Hitting the trail in the Lyngen Mountains of Norway
It was that time of year again when my wife had her summer vacation. That means one thing…..It’s time to take her on a hike. So what to do and where to go? Well a certain virus has made decisions a bit easier so Norway it is. So the plan was simple lets go do some summer hiking in the Lyngen Alps and afterwards we would migrate to Senja for a week exploring an island known as “Little Norway”
We arrived in Lyngseidet Thursday night and while staying with friends at Magic Mountain Lodge discussed our options. Would it be a through hike, loop hike or a destination and back hike. My friend Samppa mentioned a hike he had done the previous year hiking from West to East and it peaked our interest.
The Plan
We would start in Bensnes and end our trip near Koppengan following the obvious valley and camp under Tvillingstinden. I had been in this area while doing the Lyngen Alps Ski traverse and it would be a great showcase of what the area offered. Samppa was kind enough to offer a final shuttle back to our car once finished and we were off.
The Start of our trip Summer Hiking in the Lyngen Alps
The trail started off not exactly as a trail, it was a road which pushed us near the high country. Our packs were filled with sleeping gear everything needed for luxury camping. As we made our way up we only saw two groups heading back down and a whole lot of bugs when we occasionally stopped.
We were happy to find an open trail as we started heading into the backcountry. If it continued like this the trip would be smooth sailing. Simple breakdown….My wife is happy and that means I am happy.
Quickly the trail deteriorated and we were following an animal trail that was mostly over grown with vegetation. It wasn’t easy to follow but it also wasn’t too hard to follow as we wrapped around the first big lake. Making it to the outflow the small bridge had been destroyed the previous season but I brought Crocs and my wife scurried across on a long.
We sat at the lake long enough to eat some food, take in the views and only get devoured by a few bugs.
Once back on the animal trail it got a bit harder. The map showed a trail but it wasn’t anywhere to be seen. We knew we had to head north and hike through the East West valley but should we do an up and over or just keep sidehilling. In the end we took the low ground through the forest before making it to the open slopes in the valley.
Heading up the Valley
Pushing up the river valley was straight forward but time consuming as it quickly became boulder hoping. My wife was smart, wearing climbing shoes but I had sneakers and when she went through creeks I would have to detour around. Finally we were in the mountains as the glacier silt turquoise water ran down the valley.
As we would hop from boulder to boulder everything went at a slow pace. Soon we made it near the head of the valley and the rocks became a bit more sparse. Things were steadily improving the higher we went.
The mini crux of the Trip
Then we made it to the crux of the trip. There was a small creek we had to go through making it to the head of the valley. Once there it was knee deep but with a strong current quickly descending to the river below.
We looked around for routes through before deciding next to the river was the best. At the bottom the water had spread onto an apron which made it significantly less deep and although strong (and cold) it was easily doable.
Soon we were at the base of Tvillingstinden and traveling easily. We knew we wanted to camp around there but it was a sandy and wet area. We decided to keep hiking to the base of the glacial lake hoping to find a good spot. If that didn’t work out we could check our low col on the right of the photo below.
Where to Camp
The terrain switched from wet sand to boulder as we made our way towards the lake. Though both were easy navigating it still wouldn’t be a good camping spot. We were finally able to see the lower lobe of the glacier and the boulder jumping was over with.
Making our way to the glacial lake we took a break and made up a plan of what to do next. I would hike up to the low col and see if I could spot a camping spot while she rested. While the lake was beautiful it wasn’t the type of water you want to drink as the blue is caused by ground up rocks.
Finding the Camping Spot
I made my way up climbing from rock to rock as the views really started to open up. Once on the col I walked around for 20 minutes looking for a spot that was 1 scenic, 2 had water and 3 was flat and without boulders. The scenic problem was stamped out immediately but what about the other two.
As I walked a found a small patch of snow that was creating a creek made even better by a small spot without boulders. There was no question this was the place to be so it was time to head back down.
I told my wife the news and she had timed me going up in about 15 minutes so she was game. We got all of our stuff together and did the final push to our camping spot. We were at our halfway point Summer Hiking in the Lyngen Alps.
Once there we set up camp and I started cooking. The dinner for the night was Japanese noodles and ramen which is my normal camping food. My wife slipped into down pants and before long it was time to get some much needed rest. It was a much longer than expected day summer hiking in the Lyngen Alps.
The spot was beautiful put there was a small problem that night. We were at a low col and the wind blasted through the valley all night and in to the morning. The night before I was perfectly still but first a little bit of rain came in. For that we put on the rain fly. Then the wind came in and we listened to the rain fly all night.
The Exit
The next morning we woke up and threw our gear into the packs. I had wanted to make coffee but with the wind being so strong it wouldn’t be enjoyable. It was time to head to the road as we had a long drive to Senja.
The rest of the morning was a bit of a blur. First it was an hour of boulder jumping followed by two hours of swamp and mud. We were making our own trail finally making it to a shelter then pushing the last hour to the road on a trail. Though it was hard work at the time it was definitely type 2 fun as we laughed that it wasn’t what we expected. If it would have been an open trail it would have been a breeze but summer hiking in Lyngen Alps is not always easy.
Once on the road I called Samppa and he was kind enough to pick us up and bring us back to the car. We joked that from then on the trails would be much easier as they would be actual trails in Senja. Finally my wife got an up close view of what makes Lyngen so special and she got a new respect for said mountains.
Thank you for reading and check out other hiking trips here