A visit to Norway and Dovrefjell

I am currently on vacation with Maria and our first stop is at Dovrefjell.

This is the first time I seriously has visited Norway and to make Dovrefjell the first stop wasn´t hard. We started to plan this trip at the start of this year and at first I thought we just would do the trip thorough Sweden, but Maria wanted to see the fiords and visit Trondheim.

I thought that was a good idea and made the required planning with her approval. It wasn´t hard to convince her to go to Dovrefjell as this area is famous for trekking and the wild Muskox, as well as wild Reindeer and Arctic Foxes. It is also an area that is easily accessible from our hometown of Gothenburg even if it takes approximately nine hours to travel by car to Dovrefjell.

The actual name of the area we have visited is Dovrefjell-Sunndalsfjella National Park and it was founded in 2002. We stayed near Hjerkinn Train Station in a small hostel.

My reasoning for our visit was to do some trekking together and hopefully that I could find the Bluethroat to photo as I find that bird to be one of my favorite in the Nordic countries. Everything else would be a bonus in my eyes.

The car trip was easier than I thought and it was an eye-opener when we climbed up the mountain range and saw a landscape that made us feel small. I hadn´t expected to see this wintery landscape in the end of May, but I understand that Dovrefjell hasn´t had any high temperatures either and that the season is late.

So what have unfolded here in Dovrefjell?

Well we had a first evening with glorious sunshine, but the next two days have brought snow in the morning turning into rain around midday when the temperatures have risen higher. We have climbed a mountain looking for Arctic Foxes and doing that we stumbled into our first Muskox, maybe a little too close for comfort. We made two long treks out onto the vast open spaces that you find here in Dovrefjell in search of the Muskox. We didn´t find any there instead we have found them nearer the river Svåne where they have been grazing new grass, at least that is what we think.

All in all we’ve seen the Muskox on five separate occasions. I think that is a good turnout. The Bluethroat has been found in many places and some have sung beautifully for us even making for some nice photos.

Singing Bluethroat dovrefjell 150525 — Singing Bluethroat 150525

Sadly we didn´t find any Arctic Fox and the wild Reindeers are on the other side of the mountain this time of year. If we are lucky we might spot them tomorrow when we head towards the island of Runde.

So stay tuned and enjoy the gallery from Dovrefjell.