Tromsøya 21 May May 22 2026

Yesterday, I took a walk in the sun on Tromsøya from my doorstep. Will the snow finally be gone? What I first found was marsh marigold in bloom. Of course I had to take some photos, as it is one of my favourite flowers.

It is not the only change. The island is finally getting green. Finally, the birches have decided to open their leaf buds and the trees are clad in a fresh green. What a difference from the barren trees from my hike one week ago.

Other plants had started their spring activities as well. While the common cowslip had been blooming for weeks—sometimes you find a purplish one—the fern fiddleheads have not yet started to unfurl.

After 2.6 kilometres I found it. One of the very last patches of snow, located on a northern slope.

I am writing this blog article at the Frankfurt Airport while waiting for the connecting flight to my hometown Bremen. I guess, when I’m back in Tromsø in a couple of days, all this snow will be gone.

Hill hike II – Nattmålsfjellet May 14 2026

Today I decided to hike up another small mountain. It is called Nattmålsfjellet and is 296 m high. As Trehørningen it is on the island of Kvaløya.

I park my car and soon I am out in nature in Northern Norway. High mountains, covered with snow. Open birch woodland, the birches still bare. Small lakes and ponds, halfway covered with snow and ice. Small mud bogs with wet patches. And views of the fjords and the open sea. All under a blue sky with temperatures above 10 °C.

While this pond looks freezing cold, it is inhabited by common frogs. They have already spawned and large clumps of frogspawn are floating in the water.

It does not take long and I am on the summit, marked by an impressive cairn that looks half as high as the mountain itself.

I decide to take another way down. This brings me near the village Ersfjordbotn, but I stay above to follow a track that leads around Nattmålsfjellet which brings me back to my car. Before I leave the village behind I pass this artefact that clearly shows that I’m hiking in nature but not in the wilderness. Someone had mounted a satellite antenna on a small ledge. The cable leads downwards, probably to one of the houses.

First the track leads through some wet mud bogs but then it winds through an open landscape with views of the boggy grasslands below and the snowy mountains above.

After seven kilometres, I am back at the car. Elevation gain and loss – round 330 m.

Side dishes

After the hike I drive further west to the lake Kattfjordvatnet. Most of it is still covered with ice, but I don’t think it will stay long. Even the snow line rises with each day. This however is no argument for the locals to stop doing alpine ski tours and they always seem to find a snowy patch by the car, to avoid carrying up their skis. Meanwhile, cross-country skiers have now switched to roller skis and use the roads. Other locals walk their dogs or run downhill on the muddy path happily chatting to each other.

Then I take the car to Ersfjordbotn and stopped at the gravel car park at the viewpoint, apparently the only one in the village. I was too lazy to walk to the waterfall but at least I took a photo of the fjord Ersfjorden which faces directly west.

On my way back home I make another stop in Eidkjosen and take a walk uphill to Lomvatnet.

From Eidkjosen, it’s only a fifteen-minute drive home. I’m still happy every single time I realise that nature around Tromsø is so beautiful, full of variety and nearby, as long as you own a car. With public transport many of these small hikes would unfortunately be inaccessible.

A hill hike and a bog walk May 9 2026

Trehørningen

While the mountains around Tromsø are still snowy and the locals are still going ski touring I was looking for a mountain or hill that I can actually walk on by foot. On Facebook people were talking about Trehørningen, not the large one but the small and child-friendly one near Skulsfjord with an astonishing height of 283 metres. Today I drove there, because most places are not accessible by public transport which makes hiking a bit of a motor sport most of the time. I arrive at around half past eight and I’m the first there. After three minutes I and a bit of ascending, I get the first views of the fjord Gállafjerda or Kaldfjorden and the mountain range around the Store Blåmannen.

At first, the path is muddy but then the ground is much drier. The track leads up through an open forest of birch trees. They are still bare.

A bit further up, there is a plateau with a beautiful view of Gállafjerda and the mountains behind.

There are some small snow fields, but only one covers a few metres of the track.

By that snow field there are some water-filled depressions. To my surprise a thin layer of ice covers these puddles. Was there frost last night?

While I am taking these pictures another hiker passes. I’m not alone anymore. Anyway, the mountaintop is near, as usual marked with a huge cairn.

The view is awesome. In the background you can see the island Vengsøya with its mountain Kvantotinden. The island is surrounded by islets and skerries, behind that the Norwegian Sea.

Vengsøya can be reached by ferry. It was just heading back while I was at the top.

The ferry connecting Vengsøy with Bellvik

The sun makes the air feel warm but the wind on the top wins: The air is still cold and I put on my anorak again, hood over my head. As often, I take less photos on my way back. I only want to take another photo of the bare birches. While I looked through the viewfinder I saw a movement. A reindeer that I haven’t noticed before it trots into view. Does it want to be photographed? Probably not. It continued its walk carefully looking at me to see what I intend to do.

After a four-kilometre hike I am back at the car. Six other cars are parked there now. I liked the tour. It is easy and the parking area is just 20 km away from Tromsø so you could do it as a small after-work trip. You get clean air, awesome views and maybe – if you’re lucky – a reindeer trotting by.

Peat bogs south of Tromvik

I had another tour in mind. A tour that could become pretty wet. I want to walk from Tromvik to the lake Storvatnet, but not on the track east from the river Storelva but instead crossing the mires and bogs. First I have to go there by car. Both Trehørningen and Tromvik are on the island Kvaløya but it’s a one hour drive. Remember, Kvaløya is the fifth largest island in mainland Norway. Then I put on waterproof clothes – you never know what happens and start my tour.

To make a long story short: I think, the lake is pretty boring. I took a souvenir photo, here it is. I guess this view is much nicer, when the lake is calm and the sun comes from the other direction.

Much more interesting were all the small ponds with mossy islets and also the muddy peat flats with their scattered grass tussocks forming small islands. Pretty fascinating. Some photos:

After a six-kilometre hike – a pretty wet one – I am back at the car. I liked this tour, too and I plan to come back on a sunny night this summer. Then the sun should be low in the north illuminating the mountains behind Storvatnet. Hopefully …

Mountains

Some mountains and mountain ranges are extremely fascinating in their combination of white snow and rough rock. The first photo I took from Trehørningen, for the other two I stopped the car on my way to Tromvik.

Ways, paths, tracks, and trails May 2 2026

When I thought the weather had been bad on the kayak trip the day before yesterday, it was much worse today. It was colder, it was windier and the mix of precipitation was more varied: rain, snow, soft hail and sleet. At the northern tip of Tromsøya, storm gusts almost knocked me off balance and the graupel blowing straight into my face hurt. I wished I had brought a face mask and ski goggles and I bent my head low to avoid the heavy weather. That’s why I did not walk all the way home but took the bus, boarding it looking like a drowned rat.

At home the same procedure: a long, hot shower and a fire in the stove, which was drawing like mad in the storm.

However the photos are not about weather, they are about the ways, paths, tracks and trails that I followed or crossed on my hike on Tromsøya today. Some are ski trails, most are summer and winter trails. Some still offer very wintry conditions; others look like early spring – or late autumn. My rubber boots splash through water, bog down in the mud and disappear into the snow. It will take some time until most of the ways, paths, tracks, and trails are dry – if it ever happens.

Tomorrow will be different, tomorrow it will snow.

Snow depth = 0 Apr 19 2026

The meteorological station Tromsø (Vervarslinga) measured the following snow depths yesterday:

Time	Snow depth [cm]
2026-04-18 17:00	1.0
2026-04-18 18:00	0.0

Time

Snow depth [cm]

2026-04-18 17:00

1.0

2026-04-18 18:00

0.0

Thus, yesterday was the last day with snow cover at Tromsø (Vervarslinga) this year. Let’s compare the values with previous years:

Year	Snow depth 18 April 18:00	First day with 0 cm of snow at 18:00	Difference in days
2025	72.9	2025-05-18	30
2024	71.0	2024-05-10	22
2023	87.1	2023-05-15	27
2022	45.5	2022-05-18	30
2021	82.7	2021-05-20	32
2020	157.0	2020-06-01	44

Based on the median values from the data above, around 78 cm of snow should have covered the ground at Vervarslinga yesterday, and snow should have remained for another 30 days. I also checked older data and couldn’t find a single 18 April that was without snow at Vervarslinga within the last 50 years.

Average snow depths Tromsø Vervarslinga18 April per year (source: frost.met.no)

That doesn’t mean that all the snow on Tromsøya is gone. Tromsø Vervarslinga is just a single station, but it illustrates how unusually early the snow has melted this year.

This morning I took a walk through the Tromsømarka on top of the island. As you can see, the snow varies. Some forested hills are completely bare of snow, while some boggy places still look wintry, and the lakes and ponds are covered with ice.

The second photo is typical. In winter, cross-country skiing is extremely popular. So popular that countless skiers compact the snow. As a result, it melts more slowly and so you can see “snow lanes” that cross the snow-free ground at this time of the year.

Another typical feature is the contrast: In one spot, thousands of tussilago are blooming while a hundred metres away in the shadow there is still ice on the water puddles.

What I am really curious about this year is the birch trees: will they get their leaves earlier or as usual?

Fresh snow in Tromsø Jan 25 2026

It has been a while since it snowed in Tromsø. Nevertheless, the trees have been white this week, not because of any snow but because of the hoar frost. Yesterday many trees – large and small – were still covered in hoar frost. In the afternoon it started snowing.

When I woke up today the outside scenery looked as wintry as it could be. The next two photos I took from the balcony of my flat on Tromsøya this morning.

Today after breakfast I went on a ski tour. Not a big one, just starting at the gravel road that leads into the forest 350 metres from here. The road leads to the ski run and crosses a cross-country ski track on the way there.

I like the scenery there in all seasons, but I adore it in winter when fresh snow has arrived. Just some photos, especially from the more open places – bogs in summer, snowfields in winter:

While I cleared 14 cm of fresh snow from my parking space in the afternoon it started snowing again leading to a snowburst with snow bucketing down and adding another one or two centimetres additional snow within minutes. In my snowed-covered teddy fleece jacket I looked like a snowman.

Next week there will be not much snowfall, but it will be cold enough to preserve the snow. I love winter in the north.

Scotland NC500 – day 4 – the highlands, a beach, a cave and back to the highlands Nov 7 2025

This article is part of the series “2025-10: Northern Scotland”.

16 October

My wife Annika and I have just left the comfortable Altnaharra Hotel. As on the whole road trip Annika is driving while I am trying to guide as well as I can. We cross the River Mudale and turn left onto one of the many, many single track roads.

A single track road is a road so narrow that two cars cannot pass. Therefore there are passing places marked with signs at more or less regular intervals. As a driver you have to be constantly alert, especially when the road is bending or the terrain is hilly. And especially if you have a rental car without a rear-view camera ;-). For obvious reasons it is prohibited to park in any passing places.

Luckily there are spots where you can stop, so that I can take photos of the moorlands in the Scottish Highlands. I wonder whether they always have such intense red-brown colours. I’ve been in Scotland three times, but always in October.

We stop at a broch. I learned this word just a couple of days ago and I cite from Wikipedia to explain it:

In archaeology, a broch /brɒx/ is an Iron Age drystone hollow-walled structure found in Scotland. […]

This tower-like ruin is Dun Dornaigil Broch. It dates back at least 2,300 years. It is impressive that parts of it still stand.

Actually we chose this street to see Ben Hope, Scotland’s northernmost Munro (that’s the Scottish name for mountains higher than 3000 feet). But it is too cloudy and we can only guess where the top might be. Following the road however is an attraction itself. The views on the moorlands, the patches of grass in the middle on the road, the stubborn sheep that refuse to move, often it is the small experiences that form one’s memories.

But eventually even the most stubborn sheep step aside and the longest single track road comes to an end. We are on the A838, drive round the sea loch Loch Eriboll and park our car at the Ceannabeinne Beach. Time for a walk. And photos. But still I haven’t bathed in the sea even once, the weather is just not very inviting.

Our next stop is the car park of the Smoo Cave. We go down the stairs, cross the river that emerges from the cave on the wooden bridge and stand in the vast opening. Here there is another bridge leading into darkness.

Following this bridge leads to a jetty. At the end of the jetty, there is a ladder. Below, a dinghy is moored. But straight ahead a waterfall is visible, illuminated from above, where there is a hole in the cave ceiling.

To our delight, tours into the caves are still available and we add our names to the list. I run upstairs to the car to fetch my waterproof mobile phone case and down again. Soon after we enter the jetty again. We are eight “cave explorers” including us and a guide, all wearing helmets. We climb down the ladder, enter the boat and are rowed over the underground pond. More than once we have to duck, when the ceiling gets low. Then we exit the boat and continue exploring by foot. We reach a water-filled hole in the bottom and the guide shows a video of a diver going down there. Diving down small and deep holes, digging oneself through the narrowest cracks – the stories we are told about the still ongoing exploration of this cave are not for people with claustrophobia!

The guided tour is not long but I enjoyed it very much. If you want to participate, take cash with you. There is no internet in the cave.

Near the cave is Durness, the north-western tip of the scenic road NC500. Here we do not stay long. After buying provisions at the shop and filling up the car we continue a bit further west to Balnakeil. We visit the cemetery and then have lunch on the grass looking over the beach and the sea.

Then we head back to Durness and drive southwards. Annika has to drive us another 90 km to Lairg where we managed to find affordable accommodation – not an easy task off-season in Scotland. But the road leads to the highlands again and so the day ends as it began: with impressive views over the red-brown moorlands and a grey sky.

October on Tromsøya Oct 10 2025

This is the season where the golden October starts to loose its colours. The first ground frosts occur and many birch trees have lost their leaves. Now it is the rowan and willow trees and the grass and moss that shows autumnal colours.

Four pics I took on an after-work hike two days ago and four I took today.

It won’t be long before the afternoons are so dark that the light posts make sense — and maybe I’ll be able to ski there as early as next month.

1st October Oct 1 2025

The 1st day of this year’s October delivers! First I got a clear, blue sky on my after-work hike through the autumnal forests on top of Tromsøya. Then I got beautiful Northern lights tonight, I just came in and developed the photos a bit.

What you don’t see here – as usual – is the movements of the Aurora. The live act is still better.

Late summer mountain hike Aug 30 2025

The forecast was correct – the sky was blue the whole day today. At 9 o’clock I meet my friend Chris on a parking place and we start a mountain hike. The morning air is a bit chilly and some leaves even have frost on them.

After we have crossed the river Tromsdalselva we follow a path and some quiet residential streets and arrive at the way up to Sherpatrappa. That’s is a stone staircase of 1,203 steps leading up the mountain. Today is Sherpatrappa Opp – a competition where people run up the stairs. We however prefer walking and are lucky, that the competition will not start before eleven.

At the end of the stairs the terrain becomes less steep and you have a gorgeous view on the island Tromsøya and its beautiful surroundings. I see the island Håkøya that I circumvented by kayak two days ago. And today there is another competition: Tromsøya rundt, a 24 km long kayak tour round the island. From 400 metres up, we spot a group of kayakers passing below.

Kayakers joining the competition Tromsøya rundt

I assumed it was too late in the year for cotton grass – a clear sign for wet ground – but by a small and shallow pond we find a field of these candyfloss like flowers.

A lake always gives an awesome extra perspective in the mountainous landscapes, especially when it is as clear and blue as this one.

A white reindeer is grazing by the trail. It is not shy at all and ignores us while looking for food. On the way back we will meet it again.

I will never loose the fascination for the Norwegian landscapes, where sea and summits meet. I paddled to Grindøya – the island in the middle – several times. In the back lies mountain range on the island Kvaløya. This island is more than 1200 times larger than Grindøya and mainland Norways 5th largest island.

The weather has become warm and summery. Anyhow you can see the signs that the summer comes to an end. The colours have started changing.

On our way back we use Sherpatrappa again and get an awesome view on the town. Tromsø in a nutshell: Two Hurtigruten ships – the bridge Tromsøbrua – the iconic church Ishavskatedralen. And in the background the mountain Kjølen, where I’ve seen the midnight sun seven weeks ago (I and II).

Takk for turen, Chris!

Older articles >