Hiking Kvarven

Since i started working here at Kjerringøy, i've been wanting to climb the nearby mountains. It took me a bit over a month before i managed to get so far as to climb Kvarven, but man was it worth the wait! Now i've had two trips up there, one überperfect 9-hour trip and another far less perfect, far faster trip where i also went to the second, taller pinnacle.

Normally the 9-hours trip would have been a 2 hour one. You are free to guess what prolonged it. I'll just leave it at saying that there is nothing more perfectly romantic then a mountaintop view.

The walk up to Kvarven is a particularily nice one. It starts out with a lot of forrest walking on a relatively good path. There is the odd bench to rest on, and after not too long a time walking you reach the first good views, where the forrest has a clearing or starts thinning for good. Perhaps two-thirds of the way up is Kvarvkjonna, the Kvarv-puddle as it translates to, wich is a small but stunning mountain lake. 

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Max, my sisters Cairn-terrier, is stick-crazy; hes favourite thing to do is fetching sticks that we toss. He is not, on the other hand, too happy about water. It's clear though, if it is craving or loathing that wins in hes mind;

Yes, we threw a lot of sticks! Poor Max wanted us to throw more and more, but eventually was so tired that he could hardly manage to get them. The last stick we threw he went underwater with twice before he finally had to give in and let go of it. 

There was a lot of insects. None of the particularily nasty biting buggers, but enough to make a unplesant buzzing at times. But there was one pequiliar thing there, that i've never seen before. Using my human encyclopedia, i found out it was a (in norwegian) Bjørnespinner, wich translates to bearspinner. Cool name, eh? Googleing now i find that the english name is none the less cool - It's called ether a tiger moth or a garden tiger.

Upwards from the Kvarv-puddle was the last and steepest part of the climb to the first pinnackle. No more trees, only rock and heather. But at the top was a soft green patch just in front of a steep plunge, wich provided a perfect spot to lay and rest for three hours.

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The secound day of kvarven the hike went on to the taller pinnacle close by. That meant climbing down a stupidly steep slope, maybe 100 meters, and up another long and steep slope. The top picture is the view from the first to the second pinnacle. I took my sweet time on this part of the climb, it was not possible to rush it or i would have risked a deadly roll.

Finally i reached the top, and it was epic! If the plunge on the first pinacle was awsome, this one was proper ninety degree, and i doubt that i am exaggerating if i propose a height of 400 meters straight down. It's not possible to photograph these plunges and make the scale visible, but this might give you an idea;

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Epic, eh?

There's one more particularity worth mentioning about this trip. The first day as we went down, one of the forrest benches wich we were looking forward to resting on had ben conquered by a herd of particularily giant, feroceous and rugged cattle. I'm used to cows, but most of the time they will run away as you approach. These ones sure didn't! We tried to make them move so we could reach the bench. I had to apply all the guts i have to make my way to it, and when we finally were sitting there the most furious of the cows repeatedly attacked poor Max who had been trying to seem tough towards the giant beasts. Lucky for Max he can run the fastest. Such ill-tempered cattle i have never met before! We had to eventually evacuate and settle for the next bench.