on our second day with the car we drove about an hour south to do the ryten peak hike. it was a beautiful drive and we found ourselves stopping often, especially to look at more cemeteries or cabins with the "living roofs". it was much foggier this day, and the hike was completely unmarked and hard to find – our directions were "the trail starts after the white house with the two car garage" ... amongst what felt like 15 white homes, we almost gave up. luckily we ran into some other hikers that pointed us in the right direction, and i'm so glad they did. this was one of the coolest & most rewarding hikes.
the mountain was extremely green and the terrain was very mixed, which meant every turn looked different from the one before. we were often climbing, but had pleasant patches of flat ground to catch our breath. we saw multiple serene lakes tucked between mountains, red cabins that are available for campers [check mountain huts here], a secluded beach {kvalvika} that is only accessible by foot [which had a few camping tents], and a massive cliff where we finished the hike.
afterwards we headed back to the hostel and took out one of the row boats to fish. we [kyle] caught a mackerel with a hand spooled rod and i learned from other guests how to properly gut/clean it, a skill all should have. we put it on salt that night before smoking it for lunch the next day. then we hit the road to Å [pronounced "oh"], the southern most tip of the islands.
did i mention that norway gets 19-20 hours of sunlight in the summer [!?]
see our full lofoten travel guide here
my hiking gear: top | long sleeve | shell | underneath | leggings | backpack | hiking boots | hat
kyle's hiking gear: tshirt | shorts | jacket