Åndalsnes

Since my courses don’t start until Monday, I took a solo side trip up north to Åndalsnes, Norway to see the mountains.  It was an awesome trip!

Monday:

                I took the 7 hour train ride up to Åndalsnes on Monday.  It was a fantastic way to see the country!   The last bit of the train ride is actually a famously scenic section called the Rauma Railway.  After leaving the train, I headed off down the road. Outside of town, I found a trail and headed up a mountain to find a camping spot.

On the train to Åndalsnes!

                                                               The trail up the mountain.

                 My first camping spot; a scenic overlook.  I turned out to only be about a fifth of the                                          way up the side of the mountain, which was very large and extraordinary steep. 

Tuesday:

          Tuesday was my big hiking day.  I went up Trollstigen (the Troll Road), which is Norway's second largest tourist destination.  I can certainly see why!  I headed up the road until I found start of the hiking trail, which used to be the road used to take livestock over the mountain.  It was a long day of excellent hiking.

A rainbow over the valley.  I hiked up from the far end of this!

Heading up the trail.

One of the two waterfalls in the valley.  You can see a bit of the visitor's center where I turned around up at the top.

The view from the top!  You can see the switchbacks of the Trollstigen road.  The hiking trail went up the slope on the left side of the photo.

I came back down the trail to these very picturesque woods and camped for the night.  I really like these woods; they look like something out of a fairy tale!

Wednesday and Thursday:

           After my long day of hiking, I was a bit worn out, so I took it slow for the last two days of my trip and headed back down the trail/road for Åndalsnes.  I caught the train back early on Friday from an amazing trip!