Endless climb 2

A week or so ago, a friend in the dorm provided me with information about an outdoor recreation club. After looking at the short summary of an upcoming weekend hiking trip, I decided I had to do it, even though it seemed hard-core. The informational meeting eased my fears when I saw everyone appeared average-looking, and that there weren't any hippy or triathlon types. At the time, I misjudged one girl wearing giant fake pearl earrings and trendy H&M clothes to be an inexperienced camper. I thought to myself, "Yeah, I got this," so I signed the 'at your own risk' sheet and went home for the potluck. Friday afternoon, we loaded the rental cars and hit the road. I was happy one of the German guys was driving since the car was a manual and the roads were one lane (for both directions). He was shifting constantly, and we were struggling to figure out where we were. We missed the turn and got trapped on the wrong fjord. Two hours later, we were back on track, but were way behind the others. The sun was setting, and we began the two hour hike to the first DNT* cabin in a rather somber mood. In total darkness, we made it to the first cabin and devoured the leftover dinner (we all shared dinners, but brought our own breakfast and lunch). To save some kroner, I decided to sleep in the tent outside. Not realizing that a sleeping mat prevents the earth from sucking your heat away, I shivered in my sleeping bag until the sun started coming up. I went into the cabin and slept on the bare wood floor for two wonderful hours. I woke up and realized I was 26 years old! Yay! During breakfast, everyone lined up one-by-one and gave me a hug or hand-shake and congratulated me (literally). It was actually turning out to be okay to spend my birthday with strangers. Ankles wrapped and blisters bandaged, we loaded our gear on our backs and began the hike. It's hard to explain the hike, but it was one of the physically hardest days I've ever experienced. We hiked for over 10 hours in extremely rugged terrain on the leftover mess of a glacier from long ago. We went up steep trails way above the tree line and down a billion boulders... about a hundred times. The weather was incredible. It was sunny and maybe 60 degrees F in the middle of the day. I couldn't believe I was able to wear a tank top. We made stops every now and again to let the stragglers catch up (usually 2 Peruvian girls and a few others). I started off a little slow, but this weird thing happened where my stamina seemed to increase as the day went on. The Norwegian girl, Johanna (with the pearl earrings), was always first and way ahead of the German guys. Toward the end I was right up there with her. I wasn't sure if it was the Norwegian in me, or if my build was made for this. Before Jeff and I dated, he'd told his parents he wanted a girl with backpack-carrying legs. Well, I guess I proved that on this trip! Hehe! But the last hour was absolute hell. It felt like the Baton Death March, and I wanted my birthday to be over ASAP. The sun was beginning to set, and we still had a lot of ground to cover. When we finally got to the next cabin, it was full of other hikers. Being we were "kids," the people in the cabins weren't very willing to share space with us. So we had to change out of our sweaty clothes for dry while standing in the freezing cold. We then cooked some pasta and onion over an outdoor flame-thingy in the pitch dark. When I found out that two cartons of cream were going into the pasta, I was disgusted and shocked. Having worked in a restaurant for a number of years, I couldn't fathom the idea of eating dairy products that hadn't been in a refrigerator for two days. After an interesting lecture about sour milk from the rest of the campers, I learned that warm milk turns into yogurt and doesn't make you sick. Apparently bad milk has mold and good bacteria, but not really a lot of bad bacteria. After dinner everyone was wiped out and heading off to bed. Without a mat, I once again had to deal with finding a place to sleep without freezing. I basically had to beg the grumpy, old Norwegian hikers to let me sleep on the floor in the tiny entryway of the cabin. On the bare floor, I tried to sleep while my body twitched like crazy from being overworked. I woke up in the morning with a ton of energy (must be that mountain air) and we hiked for another 6.5 hours. We stopped to take some pretty sweet pictures at this rock formation called Trolltunga (Troll Tongue). It was definitely easier than the day before, although the last two hours were a mega balance test. It was very steep as we descended from the rocky glacial terrain into the tree zone. I kept apologizing to my poor knees. I finished the trip second to an American guy from Boston, and we obnoxiously chanted, "U-S-A, U-S-A..." We had a great laugh about that. Then, with two other European girls, we quickly threw our bikinis on and jumped in the lake. The numbing effect of the water felt so good. We had a nice trip home, especially after stopping at the gas station. I devoured a giant bag of chips, a cheeseburger, and a Coke and then rode along quietly thinking about the trip. I thought of all the amazing things I had done over the weekend, which were things I would never have done without a group like this. A few days later all fourteen of us got together and exchanged pictures. Here are a few of them. Wish you all could have been there with me to enjoy the adventure.

*The DNT cabins are an amazing accommodation provided by the Norwegian Trekking Association. You can find the cabins all over rural Norway, and they are so adorable and practical. Inside the cabin, you'll find bunk beds, a table, stove, cooking unit, and a wood-burning fireplace. There is a small fee to use the cabins, and you pay on the honor system. If you're a member of the association, you pay even less. They're first come, first serve and are open to everyone.