Practical info
Start and finish
The hike starts and ends at the mountain hut of Gjendesheim
I reached Gjendesheim by bus from Oslo. A company called Nor-way has a frequent direct connection between Gjendesheim and Oslo during the summer. I would recommend them. I travelled comfortably and arrived perfectly on time on both trips. They have a toilet on board and even allow you to reserve a double seat for a small fee.
The route
Hereunder you'll find a digital map. You will also find a GPX track on top of the page.
A physical map that covers this region you'll find here
Food and water
Water is an easy one. Water in Jotunheimen national park is plentiful and qualitative. You can choose from the many streams coming from high up in the mountains. Most of the time I only carried a single 0,7l water bottle. Only when going over the highest points of the mountain ridges you might consider carrying two.
When it comes to food I found it easiest to bring most of it from home, this gives you better time to prepare. If you buy from your supermarket at home it's also easier to get stuff that you know you'll like. Keep in mind that hiking with a backpack takes a lot of energy, you'll be eating more then you would at home.
You can depend on the mountain huts to get some snacks (chips, candy bars,...) and a few dinner options (freeze dried meals). Note that if you do not camp, but instead make reservations in the mountain huts, you barely have to carry any food.
Sleep at the mountain huts or camp ?
For this trip I decided to camp. For me, camping is part of the experience. It is also the cheapest option. Only for my last night a booked a room in Gjendesheim so I could clean myself up before returning home. In Norway you have the right to roam, meaning you can camp anywhere on open uncultivated land.
That being said, it is a lot easyer and more comfortable to make use of the mountain huts. The Norwegian Trekking association, DNT, has huts throughout Jotunheimen. It pays to become one of their members as you'll be able to stay at their huts at a reduced rate. The huts in Jotunheimen offer a "full board" formula. They will give you dinner, breakfast and provide you with a lunch package. This allows you to do a multi-day hike carrying only a daypack. Keep in mind that if you want to make use of the huts you'd have to adapt the route on this page a little.
Where to get gas
As you can't take gas on the plane it might be a concern for you. Be aware that different stoves work with different gas canisters. For this trip you should bring a screw-on stove as this is compatible with the most available type of canister in Norway. Most mountain huts on your way will sell small canisters. If you're dependant on this you might wanne call the hut up front to ensure they have the type you need. The alternative is getting the canister at a gas station. I myself got mine in Oslo at this gas station, which is a short walk from the central station. Alternatively, there is a gas station close to the airport. Lastly, I found that a lot of sporting goods stores sell these as well. This might be less convenient if you need to buy gas on sundays or at odd hours.
Additional tips
- Take merino wool hiking socks: if you take anything away from this article let it be this. Since there are a lot of -glacial- river crossings on the way your feet will get wet and cold. Wool clothing retains a lot more warmth when wet. Even though I had off-brand crocs with me to cross the river, it was not worth it to switch shoes constantly. The crocs came in handy in the evening though.
- Sunscreen up when walking through the snow. Even when there is no sun, I learned this the hard way.
- Take thermal sleeping clothes. Once you set up camp you might want to switch into a dry clean set that you only wear inside the tent. The nights in the Norwegian mountains can get cold, be prepared.
- Don't take too much clothes. If anything can save you a lot of weight, it's carrying less clothes. Make sure you have enough layers to keep the cold out, but don't take a multiple of every item. Instead, use nice weather to wash the sweat out of the clothes you're not wearing that day.
Day by day report of the hike
Intro
Each year for the past years I've been planning to do a multi-day hike. In june of the year 2020 I was going to walk Iceland's most famous multi-day hike: Laugavegur. However, Covid hit and I was only allowed to walk in a perimeter around my house. In the following years I would find various excuses to plan and then not do a multi-day hike. This year was different and I finally went through with it. Destination of my choice: Jotunheimen, Norway.
In the past I've been looking at hiking in Jotunheimen a lot. I was there years ago while on vacation with friends. We didn't have time to actually hike in the park, only to drive the scenic route from Gaupne to Lom. I was stunned by the rugged beauty around me and made a promise to myself to one day come back here.
You will find a detailed description of my daily progress underneath, it is an honest description of my journey. With this in mind, consider that I have limited experience with multi-day hikes. I work an office job and even though I try and sport regularly, I wouldn't say that I'm super fit. More than anything, I hope I can relate to the less experienced hiker, looking to try something new. For others, this might not be a 8 day hike and you might consider doing this in less days.
Day 1: Gjendesheim - Just past Memurubu
I arrive by bus at around 1pm in Gjendesheim. The goal today was to get just past the mountain hut in Memurubu. To complete the 11km planned seemed realistic as I expected an easy path next to the Gjende lake. So I went off, full of confidance, my 20kg backpack barely noticable. Oh what a sweet summer child I was...
In all fairness, the first half of the afternoon was easy enough, just like I imagined it would be. After that the path became rougher, the rain started and my backpack felt heavier by the minute. My energy started to drain quickly and with it my concentration. I learned the hard way that rain and a heavy backpack are a dangerous combination. While normally I consider myself quite nimble while hiking, I suddenly felt very clumsy on the trail. After slipping several times I inevatably slipped and fell towards the ground. The weight of my backpack did not allow for any gracefulness and even after hitting the ground I struggled to gain control on the sloped ground. After doing a nice sideways roll I managed to gain a handhold on the stone. No spontaneous dip in lake Gjende, not today...
A bit more bruised, a bit more tired, a bit more muddy and a lot more demoralized I continued my journey. I passed a few bivaouc spots left and right. I seriously considered throwing my tent down and calling it a day, but my fragile ego didn't feel like it was acceptable to not meet my first day's goal. On I went... I got passed by 4 hikers with a lot more speed and a lot less backpack and eventually Memurubu's dock became visible in the distance. I make my way past the mountain hut and plop the tent down on the first flat piece of ground I could find.
Today was rough, somehow I managed to need over 6 hours to cover 11km's of "easy" terrain. I was tired and my body felt broken, but I was finally able to appreciate the rugged beautiness around me. Because of my rashness in choosing a bivaouc spot I didn't pay attention to having water nearby. There was however a snowpatch so I dug up some snow to cook my evening meal.
After my dinner I didn't let the evening sun stop me from falling asleep. Tomorrow is a new day and I was going to start it with renewed courage. Oh what a sweet summer child I was...
Day 2: Memurubu - Storådalen
Falling asleep early has the big advantage of being able to wake up early. My day started at 5:30 am. I was glad to realize that I could move all my limbs as normal, no stiffness, no sourness.
The next days I would be going in the general direction of the mountain hut Spiterstulen. When travelling from hut to hut, one would logicly go from Memurubu, to Gjendebu, to Leirvassbu and afterwards to Spiterstulen. Because I was travelling with a tent I could "skip" Gjendebu and Leirvassbu. That didn't mean I could just set up my tent wherever because I very much wanted to avoid spending the night at a higher altitude. Because of that, today I wanted to cover 14km. That would bring me over a mountain plateau to a next valley where I could set up camp. While planning at home I discovered I had two differents routes I could take to get there:
- One path with a steep ascend at the start, followed by a lot of smaller steep ups and down;
- A second path that went up way more gradually through the valley and totalled a lot less height meters.
Wise as I am sometimes I decided while planning at home that it would be best if I take the second path. Unwise as I am sometimes I forgot what I decided at home and didn't even notice this second option on the map. So of on the first, steeper, path I went.
The first climb went fairly well. Before long I had to cross my first snowpatch. I was still climbing so the patch went steeply down the mountain. Slipping here would undo the last half hour of climbing the mountain in seconds, I might even get to experience Norwegian healthcare first hand.
Luckily I was prepared: I had walking sticks, microspikes and overconfidence with me. It took me a whole 2 steps before I started gliding. I held on to my walking sticks and managed to get back to the side. After pulling one of my walking sticks out of the snow I saw that I bent it. It took me a few minutes of pushing back intrusive "Is this safe? Should I turn back?" kind of thoughts before attempting the crossing a second time. This time I made a point of stomping my feet deep into the icy slush with every step, creating a horizontal surface every time. This was clearly the trick and I would be doing a lot more of this in the coming days.
Since there was a lot of climbing to do at the start of the day, I felt rather unenergetic quickly again. I was walking on in full zombie mode when I saw animals move in the distance. I was really hoping to run into reindeer and there they were, standing on the trail that I was following. I tried to take a picture but they were to far away for the pic to be qualitative. Surely if I went closer they would run away, right? I came closer and closer and they couldn't care less. I went so close that I started wondering wether it was dangerous to just walk through. Maybe they were protective? A quick google search told me it shouldn't be an issue so I went on. Sure enough, they all ran off. Well all, except the one. I didn't realize one of the bulls stayed behind. Once I noticed him he walked in front of me, in between me and herd. He propably was just curious, but I have a policy to not take any risks with anything that could turn me into a meat skewer in seconds. Retreat, new plan.
As I retreated, my bull friend got joined by another bull friend. Based on it's size, this one seemed younger, but with antlers that were all the more impressive. I sent a picture of this bull to my girlfriend who answered with "That's Satan himself, I would have ran to". Soon Satan was joined by the rest of his minions. After taking some distance I decided it was best to go around. The path was running in the flank of the mountain ridge, so I decided to climb higher up to the right and follow the ridge along the highest point. When I reached that point the herd decided to mock me by moving further down the path again. I scrambled back down and moved along the path. A bit further I met back up with my furry friends.
This time I saw an opportunity to go around to the left, walking next to a steep cliff. As I was walking I decided to sing a soft song. Pippin's song was my song of choice. This would make my-deer friends aware of my presence without startling them. I didn't want to be jeeted off the mountain by a spooked Rudolf. This third attempt to pass the herd was succesfull. Feeling a little silly I sent my girlfriend a "mission success" message. This would be the last time my phone would have network before reaching the mountain hut Spiterstulen.
I continued on and after a while the trail split. One trail went down to the mountain hut Gjendebu. My trail continued on, eventually going to a valley called "Storådalen", where I wanted to camp. After consulting my map I realized I was only halfway there. It surely didn't feel like I only did 7 kilometers. It was noon and I was already exhausted... I gave myself an internal pep talk and continued on.
After a few more hours I realized how slow I actually was. If there was a small patch of snow, I needed to rest afterwards. If there was a small uphill, I needed to rest. Rougher terrain? Rest. I continued on like this for a while but at one point I couldn't resist a flat piece of ground next to the path. It was only 3pm but my tank was empty and rain was coming. I put up my tent before reaching the valley. Camping on top of the mountain would have to do. After all, I had the gear to keep me warm.
That night my thoughts were dark and negative. I had a whole day to hike 14km and I only did 12. I did day hikes of over 30km before on equally rough terrain, how was I not able to manage less then half of that just because of a backpack? Can I even do this hike? Should I turn back? I fell asleep, not feeling particularly proud of myself.
Day 3: Storådalen - Urdadalen
I slept well, thankful for my quality sleeping bag. I felt like today was gonna be make or break the trip. If today was as miserable as yesterday, I might have to abandon the trip. Getting out of my tent I felt a lot of appreciation to where I was. The frozen lakes, the snow topped jagged mountains, the deep lakes stretching out below: Jotunheimen trully is a mythical place.
Today's plan was to get past the next mountain ridge, to the valley leading to the Spiterstulen mountain hut. However, I still had to finish yesterday's plan. Luckily, the last part of yesterday's plan was a downhill into the Storådalen valley, a fairly easy start of the day.
At a thundering waterfall called Hellerfossen, today's ascend would begin. I was particularly curious about this part of the trail. Before leaving on this trip I regullarly checked an online map showing the snow levels in Jotunheimen. This 3d day of the hike would have the longest stretch of snow. On top of that, this was the only day where I would have to go through a part that showed up as 2 to 4 meters deep snow. I had no idea what this meant in practice. The best case scenario in my head was that there was already a flattened path that I could follow, made by previous hikers. The worst case scenario would be that I had to go back.
With this in mind I started climbing. Yesterday's fatigue was gone and I had no issue climbing the first, snow free, slopes. I continued on, taking in the rugged beauty around me. As the altitude increased, more and more snow appeared on and around the path. After a while I faced a steep uphill snowfield. From afar I saw a stone pillar on top, marking where the path would eventually lead. The memory of me sliding on the first steep snowfield I encountered yesterday was still fresh, I therefore decided to go around this one. Having to step from giant boulder to boulder, this was no easy path. This was easily explainable since it wasn't a path at all. Even so, I made it up and still believe it was the lesser evil. The next kilometers would be relatively flat, but from the looks of it, not without a fair amount of snow.
I call it snow, but it is more of an icy slush. Today's big lesson was that walking in the middle of a field of white slush is a good time. Walking at the edges of these fields was a bad time, as occasionaly you would sink into the snow so deep that your private parts have a intimate meeting with father winter. This is a bit counterintuitive as you tend to stick to places where you can see rocks stick out. It feels more secure. However, the ice smelts faster around these rocks, making the snow softer. I proudly stored this newly aquired knowledge in the empty part of my brain labelled "Things I know about walking in the snow" and went on.
There was a lot more snow ahead. It took time, it took energy. Having to crawl out of the snow on your knees after sinking in for the fifth time is not exactly is going. I felt, however, not defeated like the day before, but strong. Even though I went to terrain at least as rough as yesterday, I did not feel like slowing down. Maybe it was a subconsious part of my brain pumping me full of adrenaline, to prevent me from deciding to set up camp in the snowy mess I was in. Didn't matter, I felt good.
Regularly I checked if I had network, since my home base hadn't heard from me since the morning before. I figured it might be nice for them to know I wasn't dead in a ditch somewhere. After a last snowy climb to the highest point of the day, the valley towards Spiterstulen stretched out before me. Here I had a drip of network again. I managed to squeeze a message through, saying I'm doing well.
As an uphill through the snow is hard, the downhill is equally easy, especially if you have a little bit of recklessness in you. I'm lucky enough to have some of that. In no time I plowed my way down. There was a lady going the other way, the only person I encountered today. I waved and wished her good luck.
Soon after getting the first solid ground under my feet, tiredness started creeping in. It didn't take long before I decided on a good camping spot, next to a rumbling river. I was satisfied with my progress today, I was sure I could complete this hike.
After setting up my tent, I decided to lay down for a bit. There I was, laying down, eyes wide open, staring at the cloth of the tenth, the fast flowing river thundering in the distance. At one point the noise of the river started fading away. The sound was replaced by drums, drums coming from the mountains. A bit later a heavy female voice started singing in a language unknown to me. I let it flow over me, the music was soothing. I'm not sure how long this went on, but after a while the music faded away and the thundering of the river returned. Welp, was I just hallucinating ? Maybe I was more exhausted than I thought...
Day 4: Urdadalen - Spiterstulen
I realized I was eating a lot less then I thought I would. My original plan was to go to a supermarket after passing the Spiterstulen hut. This detour would lengthen my trip by two days. It also would not be a particularly nice path, as most of it would be on a road driven by cars. Since I still had a lot of food I decided to see what was on offer at the Spiterstulen hut. If they had some food for sale I could avoid the detour.
I didn't camp far away from the hut so after an easy 8km I reached it. I was glad to see they have some food. For anyone wondering what to expect from the limited shops in the huts in Jotunheimen:
- You will find free dried food that make for an easy tasty dinner. The most popular brand seems to be "Real Turmat".
- You will find a lot of snack type foods: candy bars, chips, chocolate,...
Don't expect any healthy lunch/breakfast options. At Spiterstulen I bought 3 extra dinners and some snicker bars. I also decided to stay for the night, since I had the extra time, why not take a rest day?
For a small fee you can set up your tent at the hut's campground. This allowed me to cook in their shelter, charge my phone and last but not least: take a shower. After taking my shower I took a look in the mirror and realized I had a tan that was a bit more red then my doctor would recommend. This must have been from yesterday's snow adventures, even though the only sun I saw was hidden away behind thick clouds. Another item was added to the part of my brain labelled "Things I know about walking in the snow" : Wear sunscreen.
Day 5: Spiterstulen - Direction Glitterheim
The weather report promised sunny days ahead. This was the first day since Gjendesheim that I was able to put on dry shoes and socks in the morning. Today I would be going towards Glitterheim, even though I didn't plan on going al the way there. After all, I had the time. The same principal as the previous days would apply though: get over the mountain, camp on the valley on the other side.
The uphill out of the valley was steep, but no issue. It's amazing how much endurance you can build in a very short amount of time. There was a tricky river crossing along the way where I had the choice between going through the water or the snow. Footprints in the snow told me a previous hiker chose the snow option. A dangerous choice in my opinion, if the snow would have collapsed he would have ended up in a very steep waterslide. I opted for the river: goodbye dry feet.
Continuing my walk the terrain turned from shrubs and small trees, to beautiful mountain flowers, to rocky wasteland. I looked around to see if I can see Norway's highest peeks. The highest mountain Galdhøpiggen and the second highest mountain Glittertind were close. I had no luck however as the peaks around me were still clouded.
On the way down the path went on and off a big snowpatch. I remembered my experience with sinking in these snowpatches and decided to go a bit off-road, in the middle of patch. After a paricularly easy and quick descend I realized I must have gotten off track quite a lot. Not that I was lost, I just didn't know where the path was. Following a valley is easy enough. I decided that finding the trail back was tomorrow's problem and set up camp.
I decided it was a good time to experiment a bit for dinner. I took instant mashed potatoes with me, which I never prepared before. Because I took the individual portions out of the packages before packing them, I didn't have any instructions. I guessed the amount of water I needed and started heating it. Because there was a lot of wind I had trouble heating my water, I got impatient and added the mashed potato powder way to early. It's surprising how much mashed potato such a little bag could produce. I started to fear that my meal would burn, even while stirring and decided that "it should be warm enough". It wasn't. I can't remember the last time I ate such a bland meal as unsalted, water based cold mashed potatoes. Luckily I had some sausage to go with it. While eating my grub I saw a group of hikers in the distance going the other direction then me. Apparantly I strayed quite a bit from the trail.
While reading my book later that evening I heard what my brain perceived as fat ducks. After checking outside the tent these heavy set ducks turned out to be reindeer. They settled for the night near the slope I came down from.
Day 6: Before Glitterheim - past Glitterheim - Russvatnet
More chonky duck sounds woke me the next morning. The reindeer apparently start their day even earlyer then me. While eating breakfast I watched them move in the direction I would be going later.
I find my way back to the trail and start to make my way down the valley towards Glitterheim, left and right I see groups of reindeer in the distance. I haven't had any contact with the home team since I arrived at Spiterstulen so I decided to go into the hut and see if I can pay for some Wifi. Apparently Glitterheim is a bit more cut off then the other mountain huts and Wifi wasn't available. The friendly man behind the counter suggested that I could do a call by satellite phone, so I did exactly that. I bought some more snicker bars and moved on, another over-the-hill-into-the-next-valley adventure awaited.
This hill was an easy one and I was up and over to the other side quite quickly. The valley behind it had a lot more reindeer scattered in the distance. I keep going until I cross a bridge towards a lake called "Russvatnet". Following this lake would bring me to the famous "Bessegen ridge" hike, but that would be tomorrow's business.
Day 7: Russvatnet - Bessvatnet
After packing up my tent I was visited by a sheep and two lambs interested in my backpack. I let them know that I might be willing to trade for the nice bell they have. I realise I have been without social contact for a while now...
Walking next to the lake "Russvatnet" is the first time I made use of the bug spray I was carrying around. There weren't any midges or mosquitos but some other fly kept bumping into me and 2 of them I had to dug out of my ear. Maybe I was justing getting a bit to smelly, I sure felt quite ripe and soon I would be among people again. It was nice and sunny so I decided to take a break and try to wash myself in the nearby river. Who could have thought freshly molten water was so cold? I muster some courage and badly wash me and my clothes.
The climb to the besseggen ridge trail turned out to be quite challenging as it was steep and there was still a lot of snow on this side of the mountain. I carefully made my way up. I was a bit fearful about the amount of people that would be on this trail. After my vacation in Madeira earlyer this year I learned that a popular hike could mean it is as busy as a market place. Once I reached the trail, it turned out not to be too busy. There were plenty of people but I wouldn't have called it a crowd.
I soon got reminded again how my endurance improved a lot in the past days. While some of the dayhikers were huffing and puffing over the hills, I was able to keep a steady pace. Regular signs warn hikers to turn back if they haven't reached a certain distance in a certain timeframe. This might be one of the most popular hikes in Norway but it sure isn't beginner friendly. It's easy to understand this hike's popularity, the views are absolutly stunning. It wasn't my plan to finish this hike today, but rather set up camp halfway, Bessvatnet lake.
I did exactly that. I spent some time watching people climb up the mountain I would have to deal with tomorrow. Later that evening I got ready for a swim in the lake but halfway in I decided it was not worth the cold. Since I booked a room at Gjendesheim I would have a warm shower the next day anyway...
Day 8: Bessvatnet - Gjendesheim
It is lonely on the bessegen ridge at 6 in the morning. The second part towards Gjendesheim starts with quite a scramble. I put my sticks away and used my hands to climb higher instead. Halfway someone put up his tent, I don't understand why he preferred this cold windy ridge to camp. I move on and get rewarded by the view that is pictured in many tourist flyers and online blogs: the dark waters of Bessvatnet in stark contrast with the light water of lake Gjende, a small land ridge in between.
I finish up the rest of the hike and reach Gjendesheim where a hot shower and a tasty dinner were waiting for me.