Norwegian Mountains - Route Descriptions

Norwegian Mountains, Nordland

Kjøsvikfjellet, May 14 2007

For Information, maps, trailhead and route descriptions, click HERE.

Trip report, May 14 2007

It had been a fairly good start to my 0,5 week in northern Norway. I came to Brønnøysund late Saturday, visited Mosaksla Sunday morning, attended a confirmation, and visited Tilremshatten late afternoon. Now it was Monday morning, and I had promised my mom to go to Kjøsvikfjellet with her. She was collecting Fjelltrimmen tops, and probably felt that Kjøsvikfjellet was just too serious to take on alone. Me, on the other hand, wanted to visit N. Høyholmstind (1015m) - the main hiking goal for my trip up north. But it's good to not ALWAYS be able to do exactly what you want. I'm spoiled rotten as it is...

My mom, my dog Troll and I left the Kjøsvikfjellet trailhead 09:20AM. It was a fine morning, and I looked forward to gain higher ground. Except for Sæterfjellet (599m) - a border top - I had never been on a "true" Sømna top. After a short walk along a forest road, we reached what I call Sign City - an amazing trail junction that added more confusion than guidance.

We never saw the red little stick that marked the Fjelltrimmen route, and followed the nearest Kjøsvikfjellet sign, pointing southwest. This was wrong. Well, this might be where the trail USED to run, because the path was visible, and there was red paint on the trees. In the beginning, I was rather confident that we were on the right track, but after a while the confidence diminished.

We decided to follow an unmarked, steep path northbound. This route took us to Lake Steinsvatnet. We headed down to the lake, and joined the path that we should have been on from the beginning. The path headed steep up the ridge north of the lake, before it leveled out on 260m elevation. After yet another hill, we reached a giant rock that had to be more than 5m high. I tried to boulder it, but to no avail. So I didn't have to ponder on how to get down from it.

From this rock, we had a pleasant walk all the way to the summit cairn, which we reached 11:25AM. Approx. 2 hours, including a significant detour, and I was quite impressed by mom's condition. The only wildlife sighting was an eagle above us. Troll had walked all the way, which was not bad for a 13,5 year old dog. Besides, it was hot too, although he could satisfy his thirst wherever he wanted on the mountain.

We relaxed for 15 minutes before we headed back down to Lake Steinsvatnet. From the lake, we followed the *correct* trail, which had a much more sensible bearing towards the trailhead. We were back at the car 13.05PM, and headed back home for dinner. After dinner, my feet got restless and I headed back to Sømna to visit Lysingen (648m).