges Nasjonaldagen commemorates the day of the signing of the constitution, which took place in Eidsvoll on May 17, 1814.

Those who do not like street celebrate spend the day in nature. I also planned a trip to the mountains for that day. This time it was just a two-hour drive to Kongsberg and the Skrimfjella mountain range located on its suburbs. The heights of the local peaks do not exceed 900m above sea level. and the highest is Styggmann (871m above sea level). The name Styggmann can be translated as Ugly. Where did it come from? The answer is given by wikipedia:

” The legend about the mountain says that it was the home of the troll. The troll hated the people walking on his mountain and disturbing his rest, so he used to lie on the top of the mountain to scare them away. If someone got too close, he would throw stones and boulders at him. If you follow the path to Sørmyrseter, you can still see some of them. The troll was careful to only go outside when it was cloudy, but once he was surprised by the sun and turned to stone. You can still see his nose, mouth and chin clearly if you look at the right angle. ”

Well, I didn’t see anything like that, but maybe because I wasn’t looking too closely. Currently, at the top of the mountain, there is a small stone house (Styggemannshytta) with two beds, where you can spend the night after booking a place on the DNT website. The cost of accommodation is 600kr.

The route from the parking lot to the top is about 5 – 6 kilometers. However, I did not intend to stop there. As I couldn’t see the house on the top of Styggmann more closely, because it was being occupied by some Norwegian couple, I went on my way, to the hills, 2 km away, called Jotefjellet. The highest of them rises at 765m above sea level. and they are easy to overlook. The path goes a little further, and as the summit is quite flat, you can walk past without noticing your destination. Fortunately, I checked my position on the mobile phone in time and corrected my course. The summit itself did not impress me and a moment later I was already on my way. I walked cross country this time to reach the next path leading me back to Styggmann.

The Skrimfjella Mountains are dotted by larger or smaller lakes and the area between them is mostly wet and swampy. Walking along less well-trodden paths (not to mention the cross-country march) you have to take into account that your shoes will get wet. When I got to Styggmann again, two Norwegians were still there. So I ate my sandwich and started to head back.

Along the way, I encountered wanderers heading to the summit. Some of them had flags pinned to their backpacks. After a long walk, I finally got to my car and was able to rest a bit. The entire route was over 18 km long and it took me 7 hours and 13 minutes to manage it.

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