Fredheim - Eftestøl, 36,20 km, +1295 m
Datum | Den | Dnešní vzdálenost | Celková vzdálenost | Stoupaní | Počáteční pozice | Konečná pozice |
17. 7. 2022 | 5 | 36,20 km | 116,53 km | 1295 m | Fredheim | Eftestøl |
MAPA - DEN 5:
Waking up on the parking into a cloudy day. Nice, colder weather is better.
I start walking from the car across the asphalt road straight into the forest. After about 500 m of bushwhacking and wading a small river I am on the trail I know from the last year, but last year I got to it using the road and bridge. so today I saved another 400 m of asphalt.
After a few km of running in nice forest and through several marshlands, I turn left down to the shallow valley to destroyed cabin Arli. I was there last year and it is again a bit more damaged. Sad. A bit creepy place, but in a rainy day, it can be still an OK shelter, if you are not scared of ghosts.
I continue towards a river with fantastic compact rocky river bed, with many small waterfalls and lagoons. It is like a huge amazing spa in a hot summer day.
Most rivers in this area are like this, totally rocky. Last year I spent here one hour. Luckily it is cold today, so I am not tempted to stay and continue upstream towards lake Gløvrevatn. From here I will try to get to a place called Nekkland. In 2021 I went to Nekland on the gravel and stone road more to the west and along the west coast of a lake Nekklandsvatn. This time I am trying to find a clean way on the east side, straight up from the "spa river", which flows out of the lake Gløvrevatn.
It is a very hard way up, about 500 m of serious bushwhacking, aminly in very high ferns. But I like it, total and very scenic wilderness. After passing a nice waterfall, I am up by the lake Nekklandsvatn. I continue on a small trail in burnt forest on narrow "ledges" between lakes. Much nicer than the other side with gravel road, I saved at least 3 km.
In Nekkland I continue across marshlands to really wild looking lake Undebergsvatn with cool cabin. It looks like somewhere in Canada here.
From here I run about 800 m on a gravel road to old farm settlement Møgjedalen with several old, destroyed, but still standing houses.
To save gravel road meters, I start climbing straight up to the highest "mountain"of the day Storliheia. Just after 200m I am finding a real gem. An old yellow, abandoned and open cabin. It looks quite bad from the outside, and it is empty (no bed, oven, no furniture..), but totally clean from the inside! A trully perfect shelter for bad weather!
After another 15 min of climbing very steep and partly rocky east side of Storliheia with cool vipers, I am standing at the top with many nice boulders again.
Filming some running shots, enjoying views and then I continue north straight down through the forest and marshlands toward the farm of Audastøl. It is a sheep land. They are everywhere. Just no people. None, as all the previous days.
I continue on forest road about 1 km to Skyldstadvatnet. From here I walk on demanding soft marshy grass towards northen shore of lake Berketjødna. HEre I wash my shoes, as I have to do several times a day. They are full of dirt, which is scratching your skin and destroying the shoe. Both highly unwanted on a long trip like this.
From here goes a newer gravel road towards very picturesque farm of Steintland. It is again like a picture from old times. You can hear the sheep and cow bells everywhere.
A very strong place. Last year I sat here one hour. It starts raining, so I continue running a few more km down to the valley of splendid river Litleåne by a village, Galdal. I am meeting Radka. I feel tired, it is raining, so I take a 1-hour nap in the car. My motivation to continue is not high at all. But I know I have to.
Straight from the warm car I am going to the river to escape about 2 km of the asphalt road in the valley. There are thousands of boulders in the river, and last year it was super easy and fast and fun to just jump from boulder to boulder.
This year it is raining and both the boulders and the stones in the river, covered by blue-green alga, are extremely slippery. So I am wading slowly the river upstream. I am passing many beaver nests and sometimes I have water up to my waist. Cool, I feel I am doing something I always wanted. Hard honest "exploration like" type of a journey.
The water is nice, not very cold. I am fully awake again and I enjoy this clean crossing of the valley. But if somebody saw me, he would think I am a complete idiot, walking in the rain in the river with camera on a selfie stick.
After 1600 m I go out of the river, I cross 5 m of asphalt and I am in the nice spruce forest again. Running up a nice narrow path, later steeper up through the forest to the summit of another special hill called Kraunsknuden. At the top I found last year the most fairy tale cabin of southern Norway. Open, still OK inside for a stay in rainy night, but more damaged than the last year. The chimney fell apart.
It is very foggy, so no view to the valley. Very very atmospheric place. I run down the north face of this hill, cross the gravel road by Høydalen and start walking up a path towards a mountain, Høydalshei. Very foggy rainy evening in mainly pine forest, super atmospheric, super wet terrain.
After crossing the ridge, I start running down a small field road toward Mygland. Again I have to run away from a herd of cows with babies and several huge bulls.
I am crossing the asphalt road, meeting Radka and I am telling her to go straight to Eftestøl and stay there. I decided to skip the gravel road and decide to find a clean way to Eftestøl straight from Mygland along the Litleåne river again. It turns out to be super amazing, but again super slow option. Often the fastest option was walking straight in the river. But I am really satisfied, compared to the last year, my NPL path is much cleaner and nicer and I saved about 8km of gravel roads today.
I am by the car around 10 p.m. My reward is an amazing "vegan wiener schnitzel" with potatoes. What is bad is that I can not just go to bed and rest before demanding tomorrow, but I have to sit by the computer until 2:30 a.m. to back up all the data, select photos for the article, create and post Instastories etc. Damn... I will start late again tomorrow.
METERS ON ASPHALT TODAY - 10 m - 2 road crossings