A summer overnight stay at Blåkollkoia cabin Jul 5 2026

The weather in Tromsø for the weekend didn’t look promising, but for Friday it did. I leave work just after lunch so that Annika and I can hike up to Blåkollkoia cabin together. At half past one I park the car in Tønsvik. From there, it is an 8 km walk up to the cabin. The first 2½ km we follow a gravel road that leads to some private cabins.

Then the road turns into a marked hiking trail. It leads through fern thickets and birch forests; it crosses grassy plateaus and bogs with cotton grass.

It is perfect hiking weather. The air is not too warm, but the sun is quite strong and we are glad about the occasional wind cooling us down. There are hardly any mosquitoes, but plenty of flies seem to fall in love with us and follow us everywhere.

Below the cabin we use the bridge to cross the river Goahtevuomieatnu/Tønsvikelva. We were here in August 2024 and took a bath; now the river carries a lot more water.

Then we arrive at the cabin. It is locked and we use the key provided by DNT (Den Norske Turistforening) to enter. We have booked two beds in Room 2.

I go outside several times to take photos, while the sun is slowly sinking lower and lower. It is still polar day in Tromsø, so the sun won’t set. I sleep a bit but after midnight I am out again enjoying the beautiful scenery that is illuminated by the low sun in warm colours.

The next morning the scenery is quite different. The sky is overcast, some mountains hang in the clouds and it has started drizzling a bit.

After a two-course breakfast (fried spaghetti and muesli), Annika and I pack our things, clean the cabin with the other guests and start our tour back to the parked car.

First it is just overcast, then it becomes foggy and in the end, when we are on the gravel road again, it starts to rain.

Luckily, a friend of ours lives nearby. Here we can change into dry clothes and we get hot soup and coffee. Thank you, C. for the food and good company! A perfect ending for a great hiking tour that took less than 24 hours.

Oulanka National Park, the Russian border, long dirt roads and Lokka reservoir Jun 26 2026

This article is part of the series “2026-06: Obbola—Finland—Tromsø”.

Part three of the journey from Obbola to Tromsø

Our first car trip today is short. From our mökki (cottage) by the lake where we slept to the Oulanka National Park it’s only 22 km. In the car park there are more reindeer than cars. While the older reindeer are undergoing a coat change and look quite ragged the younger ones look like animals from an old Disney film with their soft fur, their thin legs and their huge, dark eyes.

Our hiking tour to the Kiutaköngäs rapids starts through a beautiful, wild forest. After a while you can hear the roar of the water and then you see the narrow gorge through which the water of the river Oulankajoki rushes downwards.

The moss-covered rocks by the gorge look as impressive as the rapids – as if from ancient times.

We follow the yellow dots that mark the shortest circular route. The landscape is now less spectacular than the rapids but in its variety, it’s beautiful to walk in.

We pass a bog lake named Ylimmäinen Hiidenlampi. We are not alone, a group of students is doing research on freshwater and invertebrates.

For most of the walk, we were lucky with the weather but in the end we get caught in a rain shower. While we have lunch in the visitor centre our jackets start to dry.

Change of scenery. We are in the eastern part of Finland, a country that has a 1340-kilometre border with Russia. We take a small road to the east leading to the border. In the end, it is just a small forest road. It just ends with a simple barrier and a warning sign saying “Border zone—no entry without special permit” in five languages. On the other side there is an information sign – that’s it.

While this road probably never was a border crossing, there is one northeast of Salla. Or rather, was, because all checkpoints were closed in April 2024. Hardly imaginable that I crossed the border here on a journey to Murmansk in March 2019.

When will Russia’s terrible war against Ukraine end? Will there be a regime change in Russia that makes it possible to travel there again in my lifetime? I don’t know.

Change of scenery. We travel to Lokka, the most remote location we found with accommodation for overnight stay. Several roads marked in yellow on our paper map lead there and we decide to take some of them to get there. First there are some visible signs of other people – a cottage, a passing car, then we are all alone. We follow the roads according to Google’s navigation. First we drive on asphalt roads, then gravel roads and in the end narrow dirt roads with grass growing in the middle.

At one junction where we should turn right the road is closed. I follow the other road but it is difficult to know if we are on the right track. There are too many other dirt roads and there are no signs, nor is there any mobile coverage. Finally we find a way back to Hietaniemi that we passed perhaps an hour ago. From there it’s another 50 km back to a paved road. Another minor road finally leads us to Mummon Mökki, our cozy overnight stay where we arrive around 8 o’clock Finnish time.

The last part was fascinating. We passed Lokka Reservoir, one of the largest artificial lakes in Europe. There are large areas of grass and some birch trees by the shore. When I walk there after dinner I realise that these immense mats of grass are actually floating on the lake. Fascinating but not a place to stroll around. I take my photos from the safety of the road.

Around ten o’clock I’m back at the mökki. I try to jump in as fast as possible to keep the mosquitoes outside and take a hot shower. Then it’s time to sleep after this long and varied day.

Two days in Malangen Jun 11 2026

Yesterday and today our department “Miljø og kart” MIKA at the Norwegian Polar Institute had a two-day seminar on the Malangen peninsula.

We travelled there by bus while in glorious real summer weather. Two photos I took from the bus:

Between the last presentation in the afternoon and dinner we had a few hours off. A group of us headed to a spot by Lake Nikkavatnet and I went round the lake with a colleague. It was a beautiful walk of about 2 km, revealing another facet of Northern Norway: Forest and lake – with snowy mountain ranges on the horizon.

During the night the weather changed completely. This morning it was about ten degrees colder and it was cloudy with occasional rain showers. Therefore the view from the bus on the way back was quite different:

The sea and the mountains Jun 6 2026

Back in Tromsø after some travelling I joined the “Thursday paddling” organised by the Tromsø Sea Kayakers Club. We were eleven kayakers and it was proposed and we decided to paddle to Grindøya, one of the common tours.

On Sálljnjárnuorri / Sandnessundet, the sound between Tromsøya and Kvaløya, it was windy and short waves came from the right. Here I preferred to hold my paddle and didn’t take any photos. In the lee of Grindøya, I started taking photos again.

We paddled alongside the island and took a break at the southern tip.

Taking a break on the southern tip of Grindøya

After half an hour, we continued our tour. The wind had calmed down and so did the waves. We paddled around the island and then headed to Monsterbygget (the monster building), a landmark on Tromsøya often used for kayaking navigation. After three hours, we were back at the boathouses.

Next day, another tour. I stopped working early to meet my friend Christine. We took my car to a parking area on Kvaløya and went up the Sørtinden. This is a short tour, about 4 km long with 250 metres of elevation gain., but you are immediately in the mountains.

Some parts were still covered with snow while others were covered with carpets of flowers. Even the cottongrass was blooming.

Gaining altitude, we had views of the lake Finnvikvatnet and the mountains behind, such as Kjølen.

The top of Sørtinden is a bit like a cliff. Here, you also have a view of the sea and the island Vengsøya. After a rest on the windy summit, we went back the same way.

A day and half a night in Bergen May 30 2026

28 May – I am sitting on a plane to Bergen, Tromsø lies behind. Finally the layer of clouds has opened and Vestlandet – Western Norways reveals itself with vast glaciers, mountain ranges, fjords, forests, archipelagos and the open sea.

The reason I am in Bergen is sea ice in the Arctic. On board the ice-breaking research vessel Kronprins Haakon there is a special radar used for navigation through sea ice. Researcher Polona Itkin wants to store this data for scientific purposes. The companies Sea-Hawk Navigation AS and dspnor AS are responsible for the hardware, I handle the software to read and store the data. And since these companies are in Bergen and have a working setup including a radar on the roof, I am working there for two days. The only work-related detail I will mention is this: the data volume to be stored is immense and can exceed 2 TB a day. Quite a challenge.

At 16:00 I finish work. Since the weather is warm and sunny, I decide to walk to the hotel in the centre of Bergen on the other side of Puddefjorden. Let’s go down the concrete ramp and start our tour. First, I walk through an industrial area …

… but then the surroundings change revealing marinas, parks and older wooden houses.

I cross the Damsgårdssundet and head towards the centre. A myriad of small alleys, footpaths and stairs make me ignore the polite navigation of Google Maps and stroll around, enjoying the town in the sun.

I don’t want to own this car, but I envy the driver’s parking skills.

But of course Bergen is an evolving city, not a museum and a lot of contemporary architecture is found there too. But sometimes the glassy facades reflect the older world.

From there it is not long to Vågen, the central harbour bay with a view of the historic quarter Bryggen.

I check in at the hotel and leave again straight away, first to get some food (Pasha – Peruvian food – not cheap but delicious) and then to take Fløibanen, a 848-metre-long funicular railway that leads up to the mountain of Fløyen (320 m).

Of course I could have walked up the 302-metre ascent, but I have a plan: I want to walk to the mountain of Ulriken (643 m), the highest of De syv fjell that surround the city centre of Bergen. The route is between 13 and 15 km long and leads through hilly terrain. From there I want to take the cable car down and the last one leaves at 23:00. So I don’t have the whole day, just a long evening.

At 18:45 I start my tour. First, I cross a small, but surprisingly dense forest then I follow the wide hiking trail.

When I approach the mountain Rundemanen with its tall radio mast, the trail branches into many paths leading in different directions. I ask for directions twice and get it – together with the warning that it is a long hike. The younger women told me it would take four hours from here, another woman said it would take her six hours. I decide to walk a bit faster and see where I am after two hours. I could still turn back then.

Now the trail looks more like a mountain trail. Smaller, steeper, rougher and sometimes very wet. Normally I walk with rubber boots but on this journey I only have an old pair of low shoes, so I try to avoid all the wet patches walking around them or stepping onto the stones.

I pass the lake Øvre Jordalsvatnet, use the stone causeway to cross the small stream that transports water to the lower lake Tarlebøvatnet. My planned destination, the TV tower near Ulriken, can already be seen.

Now the trail is excellently marked by large square cairns with a sign “←Fløyen, /Ulriken→“. It is easy to follow them. I try to walk at least 4 km/h, ideally 4.5 to catch the cable car. At 20:30 I reach one of the few signposts with distances. I’m happy, because I made more than half the distance in one hour, forty-five minutes. Decision made: I carry on.

And on I go across the Vidden. Sometimes the point of interest is nearby, such as the tube with the first aid equipment including a stretcher. Sometimes it is far away, such as the snowy mountains in the east. Will I see snow here as well?

Tube with first aid equipment and stretcher

And there it is: one of the two patches of snow on the Vidden plateau.

Slowly the sun is setting and the light gets warmer. I walk against the sun and have to protect my eyes with one hand when the path descends steeply into one of the valley cuts. But I’m sure I’ll arrive in time.

I spot some cabins, first a small red one then a larger one. When I researched this while writing, I found out that this is Turnerhytten, a DNT cabin with thirty beds. I think that when I plan a trip to Bergen again, I should stay there rather in some hotel in the centre.

I decide not to climb to the top of Ulriken but to go straight to the cable car station. I’m tired and exhausted because my only rests were to take photos and once to put on a jacket. I follow the signs to the station, take another photo, one of the TV tower, buy a ticket at the ticket machine and two minutes later I am in the cable car that leads me down. It is 22:30, so the hike – 14½ km long – took me 3¾ hours.

From the descending cable car I watch the sunset …

… then I’m in town again. It is five more kilometres to my hotel, so I take a bus (the wrong one), a tram, and another bus. At 23:15 I am in my hotel room.

Today I walked around 25 kilometres in total and now I only want to take a shower and fall into bed and sleep until breakfast at 7:00 the next morning.

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.

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?

A winter night with northern lights Mar 28 2026

When I returned to Tromsø two weeks ago a lot of snow had melted due to a warm and rainy period. Last weekend I took a rainy hike by the coast on the island Kvaløya, where it was free of snow and I saw the first flowering tussilago.

In the last few days it has become a bit colder and today’s precipitation came as snow, making the street white again, at least for a while.

At ten o’clock I went onto my balcony to look for Jupiter and the Moon I saw faint northern lights. Should I take a chance and try to take some photos? I grabbed my equipment, winter boots and a down jacket, took the car to the kindergarten, where a path leads to the ski runs and I went to the small pond. Luckily, the aurora was still present though not strong. I put the camera on a tripod and started taking pictures. The sky was slightly purple – was it the Moon, or what caused the colour? I do not know.

The aurora was quite low and weakened and reappeared several times. After half an hour it reappeared again, gained shape and movement – although it was not very bright.

Then it started to rise more and more …

… until it reached the zenith, where it slowly flickered back and forth for a while. Since I didn’t take my fisheye lens with me I didn’t take any more photos.

I had been standing there in the snow by the small pond for about 50 minutes. The down jacket I wore was warm enough but quite short and my legs were really freezing, although it was only around -4 °C. When the aurora weakened I went back to the car and drove home with a plan in mind: when the aurora was still present, I would change to my Canada Goose down parka and pants (the warmest clothes I have) and drive back. Anyhow, when I parked the car in front of the door of my apartment, the aurora was gone.

Ski tour in the Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park – day one Mar 6 2026

This article is part of the series “2026-03: Ski tours”.

08:50 – everything is packed for starting our ski tour through the Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park. My wife Annika wears a backpack, I’m dragging a pulka. Today’s destination is the hut Sioskuru.

We ski down to the lake and turn left onto one of the cross-country ski trails. The weather is grey, it has started snowing.

Skiing on the trail is easy. We soon enter the national park and after two hours we reach the hut Pyhäkero.

The Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park has a whole network of open wilderness huts, where you can stay for free. There is a wood-burning stove or fireplace, a gas cooker and a platform to sleep on. No mattresses, no luxury, but everything you need on a tour without the need for a tent and a cooker.

Some of the huts have locked rooms that you can pre-book for a small fee.

Outside of the hut Pyhäkero there is a signpost with all the destinations you can reach on foot in summer and on ski in winter. And since we are in Finland the names are quite long, such as Onnasvaaranreitti, Sammalvaaranreitti, or Postituvaniärvet. We have only 8 km to ski to Sioskuru today, where we pre-booked two beds. Sounds easy, doesn’t it?

A piste groomer is passing the hut. Will it groom our trail? No, it just turns back. At the same time the wind is increasing, and so is the snowfall. Unfortunately the weather forecast was correct.

First we traverse a gorge that leads slowly uphill.

Then we reach more open terrain. The wind is pretty strong, it is snowing and you cannot make out anything except the trees, that look like being placed randomly in the plateau. Luckily, the path is well marked with wooden crosses.

The snow gets deeper, the terrain steeper and each metre we ascend is extremely exhausting. Again and again we have to rest to catch our breath. It takes us two hours until we finally spot the hut Sioskuru. Two hours, in which didn’t take a single picture in these two hours.

It takes some effort to unlock the frozen lock, then we are inside. Now it is time for us to defrost our faces, change clothes and enjoy the shelter of the hut. While the wind and snowfall are slowly declining, we are settling in, making fire and cooking food. We skied 17 km, but I am very exhausted, my legs hurt and I am very glad to have arrived.

The next day we will continue to Hannukuru, which is, fortunately, a shorter distance.

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