Holiday in Sweden and Rondane National Park

We just got back from a two week holiday in Sweden and Norway. We started out on Friday, August 3rd after work and drove half way to Gävle, Sweden where Knut's sister Jorunn is living. On Friday afternoon we arrived in Gävle. Jorunn has a great apartment centrally located in town. She is close to the walking street which makes all shopping very easy, and best of all she is two minutes from a great park where you can walk for hours along the many trails following the river.

We went to the nearby beach area called Bönan as well. The weather was great; warm and sunny the whole while. Johan, Hanna and Frida were also home and it was fun to see them and see where they train dancing. All three of them are accomplished dancers and participate in competitions all over Europe.
On Wednesday morning, August 8th, we left for Norway again. We stopped in Mora where we were with Patti and Cornell a few years ago for lunch and continued on to
Koppang, Norway where we spent the night. We were getting excited for our 6 day hike in the Rondane National Park. In the morning, we packed and re-packed our
backpacks, bought some food forthe nights we were going to be camping and took off for Rondane.

The first day was only a two hour hike into Bjørnhollia turist cabin. This is a very popular place and the cabins we visited were fully staffed turist cabins. A far cry from the other turist cabins we have been to. When we got there, we were assigned a room and told that dinner was at 6PM!. What luxury! The following morning after a good breakfast, we headed out towards the next cabin. We walked down Langglupdalen which would take us to the next cabin, Rondvassbu. But before getting to the cabin, we stopped near some lakes and camped he night in tents. The weather wasn't the best, but it didn't actually rain until after we got the tents up. There are no trees up there and it was a bit strange setting up camp with no trees around at all. We used our new stove which we received from Cornell and Patti for Christmas for the first time!

That evening the sun came out right before sunset and it was a beautiful evening.

The third day started out quite nice weather wise, but we could tell it wouldn't last. Still we made oatmeal and fried sausage for breakfast, packed together our camp and headed towards Rondvassbu. The walk went first along some lakes around the highest mountain in Rondane, Rondslottet. Then it went straight up for a while before going slowly slowly downhill for a few hours. It was a beautiful walk, but the rain came in quite hard and that made the packs heavy and the rocks slippery. So it was nice to get to the next cabin which not only could offer a warm meal, but a room just for drying clothes and boots! How very nice.

Rondvassbu is another fully staffed turist cabin, the biggest in Rondane and it was very busy that evening. Still we had a nice time, the food was good and the people working there did everything possible to help us out and
answer any question or request we had.
We stayed there the fourth day as well. Knut, Thomas and Linda went up to a mountain top called Storronden. It's 2138 meters over sea level - that's over 7000 feet! The weather was terrible, it rained almost the whole while and the fog was so bad that they had to take one marker at a time. Needless to say, they didn't see a thing when they got to the top, but still it's great to say that they were up there! I didn't go as I wasn't sure my knee could handle the slippery trip up and down even without a 37 lb pack on my back.

While they went to Storronden, I took a long walk around the cabin area. On day five, we headed down Illmanndalen back to Bjørnhollia again. This valley was much prettier than Langglupdalen. This valley was green with lots of vegitation (relatively speaking - the other valley was only rocks and moss). There were lots and lots of streams pouring down the mountain sides. Most of the water coming from snow that is still elting and of course, from all the rain. There were lakes along the whole valley, one after the other like pearls on a chain. As we left the cabin it was pouring rain, but after an hour or so, it cleared up and turned into a beautiful day. We stopped many time just to enjoy the views, drink the delicious water and just enjoy ourselves. Upon our arrivel at Bjørnhollia again we met several people we had met at other stops over the last 6 days, so it was very fun talking to everyone during the evening hours and over breakfast.
After breakfast on the sixth day we headed back out to the car again. How sad. The weather was very nice and we finally got to see some of the mountain tops that were shrouded in fog and rain the whole trip. It was a great trip.

We drove north around the Rondane National Park and east along Dovree National Park. Some of the highest mountains in Norway are here and the views were just beautiful. We made it home the following day after driving down the middle of Norway past scenery that must be unique to this place. All the falls we passed were enormous due to the unusual amount of rain this summer. The rivers we drove past were so full they looked like they were filled with boiling water.

It was good to get home again. We went straight to Bjrøn and Arnlaugs where they had some food ready for us. They sure spoil us and make us feel welcome home!

I have made a short 5 1/2 minute video of our trip through Rondane. Click here to see it:

-Reb