Today we did a hike up Fløya. Like the Reinebringen trail that we did on our first day, the Fløya trail is steep, yet also extremely popular, and this led to heavy erosion that made for challenging climbs. The Norwegians responded by building a long stone staircase. Now going up to Fløya is a matter of hiking up many steps. There are still some sections without stairs that went over slopes of bare stone, but there weren't any muddy sections.
One of the main reasons this hike is so popular is the Djevelporten, which is Norwegian for "Devil's Bridge". This is a big slab of rock wedged between two cliffs, with a chasm below. If the
rock ever came loose, the Djevelporten would plunge down the mountainside. But it is thoroughly wedge in, so hikers like to take dramatic photographs where they sit on the Djevelporten with a huge drop visible below them. The
approach to the Djevelporten is on the right, and that path is not visible from the straight-on photographs, so the pictures turn out looking amazing.
I am not good with heights, but the others went out onto the rock for their memorable pictures, including Melanie. Just seeing her out there perched on that precarious rock was unnerving.
From Djevelporten there are two possible routes. Leslie, Anneka, Melanie and I took the path that led straight to the Fløya viewpoint. The viewpoint is not at the absolute top of Fløya but further along the spine.
Anthony and Paul opted to go the other way and climb to the true summit of Fløya.
Some scrabbling and climbing is necessary to reach the true summit, which was a good reason for me to skip this part of the hike. The scenery from the viewpoint is magnificent,
especially since we had a clear day. On the way down, we split up again. Anthony and Paul proceeded to the top of Blåtinden, which looked like a steep climb - but they reported that it wasn't bad at all. From Blåtinden, they went
over and down the other side and did the short jaunt up to Tuva, completing the Three Peaks hike. Anneka and Leslie took an alternate route down, descending on the slopes of Blåtinden without climbing to its summit. They said that
trail was a sodden sloppy mess. Melanie and I took the stone stairs down to the Fløya parking lot and kept totally dry.
