Norway 5: Sunndalsøra, a hike to Renndølsetra, a second, failed hike, and two sunsets

  In my excitement to talk about the hike and the musk ox, I forgot to mention some of the followup details.  Once I returned to the room, I had no way to dry my shoes.  I opened them up the best I could and put them on the window sill.  The next morning they were still quite moist, so I devised a solution to prevent my socks from getting wet.  I took one of my garbage bags, used for clean clothes, and cut it in half with a scissors.  Then, I wrapped each sock with a garbage bag, and put my feet in the shoes.  Then I tucked the garbage bag excess into the sides.  I had my shoes on this way when I drove to my next location, Sunndalsøra.

  I was only able to grab one picture from the drive, which looked back towards where I began.  Finally, once I was about fifteen minutes away from my destination, I was able to stop a few times to take pictures of the mountains.

  My hotel here had the lowest ratings of the entire trip, however, it is the only hotel in town.  At first, the door was locked, when I arrived just past noon.  It had a phone number to call if the door was locked, but I don't have the ability to call Norway with my pocket wifi calling setup.  This was strange, because I requested an early check in and was told that it was not a problem.  After sitting outside a while, I decided to try a button that was on the side, but not marked as a means for entry.  

  The bell worked, and a woman answered, who called for the owner.  At least, I think he was the owner.  He told me that the hotel was an all electronic hotel, meaning that to enter your room and the front door, you needed a code.  He texted me the code.  I did not receive it.  So, he wrote it down on a piece of paper for me.  I still have not received the code 6 days later.  He then went on and on about how check in was not until 3, but he would still let me.  Since he was agreeing with it, I did not see the need to explain that I requested it already and it was confirmed.  At the very end of the check in process, he saw the note on the account and realized his error.

  The hotel was fine, as far as hotels go.  The room was very large, so I was happy.  there was a stain on the carpet right outside my room, which served as an indicator to me that it was my door.  The desk was a nice size and there was a reclining chair.  Across the street was a supermarket and a Thai food truck.  I ate at the food truck at least three times, each time a different dish.  Green curry was my first.  It, along with another I ordered the next day, were quite spicy but excellent.  They were open on Sunday as well, when the supermarket was closed.

  That first night, I ventured out at 7:00, for a 9:45 sunset.  I don't know why I went out so early.  It was only a fifteen minute walk to the water.  Unfortunately, the clouds were so heavy that the sunset never came.  To pass the time, I listened to music and did my yoga and stretching routine.  At least six cars drove up to the lot next to where I was stationed.  None got out.  They all left after waiting a bit.  I also spent the time trying to scout the best location to shoot from, just in case a sunset somehow broke through the clouds.  I found an area to climb to, upon rocks down by the water.  On the periphery of what would be a good shot, was a long stick/log.  I climbed on over, dislodged the rock that was holding the giant stick/log in place, and moved it.  Now I had a location to come back to in the future.

  The next day's forecast showed all clouds.  It was correct.  In any case, I decided to do a hike anyway.  I drove about twenty minutes northwest and then east, around the mountains.  The hike was mostly uphill, before flattening alongside a lake.  The clouds were two thirds down the mountains.

  I was able to spot a grouse and some smaller birds.  I spent some time watching them.

  The end point was Renndølsetra, a waffle and coffee shop, that I think also is a bed and breakfast.  

There were a bunch of chickens huddling around the stroller of the family in the bottom left.  

I had waffles, which came with yogurt and jam.

  The clouds were all encompassing that evening, so I did not bother going out for a sunset.  The next day was bright and sunny.  One local spot had waterfalls, which didn't particularly interest me, and there was a scenic drive, but it began an hour and a half away, and I did not want to spend all day driving.  Alltrails didn't show anything of value, so I searched outside and found a hike described as moderate, to go to the top of a mountain only ten minutes away.

  I packed two cameras and three lenses, along with a bottle of water.  The hike started out easy enough.  I walked through a forest, and the incline began.  It was a bit muddy, and the trail quickly changed into climbing up wet root systems.  It was a bit strenuous, but I kept on.  I ran into a couple and I asked them if it ever leveled out, and they said that only in the very last bit did it become more gradual.  

    There were parts where the path became almost impossible to follow, and it continued to get steeper.  It was actually rather hot outside, and with all the moisture, insects were everywhere.  Eventually, the "trail" became so steep that I would essentially have to be scurrying up slick rocks on all fours.  Between the heavy backpack, hot weather, having no more water, and getting sick of the insects, not to mention having sore muscles from my last two hikes, I decided to turn around.  I can't remember a time where I've had to turn back early on a hike, but even days later I am confident that I made the right decision.  I kind of wished that I had taken at least a phone picture of the rocks going up at the end, but pictures like that rarely show perspective very well.  Here were the two pictures I took from my final position.

  Going back down was a bit precarious.  The first part was less walking, and more maneuvering with legs and hands to avoid slipping.  The path was so unclear near the end, that I ended up in front of one of the electric constructs shown in the picture above.  I had somehow deviated from the path.  Luckily, this trail showed up on google maps, so using the gps, I carefully climbed sideways through thick brush, unable to determine what kind of ground my feet would be landing on.  About two minutes later, I was able to connect with the path.  After that, it wasn't too difficult to make my way back down.  

  My shoes were soaked through again, so I had to redeploy my garbage bag protectors.  That night I left for the sunset at 8:30.  I returned to the position that I had found, and was able to catch a ship leaving the dock, along with the beginning of a sunset.  I stayed until 9:45 again, and was rewarded with a nice sunset near the mountains in the distance.