Montag, 20. Juni 2016
Pausing my Berlin - Nordkap -Bushcraft Tour 2015/16
Hey Friends!
I had and still have a vision to walk from Berlin to The Nordkap in Norway.
I made it from Berlin up to the town of Snåsa in North-Trøndelag - mostly by feet - a third of the way I was using trains, busses or I was going by car with friends.
Some days ago I started to begin with the third episode from Snåsa up north.
And on the day I landed in Trondheim I decided to quit!!!
Basically what happened, is that I felt exhaused from following my Dream in a maybe to radical manner - not properly balancing will and faith - and that made me feel unsafe, uneasy and uninspired.
So I had to quit - walking in the wildernes far off the streets and civilisation requires total awakeness and confidence, knowing that all things are taken care of. This was not the case anymore.
When I came to Trondheim I realised some things:
-My Backpack was about 6 kilos heavier - without food/water - than it has been - my knees and back hurted
-my budget was quickly melting away due to some unexpected payments I had to pay in Berlin - it has been to low anyway
-I do feel quite exhausted from the last half a year of not having my own place - I gave up my flat in Berlin to follow my dream
-the whole idea did not match my reality anymore - I felt low
What was possible in 2015 seems to be not possible anymore in 2016 - at least in its actual shape.
So I had to decide to stop my Berlin - Nordkap -Bushcraft Tour Episode 2016 for good.
I did not give up on my dream - but I have to adjust to it in a new manner - so for now - I will retreat and rebuild my live and inspiration - to continue when I am ready at a better timing and with new energy.
Thank you all for inspiring me, letting yourselves be inspired by me - for all the donations/sleeping places/help and friendship and all that joy, adventure and exitement!
It is important to know when to pause - it is even a security matter in the wilderness - so it is not a sad thing at all!
See you sooner or later - back on the road :) back in the woods and mountains. :)
Donnerstag, 15. Oktober 2015
Skjækerdalshytta - Setertjønnhytta - Brenta Stuggu - second week of September 2015
Hello again!
In the last weeks I did not feel inspired to post anything at all, maybe cause I have been more into socialising than in the tales about the wanderings of the lone-wolf ( or bear :) ), but as I watched the pictures I took, once more, I could feel the exitement again and here we go: some pictures and thoughts about my beautiful walk trough the Blåfjella-Skjækerfjella-National-park. Currently I am guest at a friends house in the Årdal kommune and since my walk I have met some new people and met some I already knew in the beginning of the year.
In this second week I rarely met people in the National-park and so I was very alone and very happy to be included into the nature, meeting animals like reindeer, moose and sheep. Sometimes small reindeer-collectors-helikopters were passing by along the lines of the lake and trough the valley and one or two high-flying commercial planes could be heard. The rest was silence.
From Skjækerdalshytta I went north between the river and the mountainslope until I met the bridge build on an former dam - the Skjækerdammen - and crossed the river in western direction.
From here the poorly marked route leads uphill to a plateau on the eastside of the lake Skjækervatne. I was happy to leave the swampy terrain and to come up here. On the plateau I saw my first reindeer - an all white one.
In this area many routes meet and in summer most of the visitors pass by here, so the routes are marked very well, to keep orientation easy. One attraction is the geographical midpoint of Norway.
Finally - the Setertjønnhytta - since this hut is used much more often than the other NTT-huts in this area, it is properly equipped with food but not so lovley as other huts I saw. I stayed one night and started my trip to Gaundalen mountain-farm on totally non-marked routes. From here on you have to have card and compass and/or GPS. Sometimes you can see the route and some footprints but most of the time you have to choose the path inside the terrain by yourself. No paths or hints anymore. This was not as easy as I thought and after leaving Setertjønnhytta, it took me one day to make something like four or five kilometrers. The swanp was more serious here, once I sank in with my right leg up to to my ass, but I could free myself quickly with the help of my walkingstick. Plus I did not get wet at all - exept the feet - for my heavy-duty-outdoorwork-rain-protection-trousers and the outdoor-gaiters (garments worn over the shoe and lower pants leg) which kept myself astonishingly dry, of course a great comfort outdoors.
I knew from my map that there was a hut at Storbrenta at the northeast end of the lake Skjækervatnet and I surrendered to the fact that I would not make more then some kilometers this day - so I decided to visit this hut which I assumed to be closed, to at least take some dry firewood there and set up my camp in some decent distance to that hut on the banks of the lake. I met the little river near the hut a little to much south of a bridge I saw on the card. I could see the hut already - it felt as noone was there and I went to look for the brigde. For the last hour of my walk this evening I heard some voices and I tried not to meet their owners, cause I thought I would not want to meet these loud people - later I found out, that they used this shouting to drive the sheep in the right direction and for localization purpose among themselves. That was why I met the river a bit too much in the south. But at the little river I suddenly met a group of teenagers with fishing equipment and talked to them. They told me about the bridge and said I should go see the people owning the hut - they would propably invite me in. I walked the last meters - trough te bush - to the bridge, which was a private bridge with fences around to block and control a sheep flock - and there I met in perfect timing - some very friendly adults. It was Peter and Pia, a sheepfarmers couple, accompanied by another guy. They invited me in and suddenly - coming from the silence of the aloneness - I found myself in a beautifully crowded, large logcabin full of teenagers and other friendly adults. It turned out there was Peter and Pia, plus Gunnar-with-the-dogs which are offical sheepfarmers, Thømø - an uncle of Pia from Finland, plus a bunch of students of agriculture from Snåsa and their teacher, who were all collaborating in collecting the sheeps and their lambs after the summer inside of the nationalpark as volounteers.
The place was packed with people - the adults had their beds in two little rooms and the teenagers slept on top of that rooms under the roof. Party-vibes! They quickly integrated me into their togetherness and at the end of the evening I was successfully highjacked by these lovley people to volounteer at the collecting of the lambs next days. Peter and Pia, who do not own the logcabin alone but share it with other sheepfarmers gave everything - in a very relaxed and friendly manner - to make these days as attractive and exitig for everyone participating in the big work to collect the sheep, which were spread all over the area. Breakfast and dinner for fiveteen people - no problem. The teenagers were allowed to have some drinks - they did not misuse this previlege and they were allowed to party on into nighttimes and noone told them to be quiet or so. It was amazing - such a togetherness. Two days later then "the old man" (a legendary, over 80 years old guy - a former Oberst of the Army and passionate mountain-dweller) came to visit and a younger friend of Peter&Pia with his Kids. There was the old Gunnar-with-the-dogs (older than 70 years) with his shepard-dogs and an then for some hours an other Gunnar with his 13 year old daughter coming from an even higher mountainplateau in East-Skjæker driving a flock of their sheep with extraordinary endurance down to the collecting area neat Brenta Stuggu. I met people from 8 to older than 80 there. It was so amazing - it was great.
Out in this beautiful area Peter and Pia told me so many things I wanted to know, about bears and eagles killing their sheep about "the Lapps" (Sami people) and their Reindeer, about hunting and sheepbuissiness. I as a friend of the bear was very happy to hear that they expierineced a bear-plague (hehe!) - which of course they do not think of as funny at all. Since here in Nord-Trøndelag the hunt for bears is rigidly forbidden, same as the hunt for eagles. (heavy, heavy, big eagles, baby, I saw one fly with his/her young one, after Gunnar-with-the-dogs reported their sighting on the walkie talkie). So Peter and Pia somehow, although they are not at all fearfull people, fear that the age of sheepfarming in the wild areas of Skjæker could be over after hundreds of years of sheepfarming! They have to do other things to make money anyway and they are successful people which do not depend on the meat, but this old conflict of wildlife versus sheepfarmers is there, but it is not unsolveable, in my opinion. So I am with the bear and eagle, bu I am also with the thousands of years of sheeptradition as I helped this shepards on a voluntary basis. What the bear took from Peter&Pia - I was giving back in form of work and togetherness.I love the humans, the bears, the eagles, the reindeer, the Norwegian and the "lazy" ;) (hehe) "helicopter-lapps". Alltogeher they have a paradise up there - I tell you!
The days with Peter&Pia, Gunnar-with-the-dogs and all the rest of dedicated people have been so intensive and so full of work and fun, dozens of kilometres a day, running, tricking the sheep, jumping up- and downhill, resting, laughing, partying (...and Aquavit, Vodka and my Scotch and no hangover!) ...fun, fun, and more fun and talks&jokes - so that I kind of forgot to make pictures or videos. The videos I shot are all shit, cause I had to stop each of them because of i.e. a mothersheep and some lambs nearly managed to escape and things like that, walkie talkies yelling and shepards shouting out - everyone was fully concentrated to catch ALL of the sheep, so I had to focus on that. It has been so intense. It made me soooo happy. I have been so heartfully re-invited for next Septembers sheep collection and been dealt with in such a friendly manner - I can say: I love Skjæker!
Next Post: Brenta Stuggu - Gaundalen - Holden - Holden fjellgård
In the last weeks I did not feel inspired to post anything at all, maybe cause I have been more into socialising than in the tales about the wanderings of the lone-wolf ( or bear :) ), but as I watched the pictures I took, once more, I could feel the exitement again and here we go: some pictures and thoughts about my beautiful walk trough the Blåfjella-Skjækerfjella-National-park. Currently I am guest at a friends house in the Årdal kommune and since my walk I have met some new people and met some I already knew in the beginning of the year.
In this second week I rarely met people in the National-park and so I was very alone and very happy to be included into the nature, meeting animals like reindeer, moose and sheep. Sometimes small reindeer-collectors-helikopters were passing by along the lines of the lake and trough the valley and one or two high-flying commercial planes could be heard. The rest was silence.
From Skjækerdalshytta I went north between the river and the mountainslope until I met the bridge build on an former dam - the Skjækerdammen - and crossed the river in western direction.
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| Skjækerdammen |
From here the poorly marked route leads uphill to a plateau on the eastside of the lake Skjækervatne. I was happy to leave the swampy terrain and to come up here. On the plateau I saw my first reindeer - an all white one.
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| plateau on the eastside of the lake Skjækervatnet heading towards Lågvassbua |
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| Reindeer-area - its kind of hard to take a picture of them, they always stay some hundred meters away from humans |
In this area many routes meet and in summer most of the visitors pass by here, so the routes are marked very well, to keep orientation easy. One attraction is the geographical midpoint of Norway.
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| Norges geografiske midtpunkt - Norway's geographical midpoint |
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| shovel to dig out Norway's geographical midpoint in winter :) |
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| Setertjønnhytta |
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| swamp-area at Skjeldbreien |
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| no marked route anymore - from Setertjønnhytta to Brenta Stuggu |
The place was packed with people - the adults had their beds in two little rooms and the teenagers slept on top of that rooms under the roof. Party-vibes! They quickly integrated me into their togetherness and at the end of the evening I was successfully highjacked by these lovley people to volounteer at the collecting of the lambs next days. Peter and Pia, who do not own the logcabin alone but share it with other sheepfarmers gave everything - in a very relaxed and friendly manner - to make these days as attractive and exitig for everyone participating in the big work to collect the sheep, which were spread all over the area. Breakfast and dinner for fiveteen people - no problem. The teenagers were allowed to have some drinks - they did not misuse this previlege and they were allowed to party on into nighttimes and noone told them to be quiet or so. It was amazing - such a togetherness. Two days later then "the old man" (a legendary, over 80 years old guy - a former Oberst of the Army and passionate mountain-dweller) came to visit and a younger friend of Peter&Pia with his Kids. There was the old Gunnar-with-the-dogs (older than 70 years) with his shepard-dogs and an then for some hours an other Gunnar with his 13 year old daughter coming from an even higher mountainplateau in East-Skjæker driving a flock of their sheep with extraordinary endurance down to the collecting area neat Brenta Stuggu. I met people from 8 to older than 80 there. It was so amazing - it was great.
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| Brenta Stuggu - a sheepfarmers hut - packed with 15 people who collectively worked together to collect the sheep and lambs inside the nationalpark |
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| pancakes with blueberries in the morning - no problem with this tool! |
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| glacial terrain near the hill Grønhaugen north-east of Skjækervatnet |
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| This stone lying there since the last ice-age is called "Amudsen" because of his nose :) |
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| Peter, Gunnar&Dogs and me crossing the little river |
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| best weather! sun in september - a beautiful late summer |
The days with Peter&Pia, Gunnar-with-the-dogs and all the rest of dedicated people have been so intensive and so full of work and fun, dozens of kilometres a day, running, tricking the sheep, jumping up- and downhill, resting, laughing, partying (...and Aquavit, Vodka and my Scotch and no hangover!) ...fun, fun, and more fun and talks&jokes - so that I kind of forgot to make pictures or videos. The videos I shot are all shit, cause I had to stop each of them because of i.e. a mothersheep and some lambs nearly managed to escape and things like that, walkie talkies yelling and shepards shouting out - everyone was fully concentrated to catch ALL of the sheep, so I had to focus on that. It has been so intense. It made me soooo happy. I have been so heartfully re-invited for next Septembers sheep collection and been dealt with in such a friendly manner - I can say: I love Skjæker!
Next Post: Brenta Stuggu - Gaundalen - Holden - Holden fjellgård
Montag, 28. September 2015
Blåfjella-Skjækerfjella-Nationalpark - first week of September 2015
Hello dear All!
I did not write here for a long time, I was more interested in my trip than writing about it. But now I like to share some pictures and insights with you. It has been a beautiful time in the Skjækerfjella-area. I met Hunters, Sheep-farmers, some Moose and Reindeer, Eagles and walked in a very beautiful mountain-area.
After following the pilgrimsway St. Olavsleden from Stiklestad up to Vuku, I headed for the Skjækerdalshytta inside the nationa-lpark, first along the fylkesvei 757and on parallel, smaller roads in direction Malsåa kopparverk.
Entering the Nationalpark: Dirtroads - easy to walk and a night in an open hut at a small lake which is used by fishermen.
This hut has been recommended to me by a friendly norwegian couple. I wanted to enter the nationalpark quickly and so I was quite happy to find this hut with firewood already prepared. I did not have to set up an entire camp, which is not so easy in this area, cause everything is wet - the ground is mostly a swamp or wet moss and to find 2 squaremeters of even, dry ground always takes some time here.
The Malsåa kopparverk is an old abandoned copper-mine with only a few remains left to see. But the wounds in the landscape and parts of some old installations still can be seen. This place is an exellent starting point into the national-park and can not be reached by car, but the way up to here from the last parkingspace is easy to find.
In the refuge hut is enough firewood to warm yourselve or to cook a coffe at the fireplace.
From here I followed the marked route from Malsåa kopparverk to the Skjækerdalshytta.
The route is marked but often there is no path to see, so you mostly follow the red marks on poles or trees but inbetween the marks you have to find yourself a way to walk. Card and compass is important here and if you use a GPS make sure you have enough batteries or powerbanks for days!
Crossing the first mountain - Kolstadklumpen - and entering the characteristic landscapes of Skjæker
Finally, after walking on wet ground and on poorly marked routes with no visible path up- and downhill, always having wet feet in wet shoes - I crossed the river, walked through the valley and found the Skjækerdalshytta on the other side of the valley. Here I stayed two nights, did the laundry, dried my things, renewed my food-supplies, relaxed and enjoyed the view.
This hut from NTT is a self-service hut with a food storage which you can use. As a member of NTT the night here costs 200 kr. (about 23 EURO) and the food is mostly tinned food and basic food like rice, pasta, pankace-powder, coffee, tea, bread and breakfast stuff as you have it in a hotel. All, all, all things have to be brought here by snowscooter and everyone maintaining a hut has only five rides free per year, wether he or she owns a tourist hut, a sheepfarmers hut or a private hut. So everything including bed-sheets, food, fire-wood and gas has to be transported here on sledges withe the help of snowscooters in winter. Everything is kind of precious up here but for that the prices are very fair.
I did not write here for a long time, I was more interested in my trip than writing about it. But now I like to share some pictures and insights with you. It has been a beautiful time in the Skjækerfjella-area. I met Hunters, Sheep-farmers, some Moose and Reindeer, Eagles and walked in a very beautiful mountain-area.
Since I was walking in a national-park and sometimes in even more protected areas, I had to reduce the bushcraft-part a little. Camping, extracting firewood and fishing are allowed but I felt it would not be right to cut six trees and a lot of pine-branches to construct a bushcraft-shelter and things like that. Plus the area is extremly wet - it is mostly a highmoor and great swampy areas - I was happy to use refuge-shelters and huts which are always equipped with fireplaces and fire-wood to dry my boots, tarp and cloth. In the third episode of my Berlin - Nordkap Bushcraft-Tour in 2016 I will reemphasize the bushcraft-aspect again a little more.
After following the pilgrimsway St. Olavsleden from Stiklestad up to Vuku, I headed for the Skjækerdalshytta inside the nationa-lpark, first along the fylkesvei 757and on parallel, smaller roads in direction Malsåa kopparverk.
Entering the Nationalpark: Dirtroads - easy to walk and a night in an open hut at a small lake which is used by fishermen.
The Malsåa kopparverk is an old abandoned copper-mine with only a few remains left to see. But the wounds in the landscape and parts of some old installations still can be seen. This place is an exellent starting point into the national-park and can not be reached by car, but the way up to here from the last parkingspace is easy to find.
In the refuge hut is enough firewood to warm yourselve or to cook a coffe at the fireplace.
From here I followed the marked route from Malsåa kopparverk to the Skjækerdalshytta.
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| mark on the marked route - from one mark to the next |
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| after passing Fiskløysingen - a swampy plateau |
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| looks nice but this is a highmoor - it is wet,wet,wet! |
The route is marked but often there is no path to see, so you mostly follow the red marks on poles or trees but inbetween the marks you have to find yourself a way to walk. Card and compass is important here and if you use a GPS make sure you have enough batteries or powerbanks for days!
Crossing the first mountain - Kolstadklumpen - and entering the characteristic landscapes of Skjæker
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| mobile network and 3G avaible - the last for days.. |
This hut from NTT is a self-service hut with a food storage which you can use. As a member of NTT the night here costs 200 kr. (about 23 EURO) and the food is mostly tinned food and basic food like rice, pasta, pankace-powder, coffee, tea, bread and breakfast stuff as you have it in a hotel. All, all, all things have to be brought here by snowscooter and everyone maintaining a hut has only five rides free per year, wether he or she owns a tourist hut, a sheepfarmers hut or a private hut. So everything including bed-sheets, food, fire-wood and gas has to be transported here on sledges withe the help of snowscooters in winter. Everything is kind of precious up here but for that the prices are very fair.
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| view from the Skjækerdalshytta |
Next Post: From Skjækerdalshytta to Setertjønnhytta
Donnerstag, 3. September 2015
Levanger - Stiklestad - Blåfjella-Skjækerfjella-Nationalpark
I walked on the St. Olavsleden from Størdal to Levanger and now I am heading to Stiklestad and from there to Blåfjella-Skjækerfjella-Nationalpark. I plan to take this route: http://ut.no/tur/2.7646/
Størdal to Levanger
It was a wonderful walk in the mountains and landscapes on the St.Olavsleden. The weather was so good! I am very thankful.
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| Wild Strawberries |
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| chanterelles |
preparing lunch
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| scrambled eggs with chanterelles |
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| sour clover |
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| resin soaked bark |
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| resin abundance |
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| I keep watching you.. |
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| this IS a trail! |
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| mmmh! |
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| view of the lake Movatnet |
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| Road on St.Olavsleden in the Skjelstadmarka |
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| raspberries and Mariekeks |
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| new backpack |
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| blueberries |
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| Levanger, a my hut on the campingplassen |
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| :) |
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