Gygrestolen

Hi!

Sorry about lying about updating my blog on Monday.

Today it's very rainy, grey, and misty outside. And I don't have any classes. :)

So here will be some pictures and description of a hike of Gygrestolen that I did on

Tuesday, September 14.

The weather forecast wasn't very good and I was disappointed to see it pouring rain when I woke up. But when I got out from class a few hours later, the sky was clear!

Sunny weather (for now)! Gyrestolen from the trailhead.

Gyrestolen is a hill with blocks that cracked off to make cool cliffs.

There's a legend that a gyre (troll thing) threw boulders from Gyrestolen all the way to the Bø because it was angry that a Christian church was being built. The boulders missed the church but you can see them laying near it. If I was a gygre I would also want to live on this hill.

First we rode bikes out of town and on rolling gravel roads through hilly farm country. The trail head is by Uvdal Lake, excellent for swimming and it even has diving platforms. (But unfortunately it's getting too cold for me to swim, I admit it.)

Uvdal Lake from above

Trail on the hike up

Rocks everywhere :)

A cave- once you crawl through the narrow opening it tunnels up and gets larger.



This lake is on the hill top, and there is a drop off on the far end of the lake.

The cliffy part.

I like the farm way up on the hill. Lifjell in the distance.

Cool twisty trees everywhere.

Cliffs from below.

On the bike back to Bø it started raining a LOT but it wasn't hard to stay cheerful after such a nice hike.

This was definitely my favorite hike in Norway so far. I liked the variety of beautiful scenery on every part of the trip- the way there, the entire hike up, walking on the hill top, the cliff part, and the way down!

I look forward to going back there with one of my classes in two weeks.

The next two days I had some classes, did homework, went kayaking (and solo canoeing), and prepared for a weekend hiking trip to Lifjell which I decided to do. I'll report about that in the next blog!

Have a nice day!

Gaustatoppen

Hi!

I'm going to catch up with blogging about another few days.

By the way, my plant identification test this morning went well! I have a few pictures of what it looked like studying for it in the chem lab at school on Sunday night.

OK, now we'll go back in time to...

Sunday Sept. 12

I went on a hike up Gaustatoppen, the highest mountain in Telemark (1800m). It's very, ummm, rocky! Apparently you can see 1/6 of Norway from the top, but it was cloudy on this day. (We actually didn't go all the way to the summit because the trail was in slippery condition and the view would be the same- white.) But the view on the way up, before the cloud, was great. It was also a great feeling, when going back down, to get out of the rain and into the sunshine below it!

Near the top of the mountain was a cabin serving waffles and hot drinks, and the entrance to an elevator-thing that comes up through a tunnel in the mountainside. In the winter it's popular to take the elevator up and ski down!

There were lots of people hiking there today, including lots of children, and dogs of all sizes! I think it took about 2.5 hours to go up, because you can drive to the trailhead at more thn 1000m. So even though it's a very high mountain for this area, it doesn't feel like it with a relatively short hike and waffles near the summit!

Friends with whom I was hiking.

Norwegian hikers with a tiny dog. ("We're going as far as he can make it!")

...And a large dog! (Or a character from a Dr. Seuss book?)

Going up into the cloud.

Terri and Kirsten.

The cabin near the top.

Afterwards we quickly checked out the town of Rjukan (which I have mentioned before from on the Alpine Ecology field trip) because it's cool and right near Gaustatoppen.

View of Gaustatoppen from Rjukan, the summit is finally getting out of the clouds!

The hydro power plant / museum.

Monday Sept. 13

I had my first Ecotourism class on this day, so now I have a better idea of what ecotourism actually is. (The program that I'm taking here is Ecotourism and Sustainability, so that's helpful...).

Ecotourism is a constantly evolving idea with 85 definitions. (Kind of like trying to define sustainability). But to summarize, it is an alternative to conventional (mass) tourism with aspects of nature, conservation, culture, education, and/or local benefits.

I promise to update about Sept. 14 and 15 tomorrow.

Good night!

Dyrskun

Hi!

Tomorrow morning I have a test on plant identification (with the Latin names). So, I think it's a perfect time to update my blog. Haha.

I made some notes last week so that I wouldn't forget what I did, but some of the days sound very boring, and as I remember it, it was more interesting. And they don't have pictures! Oh, well. It gets more interesting towards the end of the week. Let's see where I left off:

Monday Sept. 6

errands

Tuesday Sept. 7

homework and class, house meeting

Wednesday, Sept. 8

International students meeting- paperwork

Kayaking!! I got to borrow a really good playboat and practiced surfing.

Scenery on the (1 hour long) walk back from kayaking.

Thursday Sept. 9

Norwegian class

Blueberry and lingon berry picking

Dinner with friends

Friday Sept. 10

Friluftsliv class trip to Lifjell, the highest mountains near Bø. We just went for a short walk, with a lunch stop where we made bannock with ground-up lichen in it over the fire. Tasted ok! I also spent an hour picking blueberries. It was a bit chilly.

It's particularly beautiful in the mountains at this time of year because the leaves are changing colour. The mountain birch is the tree which grows at the highest elevations, not spruce like I'm used to in the Rockies. Then there are blueberries, dwarf birch, and other shrubs whose leaves also change colour.

A "lecture" about some plants.

The lunch spot.

Lichen-bannock.

Saturday Sept. 11

Along with most of the international students, I went to the Dyrskun market in Seljord, a town near Bø (with the lake with the seaserpent, remember?). This market happens once and year and people from all over Norway come to it. It was pouring rain all day, but the market was still crowded.

There was heavy machinery, crafts, art, knives, knitted mittens and socks, traditional clothing, outdoor clothing, shoes, organic food, meat, fish, honey and much more being sold. There were also animal shows and cultural exhibits. I tried many samples and bought honey, moose salami, pickled fish, gloves, and wool clothes. Outside this "official" market there were lots of other stalls set up selling food and used books and dishes and so on.

Here are some pictures of typical stalls at the market:

Machinery.

Artwork- paintings on lichen-covered rocks.

Honey.

Meat.

Outdoor clothing (this place was very crowded!)

Goth-clothing, including goth-Buffs (neck warmers).

"And much more." (A dog yurt)

Military gear (outside the market).

In the evening I talked with my family for the first time (using Skype for the first time)!

Ok, I think this is long enough for one update. Tomorrow I will continue catching up from Sept. 12 on (which is a cool hike and I took lots of pictures, :) ) Good bye!