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.
It is the third year, that I hiked to the glacier Steindalsbreen in the Lyngen Alps. This time I had the pleasure to do the tour with my wife Annika. To make it a holiday we have decided to try to book the cabin Steindalshytta over the weekend. This cabin lies some kilometres from the parking place on the way to the glacier.
Saturday morning we manage to book two beds but we have to hurry to fetch the key in Steindalen, which is 100 km away. There we meet H. that gives us the keys and some info. She tells us we can use the gas driven hotplates to cook. We also learn that there’s hardly any firewood left, but it’s not cold and we have sleeping bags, so no worries. We pay using Vipps, the leading mobile payment system in Norway, then we take the car to Lyngseidet – 25 km away – to buy food.
When we pack our backpacks to start the tour it is already afternoon, but the cabin is not far away.
In the beginning a forest path winds up through a narrow valley. The colours are autumnal – yellow the birches, red the cornel and the blueberries. To the left down from the bottom of a ravine we can hear the river Gievdanjohka.
The path is rising and so is the river. After two kilometres we are almost level.
From there it is not far to the cabin. We go round a moraine and there it is: Steindalshytta. I unlock the door and we peek inside. Looks cosy!
Now we want to cook. This will take the rest for the evening because the gas canister is empty. No cooking on the hotplates, we have to use the wood-burning stove. We gather all the leftover wood from inside and outside of the cabin. There is no axe. Luckily Annika has a knife that is sturdy enough to make some smaller peaces of firewood. The wind is calm, the oven isn’t drawing and it takes almost three hours until the water for the spaghetti is boiling. At least we get a starter: warm shrimps with parmesan that we eat from the huge plastic plates we found in the kitchen. And I found chocolate cookies in the kitchen.
Meanwhile it has become dark outside and soon we get to sleep. We don’t have to freeze. After having powered the stove for hours we have 24 °C in the living room and hardly less in our sleeping room. Good night!
When I wake up the next morning it is raining, but it stops soon and the sun starts to light the mountains in the east.
After breakfast we pack our backpacks and start our hike to the glacier Steindalsbreen. Many things like our sleeping bags we leave behind, because we will go the same way back.
Again we follow the river to the east, then the landscape opens to a broader U-shaped valley. The terrain flattens and hiking is easy.
But we can already see the ascent we have to take. After two steeper passages we stand between two landscapes. In our back lies the mellow valley with its gentle slopes, everything in autumnal colours. Ahead lies a rough and rugged mountain landscape, where grey rocks and stones are the predominant element.
And there it is. The glacier. (Photo Annika Kramer.)
We continue the gravel path. Soon we pass the first of the signs that marks the glacier front some decennials ago. Due to global warming the glacier is melting and retreating every year. It is fantastic to see the glacier and we feel excited, but sad at the same time. First we hike to the glacial lake in front. Will we manage to go round the lake the glacier itself? Yes – and it is quite easy this year.
I have my big camera backpack with me and the Nikon with three lenses. That was made possible by Annika who took all the food. Although the weather is a bit dull it is photo time!
As often I’m not content with my photos and yes, I should have carried my tripod with me. But I’m happy about being there together with Annika. (Next photo: Annika Kramer.)
It is time to go back. This time we follow the river and pass two fields with scientific instruments, part of the project iC3. I have to ask a colleague from the Norwegian Polar Institute what is measured there.
Now the trail leads mostly downwards. We descend the hill, cross the broad valley, enter the forest and then reach the bridge by the cabin again. Here we take a rest and then fetch the rest of our stuff from inside the cabin.
I take a tiny detour that leads on a hill. Here I can see everything together: The huge mountains with their snow fields, the river Gievdanjohka, the autumnal birch forests. Only the glacier is hidden from view.
What a terrific tour we had! The glacier Steindalsbreen is worth a visit, especially in autumn. We drive back to Tromsø and I copy the photos to my computer. Then I check the tracker I used on the tour. As I was afraid I have walked on rock, sand, and mud this year, where last year the glacier covered the ground.
One month ago was the last polar day in Tromsø, where the sun did not set at all. Now it gets dark again in the night. Rain clouds may help as well to make it darker and I got a lot of help from them, when I made an evening stroll through the forests nearby yesterday evening.
It was still light when I set off and it was raining. The big leaves of the wood cranesbill (Geranium sylvaticum) beside the forest paths had started to turn yellow.
The small, grass-covered bogs always look like autumn. The vegetation is just yellower and browner. Because of the recent rain they were pretty wet and partly covered with water.
There were still flowers in bloom, like the pink fireweed and the thistle in the next photo, but more and more it was the leaves bringing the colour—like the wood cranesbill, whose leaves turn a vivid red in autumn.
Most of the forest paths were mostly dry but some of them had turned into deep water puddles. Rubber boots came in handy.
Half past nine – it was getting darker. Now and then I caught a glimpse of city lights through the trees, but most of the time I was away from town—sometimes going cross-country through the forest, sometimes staying on the paths.
Another sign of autumn was starting to show. Various mushrooms have popped up beside the path. I don’t pick them—I haven’t got a clue about mushrooms—but I do enjoy spotting them.
When I came home at 22:20 my rain clothes were so soaking wet, that I hung them into the shower. Today was the first day after months, where I put on the electrical heating in the living room.
I slept better than expected in the shelter on top of the mountain Stor–Kjølen (790 masl) that I hiked up the previous day. At 7 o’clock I get up and enjoy strolling around the plateau under a deep blue sky. Thank you, DNT, for maintaining this shelter.
At half past seven I start my way back. The sun is high in the sky.
The plateau summit resembles a desert of stones with hardly any plant beside of lichens and some tufts of grass. The first plant that catches my eye when descending the summit is a flowering ground cover. If the AI is correct, it is silene acaulis, also known as moss campion or cushion pink.
Again I cross the huge snow field. I see footprints but no ski tracks. Skiing season seams finally to be over.
Navigation is easy. Sometimes I go astray, since there are so many parallel paths – this hike is quite popular. But with the help of the painted red dots it is easy to find back to the main track. The cairns – Scottish Gaelic for a man-made pile of stones – can be used for navigation as well. Great in fog! However, use them with caution. Tourists love to build these all over the mountains on random places.
While coming down the mountain the landscape slowly changes. The ground is more and more overgrown and to the right there are several lakes.
As the day before I pass a small valley. Now it lies in the sun. It looks very idyllic with its lakes, streams and its birch trees. One day I have to check how to go there.
Another stream to cross, another lake to view …
… and I’m on the home stretch. Soon I can see the gravel car park. One of the grey cars is mine. But still the terrain is hilly and in no time the car park disappears from view again.
By 9:45 I am back at the car. I was incredibly slow — a luxury you can afford when you’re hiking alone and stopping to take photos.
Later that day I stand on my balcony. The view is mostly blocked by large trees. Birches, willows, rowans. Through the gaps I can spot the mountains. And if you look carefully on the next photo, you may spot a tiny white dot on the top of a snowy mountain. That’s the radar station of Stor-Kjølen. I’ve been there last night.
After a week in my hometown Bremen in Germany I returned to Tromsø yesterday. This morning I took a tour through the nature of the northern island. The landscape is mostly wooded hills, with a few bogs and lakes dotted around. I was curious about two things: how much snow is left and have the birch trees got their leaves?
More and more snow is gone. However some of the forest floor is still covered with dirty snow, sometimes up to half a metre and more.
You can still see last winter’s cross-country ski trails. The pressure of many thousand skiers has squeezed the snow making it more compact. Like white ribbons, these paths wind their way through the forest.
Other paths give no hint that winter ever touched that place.
The moorland with its spongy ground is completely clear of snow. And so are the lakes.
However, although it is already 1st of June the colours look more like late October. But if you look a bit closer you see the signs of springs such as the blooming marsh-marigold and the birch leaves that finally start to grow and unfold on some of the trees.
Fifteen days ago: 98 cm of snow in Tromsø, measured at an elevation of 100 metres. Yesterday – two weeks later – 31 cm of snow are left. And so my walk home also looked like. Somewhere between the winter still hesitating but spring approaching anyhow.
Tomorrow the summer working hours start and till September I’ll have to work only seven hours a day. Yay!
The following day my car will get summer tyres.
And on Sunday – four days from now – the time of the polar days start where the sun won’t set before 26 July.
When I woke up yesterday morning (28. April) and looked outside the window of my living room I was pretty surprised. I didn’t rain in the night, it had been snowing.
Round 15 cm of fresh snow had fallen within the last six hours and everything looked wintry again. In the centre of Tromsø however, 88 metres lower in elevation than my apartment only five cm of snow had fallen and the cars had smashed it to brown slush. What a difference!
Home again I watched a ptarmigan in the back yard. First it picked on a twig of a tree, then it dug itself into the snow and rested there for some hours. Couldn’t it see me behind the window pane or did it just ignore me? In the night it was gone.
Today I took my skis to work so that I could ski back home from the lake Prestvannet. This time the forecast was correct: we got a blue sky, the sun was shining at temperatures round +3 °C. At the harbour in the centre the view was quite spring-like.
Taking the bus from the center up to Prestvannet takes only 5 minutes, but there it is still winter season with snow depths round 90 cm. It’s astonishing what a difference in altitude of less than 100 metres can do.
Time to ski back, preferably not on the tracks but through the forests. After four kilometres on skis and 840 metres by foot I was home.
On Easter Monday we got surprisingly fine weather in Tromsø. The sun was shining and the sky was blue. I took the bus to Sydspissen – the southern tip of Tromsøya – because it has been ages since I’ve been there. A lot of snow has melted away and tussilago was blooming everywhere. I passed the beach at Telegrafbukta and the pier at Folkeparken came into view. I know the this area well, because I lived nearby for quite some time.
I went on, enjoying the sun and ignoring the chilly wind. Don’t let your eyes fool you, the max temperature was about +2 °C. I passed the old boat house Engenesnaustet, saw a lonely winter kayaker and passed the small lighthouse.
I was not alone. A lot of other people took the holiday to take a promenade, sit side by side or do some barbecuing. I took the liberty to remove some people from the photos.
I wondered if the old, abandoned boathouse was still open? It was. A bit away from the shore there was some leftover snow. The tussilago flowers didn’t care, they were blooming anyhow.
Now it was not far away to the boat houses of the two kayak clubs in Tromsø. TSI Trulle and Tromsø Havpadleklubb. Here I start all my kayak tours in Tromsø, because my own kayak is in Obbola in Swede, so I use to hire one here. Season has just started and I want to paddle a lot this year!
At the bus stop Giæverbukta I missed my bus. 28 minutes of waiting or two kilometres of walking? Easy decision: I walked.
It was fascinating that the coast was mostly free of snow, while MET, the meteorological institute inside the island measured a snow depth of about 80 cm that day. At an elevation of 100 metres. And so the walk became snowy in the end. But spring showed up here as well: some willows had started to bloom.
Yesterday afternoon it started snowing. Some snow showers were pretty dense. And sometimes I got one of my favourite weathers: snow flurry and sun at the same time. So beautiful. I tried to take pictures but the result became quite ugly, because the snow against the camera looks dark.
This morning ten more centimetres of snow have fallen, even in the lowland areas. All Scilla flowers in the centre were covered in snow and for the photo I had to look to find some flowers not being completely buried.
I use to walk home twice a week after work. Then I take the bus to the lake Prestvannet to skip the boring (and steep) parts. Today I do the same. Additional snow showers have increased the snow depth to 92 cm, but it has started clearing up, when I begin my way home at 15:00. The fresh snow gives the lake an untouched appearance and the first lifebuoy is snowed over almost completely. Could it be January? No, the light is different.
I follow the ski trail a bit then I follow the smaller paths. They have hardly been used today, mostly by a single skier or pedestrian.
But then I come to an area where the snowy paths are completely untouched. No one has used them today. Imagine that: You are on a island with 43000 inhabitants. Many of them are enthusiastic skiers and outdoor maniacs. It is Friday afternoon and the sun is shining. And I trudge through 15 cm of untouched fresh snow. This is absolutely brilliant; I’ve never experienced anything like this before!
And suddenly it looks wintry again in Tromsø. About 30 cm of snow fell in the last two days. Yesterday I walked home from work, today I took the skies.
It is so much fun to ski through the wintry forests on the top of the island Tromsøya even when the snow is as warm and sticky as today.