24: Fjorda

Just got back from a canoe trip in the Fjorda area, a beautiful spot only a 1.5 hour drive by car north of Oslo. It's a very popular area with lots of visitors each season, but it still feels very much like wilderness with few people to be seen, especially if you stay away from the offical camping spots which has toilets, ready made places to build a fire etc. We had planned to stay for two nights, but opted to abort because of bad weather.

Here are some photos with captions - I don't have the energy right now to write a full report.

At Solviken kanoutleie, where we rented a canoe for the trip. We were three people with backpacks and groceries and had planned to use a 3 man canoe, but they were all taken, so we ended up using a 2 man one with good loading capacity (400kg). The rental price was 300 nok per day which of course included life jackets and paddles :)

We later found out that we could've bought firewood at the rental place, which we would've done if we'd known about. Next time (we will definitely be back).

My friend Leif enjoying himself.

My hammock tarp proved useful when we were hit by lots of rain as we arrived at the island. Later in the evening the weather improved and we could chill out with good food and beer (and mintuu of course), not really having to stay under the tarp, but we did so anyway for some reason :).

Frying meat with the Bushbuddy running on dry cones :). We found that they turned into hot coals after a while which gave a nice steady heat. The BB was also nice as a heater under the tarp.

The trip back the day after was even nice than the first day as it wasn't raining and the wind had calmed. Such a beautiful, quiet place up there.

Like Tinny from Minibulldesign says: "Go out and hike, bring a friend and most importantly: have a great day!".

24: Hakkloa

I know I was supposed to do some gear reviews now, but I have to tell about a wonderful trip I did this weekend with Leif, one of my best friends. Our original plan was to hike to Katnosa, an area I've heard is very beautiful and containing some true wilderness on the hills surrounding it. There is also a DNT (norwegian tourist association) hut there, Katnosdammen, which I've heard is nice. It's not staffed, and has no food (dry goods) available for purchase (many huts do), but it's got canoes available for visitors which is a nice bonus. But, enough talk about that hut - we didn't get so far before deciding to make camp :). Turned out to be 22 km to that hut, which was a bit too far considering how late we started out.

I met up with Leif at the central station and we got on the train to Hakadal, which is only a short 30 min ride from Oslo. When we arrived in Hakdal we got out Leif's tent and split it between us - I carried half of the poles and the outer tent, totalling about 1.5 kilos which isn't that bad. More about the tent, or literally: palace, later. From Hakadal station we walked a couple of kilometers in light rain and on tarmac laden roads before reaching the trail head at Elnes. Weather wasn't the best, but spirits were high and we knew from the forecast that it would be nicer from 6pm and onwards, and great the next day.

Turned out that the trail wasn't that well maintained, but all the flowers and plants almost covering it up made it very nice to look at. We stopped several times to take pictures and enjoy the views.

(photo by Leif)

The trail was scarred some places by the effects of forest work, but nothing too bad. Leif spotted an elk and a couple of other animals on the way, which i felt was a good sign. They were probably so used to the place being calm and abandoned that they didn't have their ears wide open and their guard up. Sadly I didn't see any of the animals that Leif tried to point out. Guess I wouldn't be any good as a hunter, but that's something I'll never pursue anyway - I'm too much of a fan of animals to do that.

We decided to try to find a place to camp near the lake "Hakkloa" which the path lead too anyways. A kilometer or so before we got there we stopped to enjoy the views in the direction of Katnoa, before proceeding down the trail to the camp site.

The road led to a seemingly abandoned farm surrouned by a couple of huts. We got the feeling that the place was now being used by scouts or other organizations, but we weren't sure. Sets of chairs were visible through the windows, and we saw that people had been barbecuing down at the small beach a while ago.

Anyway - a nice spot for the tent was found near the lake and we pitched the tent in a stiff breeze. The tent is a Big Agnes Parkview 3 which Leif bought from me a short while a go, a 3 person, 3 season tent which is nothing short of a palace for two hikers. I like it a lot for the living space, easy pitching and sleek, aerodynamic profile.

Leif prepared an impressive Thai dish on his Trangia and we then proceed to take photos during the last few minutes before the sun disappeared over the horizon. The light is always so amazing then.

I slept very well that night - I am finally getting some good sleep in the outdoors!. We awoke to great weather and after a while a very hot tent. According to my mini themometer the temperature was about 30 degrees celsius.

To boil up some water for breakfast I used the Trail Designs Caldera Keg-H. It's a cool piece of kit I think, veighing a scant 6.2oz / 176gm and containing the combined pot stand and wind screen (the core caldera concept), a stove, pot (the can), lid, fuel, plastic container with cozy that can be used to eat out of and a stuff sack for the whole thing. Highly recommended.

(photo by Leif)

My only gripe with the setup is that the small cone has lost its shape after some use and the dove tail has been compressed so that it is hard to assemble it. I have therefore ordered a titanium cone from Trail Designs that is on its way. They've made me a set of crates for it too so that it will work better in wood burning mode.

After breakfast we hiked back to Hakadal again in glorious sunshine, mostly on gravel roads, being constantly passed by mountain bikers who were probably preparing for the "Birkebeinerritet" cycling event in August (world's largest mountain bike event). I participated a couple of years ago, but once was enough for me :). Great experience though.


Thanks for reading and please leave a comment if you feel like it.

24: Solo trip to Halsjøen

I think I'm addicted to 24 hour trips - can't think of a better way to spend the weekend. I always tend to return refreshed and ready for another bout of the daily grind at work. This time was no different.

Lately I've been doing most of my hiking in the eastern part of the wilderness area surrounding Oslo, "Østmarka". It's closest to where I live and an area I don't know a lot about, so naturally I'm curious to explore it. Most people tend to go to the northern part, Nordmarka, probably since they know so little about what Østmarka has to offer.

(photo from Wikipedia)

I bought a book the day before with lots of trip suggestions and decided to try to find one of the highest hills in the area, called "Tronfjell". Seemed pretty easy when studying the map, but would soon prove to be a challenge.

I packed the ULA Ohm that Hendrik brought me to test, got on my scooter and scooted to the trail head Østmarkssætra. Loaded with full hammock rig, food and 2-3 litres of water the pack weighed about 9.5 kilos, which I found sapped my strength quickly in the heat - there is really something to the 10 kilo barrier that people talk about. 10 kilos and upwards is not fun at all. Still I made good progress and soon got to Mariholtet which is maybe the most popular staffed hut in the area.

From there I went south east toward the lake Halsjøen and Tronfjellet. The trail was nice and dry and well maintained, and I was grinning most of the way. At the intersection of two trails I set up a compass course to Tronfjell which was close by, but looked like this:

Didn't look very promising or penetrable - this is really the place to get lost, so I went higher up the trail to where it opened up a bit, set up a new compass course and took a leap of faith and got in there. Ended up at what seeemed the highest point, but nothing much to see except for trees. A bit disappointed, but eager to set up camp and eat, I returned to the lake Halsjøen where I found a nice spot to set up the hammock rig.

A typical hammock rig consists of the hammock itself of course, a tarp for weather protection and an underquilt for bottom insulation. It isn't as fast to set up as a tarp or small tent, well not for someone like me who is still a beginner, but boy is it ever comfortable to sleep in :), and so flexible when it comes to location. Only need two trees at about the correct distance. Peggable (is that even an english word?) ground is a bonus too since the tarp needs 4 pegs and the hammock two. The side facing the water was a bit tricky this time but I used my trekking poles to good effect and got the pegs in there.

I wasn't the only living creature in the area. A beaver was evidently a frequent visitor to the spot I had chosen. I never saw him, sadly, only the signs of his labour. Beavers are so cool animals. Did you know that a beaver can stay underwater for up to 15 minutes?

Being in the woods on a hot summer day, I of course opted for the wood stove, the Ti-Tri Inferno to be more precise. It's so fun to use and infernoesque in its intensity. I let it burn a good while after I was done cooking, just to keep the mosquitoes away and for the warmth and company.

I slept well that night, only needing to get up to adjust the tarp to deflect the chilly breeze from the lake. Found that it robbed the warmth from my down underquilt. Next time I'll bring my DIY weather shield. Morning greeted me with sunshine. I took my time making breakfast and enjoying it from the hammock, and then packing everything for the return trip.

Ti-Tri Inferno burning away in all its glory, fueled by dry wood which was to be found everywhere at the campsite.

The hammock makes for a great recliner!

The return trip was the best. Glorious sunshine and feeling refreshed, knowing that I had a full day left of my weekend to relax and enjoy myself.

So how did the Ohm work out? I was bit sceptical at first because I couldn't get the hip belt to fit in a comfortable way, but I sorted that out and then it was all good. Still don't fancy the non-elastic compression cords on the sides though. Will post a review at a later time.

This is also the last time I'll carry as much as 2 litres of water. From now on I'll carry an Aquaguard inline filter to be able to use whatever water I find on the way, and to use my camelbak in gravity filter mode in camp. This time I could probably just have drunk directly from the lake, I've done so before, but it tends to taste a bit off, so I would prefer to filter it. I made tea from the water in the lake of course. A filter would have been a lot more useful on the bivy+tarp trip I did with Glenn recently.

Base weight for this trip turned out to be 6.5 kilos, or about 14.3 pounds. Next time I'll probably go lighter with bivy+tarp.

I hope you liked this quick trip report. My next posts will be gear reviews.

Have a great week and take care!

24: Haukåsen

Another great overnighter - this time one of my bestest friends, Kari, joined me on a trip to Haukåsen, a hill close to the lake Nøklevann. Not a long hike at all, just maybe an hour to get to where we wanted to camp, and  then the next day an hour or two back via a scenic route in glorius sunshine. The aim of this trip was purely to have a good time, not to cover lots of miles.

We started the hike under the hammock tarp in the parking lot. ? Yes, we really did. A freak downpour stopped us in our tracks and we tried to keep dry under a tree, but soon needed more protection. Of course the rain stopped as soon as I had the tarp up, but that was part of the plan. I like this alternative version of Murphy's law. It always works.

After putting the tarp back into the snakeskins (more about those later), we proceeded  along a well traveled forest road until we got to the bottom of the hill and started a short, but strenous climb. I had planned to go back to the spot I mentioned in an earlier post, but the GPS waypoint was in my old Garmin back home, and I couldn't quite locate it from pure memory, so we trodded along until we found a nice spot for Kari's tent (MSR Zoid 2 for the gear heads out there) and my hammock rig. Kari quickly got up her tent while I tried different tree combinations for the hammock.

Once I settled on a spot I found out that I had almost no soil to put the pegs into, so I ended up moving it 90 degrees so that I could use some stones and a log to attach guylines to.

Then I of course spent way too much time adjusting everything (never get into hammocking if you don't like to tinker with guylines and stuff), until Kari came over midly suggesting we got some food in us. Like last time I had brought a disposable grill, and we grilled some steaks and sausages, retreating to bags/quilts full, happy and content. Oh, and we enjoyed some of that Mintuu again - we're both starting to like it quite a bit. I blaim Hendrik for the (nice) addiction.

During the night the temperature fell to 9C/48F and we got some rain and wind, but everything worked fine. I got up to adjust the way my hammock hung a couple of times. I later found out that I had set it up with the foot end a little lower than the head end, a typical beginner mistake. The trick is to put the foot end a few inches higher than the head end to keep you from slowly sliding during the night. It became one of those nights where you don't feel that you've slept, only dosing off at times, and I feared the dreaded post-trip-headache and nausesa that I often get after a night camping, but incredibly I felt quite refreshed after all. I attribute this to the hammock. Once I get more attuned to it I am convinced I will get very high quality sleep - a definite goal of mine ;).

I got some condensation on the tarp during the night, but it quickly dried in the morning sun and breeze. Kari didn't get any condensation either, probably because she got good airflow throught the main vent of her tent which was facing the wind. Our location was good too, high above the lake. Camping down by the lake would surely have been a condensation feast.

The morning after we enjoyed breakfast in the sun, firing up the Bushbuddy to make water for tea. Lots of dry wood was available from nearby dead trees, so we quickly got the BB going. The sun was warming our backs and we were having a really good time, soaking in the sun and smells of the forest.

(Kari enjoying some morning coffee. The cup is the one I scored from the mystery box - thanks Hendrik :)

The Bushbuddy may not be the fastest stove around and blackens pots etc., but it is really fun to operate, and light in itself and in not needing to carry fuel. Kari promptly renamed it the "Bushbaby" when she saw how much I like it. I just need to find a natural pot grabber of sorts. Ended up using some heather.

Remember the "snakeskins" I mentioned earlier?. They're clever silnylon tubes that the tarp goes into. Packing up after breakfast went pretty quick needing only to slide each sleeve along the tarp until they met in the middle. It was then only matter of folding the long tube and lashing it with its own ridgeline. Nice stuff.

Another nice gadget for speeding up both setup and takedown is the Figure-9 rope tensioner. Knots of course works just as well, and for no extra weight, but still, I like the convenience of the Figure-9s.

The trip ended with a nice trek along some nice paths, carrying the trash out in a biobag. I think Hendrik would be proud of us :).

Ok, time to get geeky - so, how did the gear work out this time? I left home carrying 22-24 pounds because of 2 litres of water, grill, barbecue food, candy etc. Arriving at home it weighed about 6.5 kgs or 13 pounds, not too bad considering I carried a full hammock rig, plus what I needed to cook and sleep comfortably.

Some of the stuff I carried:

Gossamer Gear Mariposa Plus pack (750g) : very comfortable! I like this a lot. Will definitely use this on my 1-week trip with my brother this summer (carrying tent etc)

Bushbuddy wood stove (171g): great stove, easy to get going, burns very cleanly. Fits perfectly in the SP900

SP900 with Jason Klass lid (130g): my dedicated wood burning pot, especially since it is pretty blackened up by now

Petzl e+lite headlamp (45g) : does everything I need to at a killer weight. I only needed the lowest setting for the camp chores

MH Monkey Man ThermalPro fleece (567g) : very warm and comfortable. I really like to use this during breaks and in camp.

Warbonnet Blackbird hammock with suspension (936g)

OES Maccat Deluxe Spinnaker tarp with guylines, Figure-8s and snakeskins (414g)

Te-wa underquilt (379g)

Jacks R Better Sierra Sniveller top quilt (698g): 2.5 inches of loft from 800+ fill down. Love it so far.

Montane Jetstream windshirt (97g) : came in handy when it rained at the beginning of the trip

Stuff I carried, but didn't use:

Long handled titanium spork (9g)
Mora knife (51g)
Featherlite pants (118g)

That's it for now. Take care!