PØK-BLOK

Pinse in Bergsjø area

50 days after Easter Sunday is Pinse, also known as Pentecos. It is a major Christian holiday, marking the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles and other followers of Jesus Christ. For me, being from a former communist country, where we have never celebrated it, it is just another free day from work and possibility for a long weekend. So lets go north-west from Oslo, to check a cabin in Vats. We stayed in a deep green farming valley with Bergsjø mountain area just a few km behind us. While there was almost summer in the valley, there was still some snow in the mountains. Great place with local feeling, good fishing and encounters with farm (sheep, horses, goats) and wild animals (fox, badger, eagles).

One of 3 parallel roads that go on the northern slope of the valley

Some old cabins and probably Hallingskarvet national park on the horizon

Path to the mountains

A small nice river in the valley, with some nice trout as well

Bergsjø lake

View from Vardehovda (1190 m) towards south-east

Still some snow up there

Damtjørn

and trout from Damtjørn

Little family expedition

17th May is the Norwegian Constitution day (remembering signing of the constitution in 1814). Almost all Norwegians celebrate this day with flags and parades. We "celebrated" together with our polish friends, one small flag and little family expedition to one of the islands on Øyungen lake in Nordmarka. Combining cycling (17km), walking (3km) and paddling (0,8km many times), we reached the island, set a camp, grilled, stayed over night and repeated that logistics exercise next day to go home. Great weather, great company and lots of fun for both kids, parents and the dog.

Easter in Sweden

A few moths ago we have decided to spend our Easter holiday in Idre, a small town in Sweden, ca. 40 km east from my favourite Femunsdmarka. And despite the lack of snow and broken car we really went there. We rented a cabin from Anneli and it was a perfect basecamp for exploring the region.

Nipfjället - great views and nice walk from the winter parking up to summer parking. Some people skied here...

Fjätfallen - very nice suspension bridge over the river, ca 2 km walk from the parking

Fjätfallen - good water level in early spring

I used the opportunity and spent 7 hours icefishing on my favourite lake Volsjøen near Elgå. Ice is slowly starting to melt along the shore.

Old, but still solid ice (>50 cm), but no fish!

It is crazy how little snow was up there (on my way from the lake)

We had the possibility (thanks Anneli!) to walk Banja and Tina (aka motaci a cmuchaci) every day in the lovely forests behind the cabin. Lukas loved it and we had great time together.

One of the highest waterfalls in Sweden - 93m Njupeskär in Fulufjällets national park.

Back in Norway - lunch on the shore of Vurrusjøen

And view from Vålåberget. Time to go back to Oslo

Cool and happy

Long planned winter tour is over. Together with Louka we spent 8 nights in Femundsmarka and across the border in Sweden (from 7/2 to 15/2). We skied 75 km with two sledges, carrying all the supllies and tent. The conditions were almost perfect: not too much snow, no water on the ice, almost no wind, a lot of sun, and sometimes very cold. Our original plan was to start at Femundshytta, ski to Litle Vonsjøen, stay there 3 nights in the cabin and continue further. However, there has been too little snow for snowscooter in western parts of Femundsmarka and Bente from Haugen gård was not able to reach the cabin and give us the key.

Time to adjust the plan - thanks to the advice from Kenneth Østreng (takk for det!) we started in Sweden (Grövelsjön) and reached Femundsmarka from west. It is a longer route, but there was more snow, snowscooter track goes all the way to Bredåsjön and the terrain is more ski-friendly. Our route, together with sleeping places, is shown on the map below.

Day 1: Grövelsjön-Hävlingen-Klacken (16 km; 09:00-14:00)

First kilometers from the parking up to the mountains (from 830 m to 1030 m)

Following the snowscooter track over the mountains

down to Hävlingen lake and our first snack

and continue to this shelter next to Klacken lake. These swedish shelters are amazing - very easy to heat up and very comfortable to have a break, dry clothes etc. We fished nearby little bit in the evening and I had a big fish on the hook, but it bent the hook and escaped. Definitelly 2-3 kg fish, no idea what type...

Day 2: Klacken-Vonsjøen- Bredåsjön-Litle Vonsjøen (15 km; 9:00-14:00)

Starting the day with homemade cakes (thanks Sika!) before skiing 15 km to our favourite lake - Litle Vonsjøen

Reaching Bredåsjön, still on the snowscooter track. Time for some snack.

Remembering our struggle in summer, I was little worried how we will manage to ski between Bredåsjön and Litle Vonsjøen. But we got lucky and found an older ski track made by somebody who knows the area well to avoid all the bouldery fields. (we saw the man later on Litle Vonsjøen, as he camped there as well, but we did not meet to talk). The track led to this gate, where we re-entered Norway.

We set our camp on Litle Vonsjøen near our favourite fishing spot.

My favourite colors...

Day 3: Icefishing on Litle Vonsjøen

The night was cold but sleeping in our small Jurek tent was OK. However, seeing sun was nice in the morning.

We started fishing at sunrise and got 5 very good size arctic char.

It was cold and making a fish soup was great idea. We were using winter gas bombs (till -22 C) and they worked well, but we needed to take care of them during the coldest nights (=sleeping with them in the sleeping bag). I have never been winter camping before, so I thought that making a fire was a great idea, but we did not make any fire at all. It is too much work without any real effect.

Testing another fishing place on Litle Vonsjøen in the evening

Day 4: Icefishing on Litle Vonsjøen in the morning; skiing to Kløfthåbua in the afternoon (7,5 km; 14:00-17:00)

We spent the morning on the same place as in the evening before and got 6 perfect fish there.

Cooking on ice made us busy during the periods when fish did not bite.

After lunch it was time to pack

and leave the lake.

This is the cabin we were supposed to stay. Hopefully next time! Hei, Bente:)

Without any tracks to follow it was little bit challenging to find the best way ... but the weather was amazing and it was just great to move through the nature. On some south-oriented hills we seen red cranberries and many birds' tracks.

Following the nature has always been a good idea.

We reached the Kløfthåbua cabin in the evening and hoped for warm place, but this cabin is real winter nightmare. It is an old summer cabin used many years ago by workers who transported wood from Rogen to Rørøs. It is big (7 beds), not isolated at all and almost impossible to heat up. It was below minus 25 outside and around minus15-20 inside in the morning,

Day 5: Icefishing near the cabin

Cold morning next to the cabin (Røa river)

Sun, hurrraaaa

Warming up by making a lot of wood.

Cold place, but lovely

We did not get any fish that day (and drilled into the stone - good that I had an extra pair of blades). But we grilled some fish from previous day and enjoy the day

Day 6: Kløfthåbua - Titjønna (9 km, 9:00-15:00)