Hike to Dalevatn, Dalsnuten and Lifjell
The hills North of Sandnes on the East side of the Gandsfjorden are a constant tease. You can see them looming over the water from any high point from Stavanger to Sandnes. They offer the closest major hiking area to Stavanger that I am aware of.
M and I finished some errands around 2:00pm and headed for the tiny village (or so we thought) of Dale. When we arrived, the first thing I commented was that this "village" looked like a mental hospital. There were no houses or shops, just institutional buildings of all shapes and sizes. There were very few cars or people around, despite that it was a sunny Saturday afternoon. We eventually asked a father-daughter pair who confirmed my guess that Dale used to be an asylum. It is now a home for "refugees and other random things" (his words).
We left the car and headed in the direction of the trail head to Dalevatn (Dale Lake). After a false start through a VERY recently fertilized field, we followed the well-marked trail for about an hour to reach the lake. This part of the trail was fairly easy, rising gently into the surrounding hills before descending again to the lake. The lake is pretty and there were a few people having picnics.
From Dalevatn, we followed the trail to Lifjell and/or Dalsnuten, the two tallest hills in the area. The reason for the confusion is that the hills were not marked in any way, but I believe we reached both of them. Lifjell is supposed to be the one with the radio tower on top, and I believe Dalsnuten is the one just South of that. We then made our way back along the coast to Dale. There are some challenging parts on the trail as you are climbing approximately 300m over fairly rocky ground. However, the views of the Gandsfjorden, Stavanger, Sandnes and all the towns in between from the top are truly spectacular! It helped that we also had perfect weather.
Here is a map of our route. I got some nice colour today! Gotta save up for the Winter darkness.
Dalevatn with signpost.
Dalevatn with our next destination in the background.
View of central Stavanger from the top of one of the hills.
View of the Gandsfjorden looking South towards Sandnes.
A helicopter flies below our altitude. Ullandhaug radio tower and the North Atlantic can be seen in the background.
The radio tower at the top of Lifjell.
View of the coast on the way back.
M and I finished some errands around 2:00pm and headed for the tiny village (or so we thought) of Dale. When we arrived, the first thing I commented was that this "village" looked like a mental hospital. There were no houses or shops, just institutional buildings of all shapes and sizes. There were very few cars or people around, despite that it was a sunny Saturday afternoon. We eventually asked a father-daughter pair who confirmed my guess that Dale used to be an asylum. It is now a home for "refugees and other random things" (his words).
We left the car and headed in the direction of the trail head to Dalevatn (Dale Lake). After a false start through a VERY recently fertilized field, we followed the well-marked trail for about an hour to reach the lake. This part of the trail was fairly easy, rising gently into the surrounding hills before descending again to the lake. The lake is pretty and there were a few people having picnics.
From Dalevatn, we followed the trail to Lifjell and/or Dalsnuten, the two tallest hills in the area. The reason for the confusion is that the hills were not marked in any way, but I believe we reached both of them. Lifjell is supposed to be the one with the radio tower on top, and I believe Dalsnuten is the one just South of that. We then made our way back along the coast to Dale. There are some challenging parts on the trail as you are climbing approximately 300m over fairly rocky ground. However, the views of the Gandsfjorden, Stavanger, Sandnes and all the towns in between from the top are truly spectacular! It helped that we also had perfect weather.
Here is a map of our route. I got some nice colour today! Gotta save up for the Winter darkness.
Dalevatn with signpost.
Dalevatn with our next destination in the background.
View of central Stavanger from the top of one of the hills.
View of the Gandsfjorden looking South towards Sandnes.
A helicopter flies below our altitude. Ullandhaug radio tower and the North Atlantic can be seen in the background.
The radio tower at the top of Lifjell.
View of the coast on the way back.
2 Comments:
That's a crazy and beautiful route you did! 10k! Wow! Are you planning a trip to Riskafjorden soon? That looks scenic...
By
Mel, on 10:54 PM, June 07, 2009
Riskafjorden is more of the same. We could get there by doing the same hike we did but walking longer, or we could drive all the way to Hommersåk and hiking from that area. We'll need someone else to go with in order to motivate us to repeat a trip.
By
Victor, on 5:24 PM, June 08, 2009
Post a Comment
<< Home