Norway - Round Two

A beautiful spot to ski

The call of Norway and more cross-country skiing could not be ignored for long. This is an activity I think I really want to keep doing. And since a lot of the people you see participating are at least 60 years old, it does bode well for the future. We wanted to go to Lillehammer for our second Norway trip, it seems to have unbelievable cross-country trails, and is quite easy to get to from Oslo. It turns out that the weekend we wanted to go was also when the youth Winter Olympics where on, so rather than be shown up on the trails, we decided to go somewhere else.

We ended up in Geilo which is a little ski resort half-way between Oslo and Bergen. The train trip to get there is an event in it's own right, since you are travelling through some amazing scenery, and so much snow!!!

I think we really started to cement our cross-country skills on this trip, we were still sticking with classic skiing. This is the super dorky looking style where you kick your leg back to get propulsion. The first day was a bit of a struggle, just trying to get the technique perfected a bit more. There was this awesome loop around this frozen lake, including a world-class biathlon course at the end, which we could walk to from the hotel. It ended up being 15km around, which was quite a ways given our technique is not that great.

A church by the lake

Great weather for a ski

The scenery was beautiful, but I was spending most of my time trying to get a good glide happening. You really want a nice glide, otherwise it's just an exhausting shuffle. Luckily the weather was beautiful for it, we ended up going around this lake quite a few times on our stay there. It was a good place to practise without anything too scary, plus it was also a nice place to be.

We got to see a biathlon in progress too, that was pretty cool, but man that looks like a high-intensity spot. They are full on sprinting around the course, and they are going faster than you could run, it really is incredible their speed. Then they have to come in, still on their skis, lie down, and shoot three targets. It looks insane. And yet school kids would come out to this course and that seemed to be their PE for the day. No wonder these people all look so healthy. Their national sport is something almost equivalent to marathon running.

The hut in the middle of nowhere

As well as this awesome lake route, we also went up into the mountains for a wilder experience. This was really great, you were really out in the country-side, no roads or houses, just skiing through forests and fields. Then halfway round the loop there is this hut selling hot chocolates, tea, coffee, soup and chocolate. With this super old lady in there who didn't speak any English (our first instance of this happening). I'm not sure how she got out there, I assume she skied, which is really quite incredible.

Where are we?

On the way back it was a bit of a white-out, heaps of snow falling. Luckily the trail was well-groomed, and there were heaps of people about. So it wasn't like we were about to ski off the trail. It was definitely the best day we had skiing, and I feel a lot more confident about trying more of this style next time, getting out into the country-side a bit more.

We also had a long discussion about skis with the hire person. I think we definitely have to at least try skate-skiing, which is kind of like inline skating, but with skis. And they also have mountain skis, which are a bit thicker and heavier than classic cross-country skis, but you have more control with the snow plowing. They look a bit more like alpine skis. So many options, and winters are so short! I'm almost looking forward to next winter to get back out there!

The frozen lake - was a bit freaky crossing this - you could hear grinding

Rotterdam

Escher Museum in Den Haag

We visited a friend in Rotterdam the other weekend, I'd never even thought of visiting this place, it's not really on a tourist's radar. But it was actually a pretty cool city, it has some super impressive architecture, some of the buildings were worth a visit just for them. Good coffee and food as well. There are perhaps not heaps of touristy things to do in the town itself, but it is only half an hour to Den Haag, which is full of stuff.

I really love how small the Netherlands are. I really like these northern European countries; Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, I'm not sure what it is, people seem healthy, the cities are clean, everyone is polite. It's all very pleasant.

The visit to Den Haag was pretty cool, we visited the Escher museum, that was awesome. It's in a former palace of the Queen of Netherlands, so is a cool building in it's own right. I have always liked Escher, and this place is over-flowing with his works. It's really worth a visit. You really feel that the world somehow lost out with him becoming an artist rather than a mathematician though, his work is full of mathematical ideas, and he seemed to have such an intuitive grasp, that it seemed a shame he couldn't do that more. He didn't go to a great school and I'm not sure he even passed.

One of my favourite Escher pieces

We also visited the Mauritshuis, this is another must-see if you are going to Den Haag. The Netherlands really did produce some good artists and they are all represented here; Vermeer, Holbein, Rembrant, Fabritius, it was really awesome. And not that busy, so you could really appreciate the pictures. They have the Goldfinch by Fabritius, which is even more famous thanks to Donna Tartt, and I was just about to start reading the book. So that was really well timed.

So if you are sick of Amsterdam and want to experience the Netherlands without the hordes of tourists I would definitely consider Rotterdam and Den Haag.

Pigeon with Mauritshuis and the Parliament

Last Days in Glacier

I took a lot of this view - Bowman Lake

After a lovely night by Lake Francis, there was only Brown pass still to tackle. This was another tough day, because there was quite a lot of elevation gain, and then loss down the other side. This day was also special because we finally saw a bear. After all the precautions and messing around, we finally saw one. It was a loooong way away, almost perfect bear viewing distance. Perhaps it could have been a bit closer. Lucky we brought our binoculars, so you could actually see that it was a bear. It looked like a black bear, but the guide reckons it was a grizzly, I think he was just saying that though. That was definitely quite exciting. They sure do look friendly, from that distance, it was just mooching around the huckleberry bushes eating it's fill.

Thunderbird Lake - no sign of moose

On the way up to the pass we went past Thunderbird Lake (the most awesome lake name), this was where there had been moose sightings in the past. Apparently they like to eat the water grass around this lake. It was one of the most beautiful lakes I think I've seen, but unfortunately no moose. I think the guide was more nervous of seeing a moose than seeing a bear. I guess it's about the size of a bear, but with a much smaller brain. It seems they can be a bit unpredictable.

Thunderbird Lake - looking the other way.

The way down from the pass was pretty awesome too, just massive mountains all over the place, and these great rock walls. Very similar to the first day, too bad the sky was really closing in. Our last night was spent at the tip of Lake Bowman, a massive lake. What with the news that the glaciers will be gone from this park in 20 years or so, I guess they can rename it Awesome Lakes national park. Perhaps not the same ring to it, which is a bit of a shame. I think we'll have to go back before then, if only to see the iceberg lake. Glacier is definitely a place I see myself revisiting. It really was special.

Snow up in the pass

Great rock walls on the way down

As we set up our tents for the last night it started to rain again, of course. So we all huddle in the tents for an hour or so until it stops. When we re-emerge we see that the pass we had just come through is now covered in snow. It seems that our trip was going to be the last trip of the season. Later that evening some more people arrived in the campsite. They were looking pretty stuffed, it seemed they had been caught in the hailstorm up at the pass. That would not have been pleasant. 

In the end though, the skies cleared for a beautiful evening, and all the snow melted away. It really was a great end to a spectacular 6 days.

The snow has melted away - a very pretty campsite

Shot from the end of the walk - looking back up Lake Bowman

The Lakes of Glacier NP

Just some of the mountains from the campsite

The next day was such a great day, the best weather by far. And much warmer, finally a bit of sunshine. We woke up to realise why 50 mountains campsite was called that, with a whole range of mountains arrayed in front of us.

Looking back through my photos, I really should have taken a shot of the campsite each night. I think having a view of the campsite kind of separates the days a bit. These long hikes can all sort of blend into each other, especially if there is no real danger to stick in the mind.

The campsite on night 3 - Kootenai Lake 

One of the great things about using a guide is the food you get each day. We have definitely picked up some camp food tips from the guides we have used. I guess if you are spending all summer living in the bush you are going to want to get creative with the food. I would never have tried quinoa with coconut powder, that was actually pretty good as a breakfast option.

Problem with a lot of the meals was that they ended up with a lot of watery slop at the end. And what with the bears you can't just fling your scraps into the bush. Which means you have to pack everything out. The quinoa breakfast was actually quite heavy, and I was so looking forward to us eating it. I was pretty disappointed when what I got back weighed almost the same as before we started eating.

The weather was so great this third day

Citadel Peaks rising above Kootenai Lake

It was funny comparing this guide to the one we had in the Grand Canyon. I think that guide was peak guide, knew exactly how to handle everyone, he was definitely working the whole time he was there, but it never felt like he was working, if that makes sense. And he just seemed so calm and chilled out. Whereas the guide we had this time was brand new to guiding, this was his first season guiding ever, so he was definitely greener. He was very enthusiastic, which I think the other participants seemed to enjoy. But I think I prefer a more chilled out guide.

We spent the night on the shores of Kootenai Lake, which is just such a beautiful spot, and we even had it to ourselves. We thought we saw a beaver in the lake, but couldn't be sure. We definitely saw the effects of them though. There was this big tree nearly completely gnawed through, and it's exactly as you see in the cartoons, with it gnawed down to a point. Pretty impressive work by a small creature.

Waterton Lake - with Canada in the distance

The next day it was more lakes, we walked up to Waterton lake, where we could get rid of some rubbish, oh my back was thankful for that. On the other end of this lake is Canada, the border runs right through the middle of the lake. You can imagine that up here the border is in a pretty wild and forested place. But apparently the whole way along there is a 4m cleared line, no trees growing, just cleared land in a straight line. It must be very weird to come across the border if you didn't realise it was there.

One last shot of the nice weather

The rangers station - forbidding weather where we were headed

This lake was the most habitable spot we saw, it was kind of odd to come across after 3 days in the wilderness. It's an hour or so by boat from a town in Canada, so quite a few people will come down here for the day, and walk out to Kootenai lake. There was a really large rangers post here, I guess they also have to perform customs duties. Since this spot gets a few tourists, there were flushing toilets and running water. That was a nice surprise half way through the trip.

Lake Francis - the Dixon glacier is on top of that ridge

After Waterton Lake we headed back into some forbidding weather, we really weren't having much luck with the sun. I have to say I am so glad for our tent. We had actually contemplated using the company's tents, you can hire them for the trip. I am so glad we didn't. Some other people hired a tent, and there was a hole in it, and it was so old the fly had gone baggy. You just couldn't get the tension high enough to keep the fly off the inner. I think they had a very wet 6 days. Whereas we had our luxurious tent, no sign of water getting in there. Plus the massive vestibule meant everything was going to be dry. Such a pleasure.

We had another great campsite this night too. It was a tiny little campsite, so again it was just us there. It was by this other amazing lake, lake Francis. Much smaller than Kootenai lakes, but spectacular in it's own way. It's surrounded by these massive cliffs, and the water is this amazing blue/green colour, it's one of those places that is impossible to capture in a photo. Though perhaps I just say that to excuse my poor photography skills.

Dave on the shores of Lake Francis - in the rain.