There are four trips that the Frisport class takes, each lasting a week long. The first was the river kayaking trip, the second is an ocean kayaking trip, the third a trip in the mountains during the winter, and lastly a trip to Slovania in the spring. We have just finished the second trip and it was great.
The journey began on 9/19/2011, last Monday of this week. (We did however have a meeting the previous day explaining what we were to expect, what to bring, etc.) The day started just like any other, with me slamming the snooze on the alarm clock. But, instead of laying in bed those few extra minutes I could usually spare I had to get up to double check that I had everything packed. So, I rolled out of bed, got into some clothes, and checked my bags. Instead of packing everything into my hiking backpack I threw everything into heavy duty trash bags, organized of course ;) This was because everything that we would be bringing with us would be staying in the ocean kayaks. For those who dont know what those look like just take a a look at the pictures. Even if you do know what ocean kayaks are though you should still take a look at the pictures not because there super cool or anything.. but because even though they look huge, there isn't as much space as you would think inside. Well, actually there is quiet a bit of space but when your packing for a week there isn't. A whole week doesn't sound that long, I mean I went on a week trip in 7th grade no problem. This time was a bit different though. Now we're adults and there is no babying or toned down anything, you get what you have and suck it up. That sounded a bit harsh but its the truth.
So what do you pack for a week trip? Well I packed the usual, a spare pare of every clothing, especially underwear. Thats the most important trust me, theres nothing like being stuck in wet underwear. I mean that filled up 90% of my dry-bag (a bag thats water tight). The only other thing in there was my wallet and phone. Back to what I packed though. I packed a sweatshirt, Norwegian sweater, rain jacket, rain pants, Hot Chilly's (skin tight shirt and pants that keep you really warm/hot and dry fast), meal kit (plate, bowl, knife, fork, spoon, and cup), toothbrush and toothpaste.. well you get the idea. The list isn't that much bigger but Im sure you dont want to read a list of things that I brought. However there is one thing that I must point out that was very useful. A knife that I got as a gift from my Bestefar (grandfather in Norway). I kept it in my jacket the entire time so it was always on me and I used it all the time. I was actually surprised how much I used it. So thanks very much to my Bestefar for the knife!
All this was put into those heavy duty plastic trash bags and then thrown into the bus. Once again me and my friend Audun took the bus with all the equipment while everyone else road in other bus. Now I dont know if I said it before in a previous post but the bus that carries all the people, struggles a bit. I mean its carrying 9 people and it is a bit on the older side. Not even two minutes from the school Arill, the teacher, pulled into a parking lot and hooked up a trailer with all eleven ocean kayaks on it. Poor, poor bus. Me and Audun followed them to where we would start our trip and man oh man did that clutch smell. The view however, made up for every bit of that awful smell. I actually didnt even notice the smell after a while because I was so glued to the window looking at the scenery. We drove approximately 30 minutes north-west through some truly amazing valleys. I was looking up almost he entire time and of course I took pictures but they cant even begin to show the truth that I saw. And all this was before we even started kayaking, I mean this was on the way to the trip.
Now we've been river kayaking for a few weeks now, but ocean kayaking is another story. You may be thinking "they're both kayaks whats the big difference?". Well for one thing the kayak turns the other way when you lean. Actually I dont think I covered this before but if you lean to the right (raise your left knee, tilting the kayak to the right) then you turn right, in a river kayak. In a ocean kayak if you do the same exact thing you go left. So thats just one of the major differences. Arill wasnt about to send us out on a week trip all geared up with no experience though. We spent an hour or two in our wet-suits practicing flipping over, emptying the kayak of water while in the water, getting back in the kayak by ourselves, getting back into the kayak with a buddy, and of course turning. This was very, very, very good because all of us were very tipsy just sitting in them not to mention some people flipping over. But, after practicing for a while we were all set. Well, we were almost all set. There was a bridge going over a wide river that was just calling to be jumped off of. So before we took the wet-suits off some of us jumped off the bridge. Dont worry mom it was only five meters high ;) Thats all part of the Frisport mentality though, and I couldnt just jump off a five meter high bridge normally, no I did a back-flip. And after two flips I took off my wet-suit and started packing. Ahh, packing. That was a pain. I had just enough room for everything except.. my sleeping bag. It was just big enough to not fit at all. Luckily it is in a water tight bag so I just stuck it on top (thats what you will see in the pictures). Some of the other people had a lot more stuff than I had though so I was very thankful that I inherited my mom's packing skills. What took me all of 15 minutes took some people a hour. So while the others where packing I took advantage of the time to go to the gas station and buy myself some goodies for the trip and that was so worth it, rite after packing underwear in a water tight bag.
Nærøyfjorden
This was the fjord that we would be kayaking.
Follow our trip in Google Maps here http://g.co/maps/3q8xb with short descriptions for each location.
Day One
We would be starting in Gudvangen, the south-east corner of the fjord. Now we were on our way. All the kayaks had been packed and everyone started paddling. We paddled for about 2 hours before we came to our first stop. The view on the was amazing but it would only get better. We stopped on the west side of the fjord across from a small town "Tutto". It was sunny until we got to the shore and then it rained. We put up our tents and started dinner. There wasnt much to do because we would be staying here until the next day. It was already around five when we landed and by the time everything was set up it started to get dark. Here is where all of us made a mistake. Cooking in the dark. Now nothing bad happened but it really does suck cooking in the dark, especially when its raining. That is one mistake I never made again. And that concludes day one.
Day Two
Its 8:00 in the morning and I get a call from outside my tent "time to wake up". I slept on a hill that night, woke up with a bad back pain. Not such a good way to start the day and on top of that.. it was raining. Great motivation to get out of a warm, dry sleeping bag. But, I did and it was miserable not going to lie. I was prepared for this though. I knew that there were going to be times like this and here I was stuck smack in the middle of one. Breakfast was easy, just a sandwich with some jelly and another with mackerel (fish). We were supposed to be ready by 9:00 but, that didnt happen. Paddling really takes it out of you. We probably left an hour late, no big deal. The plan for today was to hike up to the top of a mountain on the other side of the fjord. So, we all got into our kayaks and paddled over to the other side. We pulled up our kayaks and started hiking. It was a long, steep hike. The whole trip up was probably 3 hours and we had to stop half way because when we reached a valley 900 meters (2700 ft.) up it was so rainy and windy that the majority voted to go back. So, half way up the mountain we had to turn around and head back. That was a bit depressing but I am also a little happy that we did because by the time I was at the bottom of the mountain I could barely stand. Now Ive been hiking in the US and nothing has compared to this. Some of the path was only a foot wide and then 100 meters (300 ft.) down or more. That definitely made the trip that more interesting and fun! When we got the the bottom we got back into our kayaks and paddled back to camp. We stayed there that night. And that concludes day two.
Day Three
Day three was a long day. I woke up with the same back pain and having almost no sleep. I got up at the same time and to be ready to leave camp by 10:00. So I eat some breakfast and packed my things. My kayak was already packed quiet a bit because all I had taken out of it was some food. We were given partners from the beginning to split the tent and food with. I took the food and my partner, Ana, took the tent. Everyone else had taken more out then me so I was one of the first set to go. After everything was picked up and packed away into the kayaks we started to paddle. We got about an hour out when we stopped and grouped up. As a group we made a decision to move Thursdays plan to Wednesday because the weather was getting worse and that hike is better than the one we had planned for Wednesday's. So, we kayaked a few extra hours to the third hike we had planned. We pulled up out kayaks and started the climb. This was the steepest climb I have ever made. A footpath with a constant edge that went straight down at least 3 meters (9 ft.) and sometimes reached up to 200 meters (600 ft.). After about a half and hour we got to a flat area where there was very nice property. It was an open area with a few swings, a house on the edge of the cliff, a hot-tube, and a great view. We were at about 300 meters (900 ft.) now. Standing on the edge of that cliff was an amazing feeling. I probably stood there for a solid 5 minutes. And after taking a little break we were off again. We continued our hike upwards to the 800meter (2400 ft.) mark. There was no time for fooling around though because it was already 6:00 and we still had a hour of hiking to do. By the time we got to the top it was 7:00 so we only had approximately a hour to get down. That being said we did stay at the top for a bit just to take it all in. That was truly the best view I have ever seen. Standing 800meters (2400 ft.) on the edge of a mountain looking out at the fjord. We took some pictures and headed back down which was a lot easier than going up even with it being so steep. Everyone got down before dark and then it was a race to get the kayaks back in the water and paddle them half a hour to the next camp before it got dark. We all made it no problem but some of the groups ended up putting up their tents in the dark again. There was no way I was putting mine up in the dark though so I hustled and finished pretty quickly. What made it a little harder however, is that after me and Audun pulled up our kayaks (we were the first two out of the water) they decided to move about 300 meters (900 ft.) down from where we had pulled up. And instead of putting the boats back in the water and pulling them back up, me and Audun pulled our kayaks across the field to where we would lay our tents. It really wasnt that hard and probably for the better because all my things we in my kayak which was now rite next to where my tent would be. After some food and some laughs I went to bed and man oh man did I sleep well that night. Flat ground =)
Day Four
Now I know I said that I went on a week trip with Frisport but in reality it was only four days. It was supposed to be five days but we cut one because of the weather. So that makes this the last day. We woke up and made some breakfast. I had put some bread and spreads in the tent so we got to eat inside the tent that morning which was great because it was raining. After we finished up breakfast we took down camp and started on our trip again. The kayaks were all packed and before we headed for the end of our trip there was one more stop we were going to make. We stopped after about a half hour of kayaking in a small town Undredal. Here we stopped in a local store and bought some locally made meets and cheese. It was grea to get to try. Most of the people in Frisport didnt like the taste so much but I liked it quiet a bit. And after our little pit stop in Undredal we were on our way back to the end of our trip. We kayaked for what seemed like forever and then just as we could see the finish it started. The wind picked up and the rain started to come down harder. We had 3km (1.86 miles) left to go. There was a bit of a headwind now so the paddling became harder. After 2km (1.24 miles) we took a break on a piece of the fjord that protected us from the wind. That was a great break to take even if it was only a short one. Getting out of the kayak felt so good after sitting in it for hours. Sooner than later we were back in them again and on the home stretch 1km (.62 miles). I wasnt around the corner yet but I could see white caps. I had one of those gut feelings this was going to get pretty bad, I had no idea. As I came around the corner there was a crazy headwind and the rain started to pour down. You had to paddle almost full speed to get anywhere. There were waves crashing over the top of my kayak, sometimes almost submerging me. The rain felt like pellets of ice falling from the sky and it would only get worse. It seemed that the close I got the harder it got. I could see a checkpoint though, a small protected area that came out from the fjord, just enough to take a small rest. There was no where to get out so I would have to stay in my kayak but that was fine it would still be a break. I could feel the adrenaline kick in because I could paddle harder and harder without getting tired and before I knew it I was paddling full speed. I reached the checkpoint and looked back. I had gone twice as far as everyone else, so I took advantage of the break and rested. When everyone caught up I started again except this time When I went around the corner the wind started to die down and the rain became lighter. And instead of it getting harder and harder it got lighter and lighter until I reached shore and the sun started to shine through and there was hardly and wind. I was done. I pulled my kayak up on land and dragged it all the way to the bus. (Because we had driven two busses the first day, we left one at the beginning and one at the end so we could drive home.) Thats where the trip ends!
Take a look at the trip on Google Maps and see the pictures!
Awesome! Loved all the pictures!
ReplyDeleteThanks mum! Glad you lied them!
ReplyDeletePeter this was fantastic. Great Trip Papa
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