Since I wasn’t able to post pictures on Friday, here are the pictures and a bit more commentary on the Formokampen Mountain hike. The Formakampen hike leaves from Putten Seter, only a 5 minute drive from the hotel.
In the beginning, you go through a stretch of very small birches most only about 4 feet high. Next you cross a marshy area where flat boulders have been placed so you can jump across without stepping in the marsh. There are a few slate bridges over a couple more marshy spots before you get to an elevation where it is very dry and the plants mostly resemble lichen (perhaps they are all lichen but we aren’t sure).
Here is picture of Megan and Leon crossing a slate “bridge” before going up to the lichen area. The white you you can see scattering the hill above is lichen with many small white flowers all over.
The hike continues about 3.5 km before you get to the part where you climb to the top of the Formokampen Mountain seen here in the background behind Leon and Megan.
About midway up the mountain you come upon these trenches filled with rocks. It turns out that in the Middle Ages, wild reindeer were hunted by tricking them to run into these trenches (which were not filled with rocks back then). Once we got to the top, the views were amazing. The mountain is surrounded by large open areas on all sides and beyond that there are mountains all around. A circular steel disk on the top names all of the mountains in the corresponding section of the circle so that you can tell which mountain you are seeing.
Balents Trip Blog 