Day 45 – 4 Aug, Lonsdal to 1 km S of Saltfjellstua Hut

(24 km, total 1174 km, 8h 10 m, 1210 to 2020)

It rained again during the night and was overcast when I got up. I had a breakfast of pastry, the rice pudding really like, the last of my nectarines (there were 8) and the last of my juice. I made the most of the hot shower and finished packing.

After checking out I went to the road to hitch a ride back to Rokland as I needed to mail my spare food and maps to my next destination. The road was really quiet but after 10 minutes a car towing a caravan leaving Saltdal Tourist Center offered me a ride, in the back of the car with 4 young children. Thankfully the children were quiet and so were their parents who I think were German. After confirming where I was going there was no conversation which was unusual but fine by me.
At Rokland I sent the package and weighed my pack which came in at a record weight of 15.1kg – not nice. I think I may have gone a little overboard on the food. I then had a final coffee and a falafel sandwich. My stomach is still so full from the day and a half of force feeding trying to get nutrients back inside me.
On the road it was only 5 minutes until a Norwegian man picked me up. He was driving back to Oslo after attending a music festival in Lofthaven, and visiting his girlfriend. He now faced a 17 hour drive back to Oslo.

When he dropped me off I crossed the road to touch the sign to ensure continuity and walked up the hill on a sealed road. Part way up was the sign saying 250 meters to Lonsstua Hut and assumed a track would go from there but it didn’t. A track did lead up to the hotel but I then had to go back to the road and keep climbing until I saw the DNT markers and single track heading left.

After a short climb I came out at an underpass under the railway line and was now back on the trail away from civilisation.

The trail continued climbing and there was clear markers and the walking was either rock slabs or a dirt trail.

Once leaving the rock slabs it was stony as the trail stayed above a lake and started climbing over a spur.

There was a sign indicating an alternate track, which on the map looks like the main trail. I kept on the other track which meant crossing a river (feet stayed dry) and then a steady climb on a good though rocky track.

I was surprised the pack was not feeling as heavy as I expected. My foot was a little sore but no worse than before and definitely not a distraction.
The track crossed back over the river and this time it was wet feet and then met back up with the alternate which does not cross the river.

Now it was a big climb up to a saddle and it progressively got more andmore rocky. If asked what the biggest things I did not want today with a heavy pack and sore foot, I would have said rocky ground with lots of rock hopping and a steep descent on wet ground. Unfortunately I got both today.

Just as I go to the top of the climb I saw a female hiker coming towards me. She looked fit and had a small pack. It is very rare to see a solo female hiker so I was keen to talk and she obliged. It turns out that not only is she a rare solo female hiker but she is also a Thru Hiker (long distance hiker). She is walking from Risen (not sure of spelling or if this is correct, it did start with R) to Nordkapp which is 2000km and if she has time before the snows will then head south and finish the last 700km to complete her Norge Pa Langs. She is also at the early 40 day mark.

Another female thru hiker

It is great to see other female hikers and I hope more get the courage to hike by themselves and see it is not as scary as they think and they will learn some valuable things about themselves.

We parted ways and now I was on a plateau of rocks for the next three km. This was my worst case scenario, lots of rocks and lots of rock hopping. The weight on my back was not to bad and I managed to maintain my balance ok but my foot was not happy. I was ensuring I was not jumping from rock to rock but just stepping but it still put a strain on my foot.

A touch of colour in the rocks

It was also getting quite cold so I put on my wind jacket and gloves and warmed up nicely.

After a big lake the descent started and so did the rain. I was hoping it was just a shower but it got heavier and was persistent so on with my wet weather gear, and unlike the past few times I have put it on I needed it for the next couple of hours as it rained on and off, though only lightly.

So this was the second scenario did not want, a downhill in the wet. This is because I have almost no tread left on my shoes so do not have much traction. Thankfully the trail was actually descending at an angle to the hill and wasn’t very steep so I had no issues.

The track dropped to a river which was a wet feet crossing then climbed a little, over some swamps and dropped in the trees to a bridge over a river and back up to a small plateau.

There was a hut visible to the right but it was not the DNT hut. 5 minutes later the track dropped to Saltfjellstua Hut which was cute with grass roof.

I had almost convinced myself I should stop at the hut as it was nearly 2000, my foot was sore, I needed to rest after the heavy pack and it looked like it was going to rain. However I looked inside and while it looked nice it was really dark so I decided to keep going. The temperature gauge said 14 degrees so the cold was not my imagination.
I kept going filling up my camp water at the next stream and then looked for a nice campsite which I found 10 minutes later. Once set up and inside my tent I was happy I pushed on from the hut.

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