Løvstakken

This post will be a departure from my travelogue, in a way. I want to write about getting up and down mountain # 3 of Bergen's 7 Mountains - Løvstakken. Katarina and I hiked it yesterday, and I tried to take pictures of critical turns as we climbed instead of just showing the beautiful views. I promised to lead the WesternGeco hiking club on a Løvstakken hike on June 24th, even though I have never been on it! My hiking book, Opptur Hordaland, says to start at the south end of the mountain by taking the #15 bus to Bønestoppen.

Bønestoppen bus stop, Katarina at the start of the hike

I think you can start to the right of the soccer field, also. Just a short way up the trail, there's a cut to the right, but we didn't take that one. We took the second trail to the right, since it looked more well-traveled. When you come to a narrow paved road, turn right.

Oops! End of trail??

This part wasn't in the book. We decided to climb up on the left side of the closed tunnel. Maybe the other side would have been smarter, because the going got pretty tough.

The forest was really pretty. That 7-fjellsturen map that Katarina is holding is coming in handy! We found the wooden bridge that was right before the masonry remains of prime minister Michelsen's hytte from 1920. Hooray!

Next is this rock scramble. The trail up to Gullstølen is made for Norwegian hikers, since they are part mountain-goat.

 But the views are awesome! We said we could see Hardangerfjord from here. That was an inside joke between Ed, Katarina and me. Ed was sure you could see it from Bergen's mountains, Katarina was sure you couldn't, and I stayed out of the way.

Put these three pictures together into a panorama to get the full effect.

Now we are able to walk on a pretty level, if marshy. trail until Gullsteinen. There's a cairn there.

Then it drops down into a pass, where the east-west path that the folks in Fyllingsdalen would walk to get to church in Storetveit. It is hard to believe that they would walk over this mountain to get to church!

The next part of the trail is actually called steep in the guide book, which means it is rock-climbing time. There were two ropes we could use to haul ourselves up, but they weren't in the right places. Above them were some handrails that we could use to haul ourselves further up. Crazy Norwegians! 

See the ropes on the left and right? THIS is a trail??

After the rock-climbing, it's back to mountain goat trail up to the summit.

There's the Nordnes peninsula, where I live, on the right. Bergen center is just off the picture to the right, and Laksevåg is balancing on Katarina's head.

The obligatory tower on every mountaintop

 It took us 2-1/2 hours to get here, just like the guide book said. I was proud of us!

Now you can see Bergen's center.

On the way down, I took less pictures, since we basically followed our noses down toward Bergen's center. I will have to try to find a REAL trail next time. But look what we found in the woods!

Let's see, bottles, boots, rusted steel, ..., nope, no idea.

 We came out to civilization at this empty sign behind apartments.

Is this pointing to the Løvstakken tunnel?

This is the trail leading to the bridge back home - another 1.5 km.

Or, you could catch a bus. But we didn't. That's the Løvstakken tunnel.

It took 1-1/2 hours to get here from the summit. After getting cleaned up, we celebrated with a lasagna dinner and an episode of Alt For Norge (recorded last year). I just love hiking in Bergen.