Thursday, September 25, 2008

Mountain vacation 2008. August 16th

After all this text I think it's time for some pictures again. :-)

On the Saturday, the weather was very uneven - brief showers of rain, equally brief sunny spells, relatively warm, but rather overcast at times. Sometimes clear skies, then suddenly it'd start raining again, etc. We had a couple of our must-go hikes left, one of them an easier, shorter one and another that takes several hours and is more strenuous ... and which is much better in nice weather. We heard the weather forecast on the radio, and it indicated that on the following day, the Sunday, it would be warm and sunny ... so we decided to hope for that and postpone the longer hike till then. We had considered it for the Saturday. But the best laid plans of mice and men, et cetera. The kind of weather we had was actually pretty good for the shorter hike, because it involves climbing a small mountain with sparse vegetation and so isn't very comfortable when it's really warm and sunny.

The mountain in question is Mount Musvollkampen which I've already showed off from various angles. It's not a very big mountain - certainly far from it in that area! - but we're very fond of it :-) as it's such an integral part of the view that our cabin faces. A lot of visitors to Bjørnhollia, the converted shieling, now hotel, hike along the side of Mount Musvollkampen to get to their destination ... and of course we spy eagerly on these people with our binoculars. We have many questions. Do they have big backpacks, which mean that they'll probably be staying the night? Do they only have little day trip packs, but even so, what time of day is it, because they may be planning to stay for dinner? Do they have a dog? More than one? Which breed of dog? Inquiring minds want to know.

My father relies very heavily on these binoculars while he's at the cabin. I think he would be quite lost without them. It's like when he's at home, he watches too much TV, but when he's at the cabin, there is no TV, so then he spies on people instead.

On with the show!

Halfway up the side of the mountain there is a little tarn. We call it Kampetjønn, which means 'mountain tarn' ... so it's the same as that other tarn I posted about before, but we have different words for mountain. :-) This tarn isn't fed from anywhere so in hot summers it dries out. No worries about that this year ...

From the side of Mount Musvollkampen you can see our cabin across the valley. And if you shout from there, people on our property can hear you. And vice versa. You can have a conversation like that. Whether you'd want to is another question.

Mount Svulten seen from Mount Musvollkampen. You can see our cabin. :-)

A closer shot. A cabin somewhere in the greenery.

A view of Bjørnhollia from the side of Mount Musvollkampen.

Another old shieling, by name the Old Shieling :-), the other mountain tarn, and the river Myllinga. Seen from ... yeah.

The path up the side of Mount Musvollkampen.

My mother way up ahead. I got sidetracked by all this picture-taking.

The famous peaks of the Rondane massif. See the pointed one there? I've been to the peak of that ... !!! :-o

My mother on the first peak of Mount Musvollkampen. There is a little book in a box tucked away among the stones of the cairn; you can sign your name in it to show that you've been there. :-) Of course we always have to see who else has been there recently, before we sign ourselves.

The peak, the very peak! 1152 meters above sea level. Not very impressive considering that our cabin, across the valley, is at something like 950 meters. :-) See the field just to the right of the sign? That belongs to the family farm, Solvang. I don't think the farm buildings are painfully visible, but still. :-)

Musvolseter seen from the peak.

Lake Gjermundstjønn seen from the peak.

The Old Shieling, on our way back. Another lovely place that's not being taken proper care of. :-(

2 comments:

Paz said...

nice photo's lovely to see some of the country, thanks
A tarn seems to be similar to a turlough in Ireland does not have a source and drys in hot summers. so I have learned something from you!

Leisha Camden said...

Yeah, I thought you'd like these. ;-) The Rondane area has what you might call a rugged kind of beauty - it may look rather bleak at first glance, but the terrain is actually very varied and there is a lot to be seen there if one only takes the time to look. :-)

A tarn actually doesn't have to be sourceless - we don't only use the word for that - it has more to do with location and size. Small lakes in mountains and forests are generally not perceived as meriting our word for lake - sjø or innsjø - so we call these tjern/ tjønn, ie, tarn. But many of them will be small enough that they do dry out occasionally. Don't have to, though.

I learned the word turlough - now let's see how long I can remember it ... ;-)