Day 67 – 2 Sep, 500m S of Bellinstua Hut to Between Haisfjellet and Steinkleivfjellet

(36 km, total 1761 km, 11h 5m, 0750 to 1855)

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It rained very lightly a couple of times in the night but not for long. Once again my morning routine was slow. It was a little warmer this morning which was nice, though I had my gloves on until nearly 0900. Today was overcast and I was sure it was going to rain a couple of times. By mid day there were some patches of blue sky and the sun made an occasional appearance and by the end of the day it was beautiful.

There was a short section of track and then on the sealed road for 5 km, past some big holiday homes and several gated communities. I did laugh that while following the wide sealed road there were the DNT red spots on trees and rocks, just to ensure you do not loose the road.

The turnoff was well signposted and now it was a lot of climbing, mainly in swamp but not quite as bad as yesterday but still enough to be annoying. I was well and truly sick of the swamps and my legs were tired from yesterday. Today at least there were some small patches of dry track.

Owl

Beautiful autumn colours

After 4 km of this the track started drying out and slowly became rocky. I started to see reindeer form here and saw them regularly for the rest of the day.

I crossed a 4WD track and then there was a km across what I thought would be swamp, but was only half swamp, across to a river and then I started climbing into the mainly dry rock slab area I love.

It was great to be able to travel at a decent speed, only slowed down by taking in the scenery and taking photos. This continued as the trail followed around the side of a hill, over a small ridge and over a rare flat area.

I could see a hut at the end of the lake to my left , Oystre Sulsjoen. The trail climbed slightly then met up with a 4wd track which it followed, past a track intersection, and down a hill. I was glad when the markers led off the vehicle track.

The trail had dropped out of the rocky zone and was now back in swamp. There was a small open hut by the trail that could be used as emergency accommodation if needed. There were no beds and the benches looked a bit short to lie on so some rearranging would be need.

Shortly after I crossed a bridge and took the track to the right that has signs for two places I did not recognise, and not the hut. It was going in the right direction so I followed and it was now 3 km of near constant swamp or boggy track.

At the next intersection I had marked on my map to continue straight to the hut and then turn left and go up the hill. Looking at my map I realised I could turn at this intersection and head straight up the hill then veer across the top of a hill and drop down to reach the track. The climb was steep but did not take as long as I expected. It was more similar to the steep tracks of New Zealand that I am used to and I enjoyed the climb. I even started sweating, the first time in ages.

The track climbed above the trees and I turned right to cut across to the main track. The map had this marked as a trail and I did see occasional cairns but mainly I went my own way.

From the big cairn at the highest point the trail was visible below.

Now I dropped down a long way and then climbed again before following the hill around in bush and then the open. There were long dry bits between the swamps and I enjoyed this. There was even a patch of blueberries where I had a snack and topped up my breakfast supply.

Now the trail turned and went between two hills and I started looking for a camp on the far side, so I would get the morning sun on my tent, hopefully.

There are stunning views from my tent looking down to a lake and the mountains behind which tomorrow I will be travelling over.

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