Kykja

We were climbing to the very rocky tip of that mountain

After playing with the sheep we made it to the Leirvassbu hut and the base of our Kykja hike. The sun was blasting the mountains and the hike honestly looked a little daunting. All the hikes in Norway end in scrambling up rock but this slope seemed pretty steep. We started walking anyway.

There weren't many people around which was lovely, it felt like we had the wilderness to ourselves. It started with some chains of alpine lakes, snow interrupting our path every once in awhile, and slowly the layers of mountains began to reveal themselves from behind one another. We even saw a reindeer peering at us from one of the rocky ledges before he noticed us and tucked himself back away.

When we got across the ridge to the base of Kykja, it means church, we started our scramble. Giant boulders wedged between more boulders was our path up, no marked trail needed- just go up. It wasn't bad once our bodies were used to the motion. It was a kind of game to choose which rock to jump to and how to pull yourself up in the easiest motion. Most of it wasn't scary but there were a few tricky spots. Everytime we dared to look back though another layer of mountains had emerged.

At the top we looked around and realized no one else was there. We spent over a half our at the top by ourselves!! (this is not possible in Seattle) It was glorious and the wide open blue sky pouring over layers of snow striped mountains was stunning. The mountains look like they are covered in snowy tiger stripes. 

The hike back down was very relaxing and we pulled in a few more rays of sunshine. Then something amazing happened, back at the hut we asked for shower tokens (it had been awhile) and we realized lots of people were in this dining room. We asked about dinner they said it has already started then the waitress came and said they had room left. We got to sit down after our hike and have a 3 course meal and everyone was all still in their hiking clothes!!!! The Norway huts in the wilderness are amazing!!!! It was a 3 course meal - salmon with garlic mashed potatoes, lamb with veggies, and ice cream with chocolate lava cake. Glorious!!! Then almost equally as glorious we took showers. 

We drove a few miles away from the hut that night, set up our tent near the river, went and pumped water (kinda fun we pumped our own fresh water almost the whole trip) and read for awhile. 

the much more chill hike back down the rock

one of the magical huts