8000 people can't be wrong, right?

But maybe they are crazy about the outdoors. Mountain goats disguised as humans climbing Mt. Ulriken Sunday as part of the 7 mountain or 4 mountain hike. I signed up for the 4 mountain hike. Mt. Ulriken is the first and highest peak, at 640 meters (over 19000 ft).
There were lots of families. It was advertised that kids over 7 and adults under 65 should be able to do it. This picture shows Bergen, where the kid is pointing.
If you look closely, you can see the summit in the upper left, as well as the line of people stretching between me and the sumit. 8000 people! Imagine it!
Views from near the top. Below is a hiker getting her card stamped for the Ulriken summit.
It took two hours for me to get to the top, and then I stopped for lunch. What a view! That is the ocean in the distance, past Bergen.My proof of making it this far...

The descent was very steep. The trail went down so steeply that there were stairs carved into the mountain, and some parts had a handrail. The downhill is where I met my doom. I caught my boot on something, and took a tumble, landing on my head. I didn't lose consciousness or anything, but I bled a lot, as scalp wounds do. A nice lady named Torild, and her daughter, held my bandana and a cloth she had on my head. A very nice American named Keith, whom I had met while eating lunch, also stopped and stayed with me while we all waited for the Red Cross. I think it took about an hour for them to get there, and they brought a stretcher and a wheel. I cannot imagine trying to carry someone down that mountainside! I told them I could walk, really. They accepted with a certain amount of relief. Two of them, Keith and I walked very slowly down a different track to a "tractor" road, where the Red Cross emergency van picked us up and drove us to the emergency room. Keith walked home from there.

Now comes the part I wondered about - how does emergency care work in Norway? I just did this so that I could report on that, you know. They asked for my name, my birthdate and my address. No ID, no insurance cards. The fact that I don't have a personal number yet confused the intake person for a minute, but they sent me on to the operating room. Like in the US, if you're covered in blood, you get prompt attention. They washed my hair out as best they could, and then put in 3 staples. I could go home immediately and stand under a shower to try to rinse my hair as much as possible with no shampoo, and immediately blow dry. No wetting my hair for 4 days. Since they were convinced that I didn't have a concussion, they sent me to the cashier. It only cost 330 NOK, or $66. Not bad!

Later that evening, I called Torild to thank her again. She and her daughter finished the 4 mountains! I was so glad they made it. It was their second time, and her daughter is probably 9 or 10 years old. She wasn't too happy about sitting for an hour with me, being a kid! I think they must have taken about 10 or 11 hours to finish.

My friend from work did all 7 mountains, and it took her 14 hours. I intend to summit them one at a time during the summer, and I'll send pictures then. Maybe next year, Ed and I will earn T-shirts and a place in Bergen history. (They put your name in a book somewhere.) Practice your hiking and come join us next May!