Arctic Road Trip – Intro & Day 1

I don’t know about you, but I have already started planning my travels for 2019. Last year I did a spectacular road trip to the north of Norway. I spent months planning it to make sure I could secure my preferred accommodation options, explore the trails I had made notes of when browsing Ute and other magazines, blogs and websites over the last years, and don’t miss out on any of the remarkable sites created along the scenic routes I had decided to explore. The planning of this road trip and the experiences I had during my travel inspired this website and thus I have been looking forward to take you through the trip I made, and inspire you to plan your own.

I started my journey from Øyer in Gudbrandsdalen, where I have a place in the mountain, but you may start of from Oslo, Gardermoen (airport), or anywhere you like of course.

My itinerary in short:

Day 1: Øyer/Lillehammer – Trollheimen

Day 2: Trollheimen – Inderøya

Day 3: Inderøya – Rabothytta, Helgeland

Day 4: Rabothytta, Helgeland – Rødøy

Day 5: Rødøy – Saltstraumen

Day 6: Saltstraumen – Manshausen, Steigen

Day 7: Manshausen, Steigen

Day 8: Manshausen, Steigen – Nyksund, Vesterålen

Day 9: Nyksund, Vesterålen – Stave, Andøya

Day 10: Stave – Hamn, Senja

Day 11: Senja

Day 12: Senja – Eide, Tysfjord

When planning my trip I was aiming at:

1. Staying at unique places
2. Choose Norwegian Scenic Routes when practical
3. Beautiful surrounding for running/roller skiing/biking

Let’s go!

Day 1: Øyer/Lillehammer – Trollheimen

The Drive, 220 km/3 h 10 min

For a long time I have been a big fan of the Norwegian Public Roads Administration’s project “Norwegian Scenic Routes“, which to a great extent inspires my travel in Norway. The destination for the first leg of my road trip was Gjevilvasshytta in Trollheimen, not far away from Oppdal. Instead of driving the “highway”, E6 I chose to drive county road 27, which makes out the Rondane Scenic Route from Ringebu to Hjerkinn.

When reaching the mountain plateau Venabygdsfjellet the scenery is absolutely amazing, with the mountain Muen as the natural focal point. Continuing through Folldal towards Hjerkinn, there are a few attractions along the road. My favorite was Sohlbergplassen, a view point at Atnsjøen lake. The platform frames the view towards the lake and the rounded peaks of the Rondane massif almost exactly as they appear in Harald Sohlberg’s famous painting “Winter’s Night in Rondane”. I also made a stop in Folldal to load up on waffles.

At Hjerkinn I made a short detour to Viewpoint Snøhetta. The viewpoint is a short hike from the parking, providing an excellent opportunity to stretch your legs.

From Hjerkinn there is another hour drive to Gjevilvasshytta, my suggested accommodation for the night.

Today’s Activity

My planned activity for this first day of driving was to go roller skiing on Venabygdsfjellet. Due to heavy winds and a recent rib fracture I had to skip it for this time. If you bring your bike I would highly recommend that you make a stop for biking over Venabygdsfjellet, see feature in the cycle magazine Landevei (I went back to do that later in the summer). This time I did a beautiful evening trail run from Gjevilvasshytta, finishing of with some nice stretching at the nearby lake.

Strava for details: Evening trail run

Accommodation

My choice of accommodation was Gjevilvasshytta. Built in 1819, it is the oldest building being used for accommodation by Turistforeningen (the Norwegian Trekking Association), and is situated 710 meters above sea level at Gjevilvatnet, offering a great starting point for hiking and trail running in Trollheimen. The cabin is very popular and its atmosphere and location are amazing, however the sleeping comfort rather basic with shared bathrooms in the hall and thin walls.

Day 1 Highlight

The view of the lake, Gjevilvatnet, when arriving at Gjevilvasshytta. Google it!