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| Kyrkja (north face), Jotunheimen National Park, Norway. |
My friend Caroline Hatton, a children’s writer and frequent contributor to this blog, took the photos in this post in July 2025.
Jotunheimen
mountains (J), Norway (N), Oslo (O).* |
To see the beauty of Norway, my husband and I targeted three natural wonders: the Lofoten Islands, fjords, and Jotunheimen mountains, the highest in northern Europe. They were named after one of the nine worlds of Norse mythology, the home of the giants. Who knows? Perhaps giants really live up there.
To day hike for a week in and near Jotunheimen National Park, while driving clockwise around it, we picked up a rental car in Åndalsnes after visiting the fjord region. We had reserved lodging for three nights near Bygdin, two nights in Tyinkrysset, and three nights in Lom (Google Maps finds it as Fossbergom), our closest stay to the highest mountains.
Driving to Bygdin on a sunny day, we watched for shiny waterfalls on the Troll’s Wall mountainside, stopped in an evergreen forest for a short walk to the Knight’s Leap, a rocky gorge narrow enough for a knight of legend to have leaped across to save his beloved, and enjoyed going through small towns, villages, and farmland.
We had planned a day hike to “the most beautiful valley in the Jotunheimen,” Svartdalen (Black Valley), to see lush meadows below snowy peaks and glaciers. We would take the earliest boat at one end of Lake Bygdin, get off at the trailhead, hike to the valley, and come back down in time to catch the last return boat.
But three weeks before this highly anticipated day, I received an e‑mail from the boat company apologizing for having to cancel and refund all boat tickets for 2025. The lake level was too low to launch any boat, in part because of insufficient spring precipitation.
Fortunately, there are many other trails around Bygdin. We almost reached the nearest peak for a first glimpse of the Jotunheimen, but we turned around because it was too windy and too steep near the end.
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Lake
Bygdin. |
Instead,
we walked on a level trail above and along Lake Bygdin. We learned to speak
Norwegian in no time, by echoing the local hikers’ friendly greeting, which
sounds like “hey‑hey!” (or “hey‑hey‑hey” for extra cheerfulness).
The next day, our favorite of several walks was in cool misty air, complete solitude, and bucolic loveliness, across hilly pastures toward Leirungsdalen Valley. The only tent we saw faced the best view of lakes and snowy mountains.
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| Farm. |
On the drive to our next lodging in Tyinkrysset were farms straight out of fairy tales. We stopped to hike up to a bench with a lake view on a section of the King’s Road, a 1790s royal-carriage road restored as a hiking trail. We took a break in a kafé where the Dutch barista had no decaf because, he said, “Norwegians don’t drink decaf. They want full power!” On my request, he gladly poured one tablespoon (~15 mL) of strong coffee in a mug and filled it with hot milk.
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Øye stave
church. |
In Øye, we
ate grab-and-go sandwiches on a bench above the first of the three stave (vertical
wooden boards) churches we would see. In the following days, we would also visit
the famous Borgund church and walk around the one in Lom. To compare the three,
the Øye church is the smallest, simplest, and plainest, but its setting is the
loveliest. The other two churches are larger, have more roofs upon stacked
roofs, and crosses and dragon heads adorning roof ridges. The Borgund church is
the most authentic stave church in Norway—the least changed since it was built
nearly a thousand years ago.
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| The King’s Road. |
From Tyinkrysset, we visited the Borgund church, then walked downhill from there on the most spectacular part of the King’s Road. From the river at the bottom of the hill, we walked back on a trail through woods and farmland.
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Lake Tyin. |
On the
scenic drive from Tyinkrysset to Lom, Lake Tyin is where locals fish for trout.
Restaurants offer it baked the traditional Norwegian way, served whole with
sour cream sauce, roasted potatoes, and pickled cucumber.
We spent all day driving the ~220 km (~134 mi) that take less than 3 hours nonstop, because we slowed down and stopped and strolled around at every tempting opportunity. After the first hour and a half (which included some narrow switchbacks), we turned uphill onto the second half of Norwegian NationalScenic Route Sognefjellet (Road 55), which goes over the highest mountain pass in northern Europe at 1434 m (~4700‘) to link a fjord to the inland valley where Lom is. The road, open June-October, follows an ancient trade route marked by hundreds of cairns.
In the
perfect weather we had, with no storm, rain, fog or wind, our drive was easy in
a regular car.
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Identifying
a peak. |
At Nedre
Oscarhaug, the first of six formal Rest Areas & Viewpoints, the peak-identification
machine, cleverly and beautifully designed by architect Carl-Viggo Hølmebakk,
is more fun to use than an app and way bigger than a phone.
To identify a peak, align the vertical wires with its tip and look down at the metal bar pointing at the name of the peak. The official road website at the above link calls the device a “glass telescope,” even though it doesn’t include any lens and doesn’t provide magnification.
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Restroom. |
At the Oscarshaug
Rest Area & Viewpoint, one minute up the road by car, the contemporary
restroom was designed by architects, Jensen & Skodvin Arkitektkontor.
It was so high-tech, I had to ask the nearest rocket scientist to show me how
to operate it.
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Stone
sculpture. |
At the Mefjellet
Rest Area and Viewpoint, I bet every visitor takes a snapshot through the stone
sculpture by Knut Wold. The sight of snowy mountains and turquoise lakes makes
my heart race, so traveling along the road from one pull-out viewpoint to the
next took me straight to heaven.
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A steep
river. |
After the
pass, Road 55 descends past waterfalls and rivers, down to farmland. But approaching
Lom, two spurs go up the adjacent massif. One spur leads to the Leirvassbu Mountain
Lodge at 1400 m (~4600‘). The other climbs to the Spiterstulen Tourist Lodge
at 1111 m (~3645‘). The two lodges are on an extensive network of trails,
including one that links them by following a high valley.
The next day, July 18, we drove 50 minutes from Lom to Leirvassbu and started walking toward Spiterstulen at a good clip. Before long, we slowed way down. There were simply too many lakes and snowy peaks and photo opps, including entertaining encounters with free-ranging sheep with long, intact tails.
We crossed boulder fields on lake shores. Walking over rocks covered by a snow patch was easier for me, a petite hiker, than for heavier people, because I didn’t sink. Stepping on exposed uneven rocks, harder to reach with shorter legs, was the exact opposite. Soon, it was clear that we wouldn’t come close to the halfway point between Leirvassbu and Spiterstulen.
But why keep walking when one has arrived? I took the photo at the top of this post, of a distinctive leaning peak, found a comfortable rock to sit on, and whipped out my grab-and-go sandwich of the day.
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Spiterstulen
Tourist Lodge. |
On July
19, our last day in the mountains before going back to Oslo to fly home, we
drove 40 minutes from Lom to Spiterstulen. The trail to Leirvassbu was easy,
across meadows along a rushing river, with a couple of high wooden footbridges
over silty glacier runoff.
The views of peaks and snow and ice at every step were less sensational than those of the day before. This made the experience less intense and, especially with far fewer hikers around, more peaceful.
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Kyrkja
(east face). |
That is,
until the first glimpse of the leaning peak I had reached the day before
flooded me with feelings of completion. From that point on, I basked in bliss,
even though I never quite made it to that landmark.
Footnote:
