This hike has been completed on 25th of June 2019, based on the indications of Outtt.
What better gift for my 30th birthday than a good day hiking in one of the best park in Norway?
The day was not the best, with light rain and fog, but still this was one of the best hikes planned for our Norwegian trip and, in the end, it was definitely worth doing it.
We parked our car at the Reinsvangen langtidsparkering (150 NOK) and took the free shuttle bus to Gjendesheim. There are two possibilities for this hike. The first is to start from Gjendesheim and arrive in Memurubu, from where one can take the ferry back (last one at 17.55), or doing the opposite way, taking the ferry from Gjendesheim to Memurubu and trek all the way back.
We decided to go for this second option, as advised by many people, since in this way we would have to rush to catch the last boat and, also, we didn’t have to climb the ridge down (VERY DIFFICULT!). I suggest also to book in advance the ferry (160 NOK) from the official website, being this one of the most popular summer hike in Norway.
Once docked at Memurubu, we started immediately to climb up in the mountain, along a steep trail, gaining about 500m in the first 3km. After that, we found ourselves in a small plateau, from which the trail levels up, going a bit up and down till reaching the Bjønbøltjønne Lake.
Continuing we reached the first peak at 1560m, from which we had a first glimpse of the actual Besseggen ridge and of the Bessvatnet Lake. From the peak, we climbed down and we got ready to approach the ridge.
The first part of the ridge is the most difficult to climb, needing often the support of our hand. I would classify it as an easy scrambling. The ridge itself is quite wide, even if there are some portion in which one can feel somehow exposed. Be careful when you hike it!
We stopped almost at the top of the ridge for our lunch break, from where we took also great pictures of the two lakes.
Once passed the ridge, the trail becomes more gentle and the wider. The only problem was that we found ourselves in a cloud and we couldn’t see anything at more than 10 meters. Luckily, the trail is scattered with trail marks, which helped us to not get dispersed.
From this point the trail starts to go down and after about 30 minutes we were out of the cloud and in sight of the Gjendesheim cabin. It took us, anyway, still a while to reach the end, with some part of the last kilometres very steep, with one section having a wire to help you hike down.
Once back at the cabin, we drank a nice hot chocolate, while waiting for the shuttle bus to come to bring back to the parking lot.
Hope you enjoyed our hike report!
Ciao!
Hi this is a great hike we did this over two days leaving the car at the start and walking along the lake shore there is a great camping spot about a kilometre from where the boat stops then the walk along the top.
This is a tough walk when carrying full kit and a long day but in summer it never gets fully dark so no problems
If your going Norway then it has to be on the must do list.
Can you tell me any details about the hike along the lake? How long it is? Elevation gain (if any?) I can’t find any maps or GPX files online for it. Thanks!
Hi Julie, I created a gpx file with komoot for you. You can get it here https://www.komoot.com/tour/82649591?ref=wtd
It looks like an easy walk of 10.6 km with basically no elevation gain.
Cheers!
Mainly level walk a few short climbs but nothing too hard. Not many camping sites but enough if you look. A nice walk back from where the boat drops you off if your not doing the ridge walk. An easy walk of about 3-4 hours you can’t get lost water one side bloody great big cliff the other….