Norway: Preikestolen
After 5 days in Portugal, Ebenezer and I headed to Norway for a 2 week hiking trip. During these 2 weeks, we covered a 2000 km circle around the southern portion of the county, hiked about 50 km and ascended thousands of meters. Our first hike was to Preikestolen, more commonly known as Pulpit Rock.
Preikestolen is a cliff that rises 604 m above Lysefjorden. At the cliff there is an amazing long view into the fjord, but unfortunately, it was a totally overcast day and we couldn't see more than 10 m in front of us. The fog did, however, make an interesting subject matter. This is a very popular hike, so the trails were very full that day despite the weather.
The hike was about 8 km round trip, and consisted mostly of steep ascents. It took about 4 hours, including a lunch break and all the photo breaks we took.This was a great hike to start with as it really tested my endurance. I'll admit, I was a bit of a wimp most of the way up. My camera is relatively lightweight, but the lens I used that day is massive and heavy. It was causing me a ton of discomfort while climbing, so I could only manage to bring it out on the flat stretches.
As we got closer to the destination, I began feeling an intense amount of adrenaline. If it wasn't so damp and slippery that day, I may have jogged the last kilometer. I was so excited!
Now, I'm not particularly afraid of heights. If I feel like the ground beneath me is secure, I don't get what I call "jelly legs". But I totally got jelly legs at the edge of the cliff because the fog was so thick, it looked like there was absolutely nothing beyond it. If I had been able to see the water below, I probably would have sat on the edge and taken a photo, but it was totally surreal knowing that there really was a 600 m drop from where you were standing despite not being able to see it.
After the hike, Ebenezer and I headed to Stavenger for the night. We ate Thai food at a place called Noodle Noodle (we saw Estee and Aslan eat there during their Nordic Vlog) and walked along the riverfront before resting up for our next adventure.
