Yall!! First of all….book your trip to Norway now. It is amazing! I only had time to spend a long weekend there, but that was more than enough time to want to return over and over. I flew into Stavanger and stayed with some friends. It is such a cute city right on the water and surrounded by mountains (hello, perfect place for Susan).
There are so many things to do, but my friend suggested we hike to Kjeragbolten (don’t ask me how to pronounce this…just call up any friend from Norway and they should be able to tell you). I obviously had never heard of this place, but after a quick google image search, I was in.
The trail head was about 2 hours away, so we woke up early one morning with snacks in tow, and were off. I went to Norway because I happened to be working in London for the summer, so I didn’t exactly have hiking equipment with me. Picture an Eastern NC girl in the snow. None of my clothes matched, I was wearing running shoes, and had a light rain jacket since rain was on the forecast for that day….obviously.
Right before we started, there was an employee in the parking lot who asked where I was from. He knew NC from working at the Outer Banks every year (yes—he’s one of my people). I joking asked if I was gonna make it to the top….”it’s just like Jockey’s Ridge, right?” He literally laughed in my face.
Another important fact about this girl is that deep in my core…I think hikes should be on flat land (Eastern NC and living in the desert strikes again). Yall…Norway doesn’t play on their hikes. The trail to the Kodak moment was literally over multiple mountain peaks. At some points there were ropes and chains to help you climb up the mountain. I put on a brave face because I was with friends who didn’t know my core beliefs about hiking, but it was pretty rough.
After about an hour and a half, the trail finally opened up and I began to see people jump on and off this rock for their picture. Before this moment, I hadn’t fully committed to standing on this thing. It is in fact a rock suspended between two mountains and nothing underneath it. I’m a big talker, but honestly, I was pretty nervous. One of the friends I was with wasn’t planning on doing it again since he had done it previously, and the other friend knew she wasn’t doing it from the start. Adrenaline started pumping when I saw that rock though….and it hid all my previous nerves. I looked at my friends and said, “I’m doing it.”
You have to walk around to the back of one of the peaks to get to the suspended rock. That was the first time I got really scared. I finally saw the drop off…and it was huge. Google says that the rock is 3600ft about ground. Yall, that’s high…that’s make a wrong step and it’s gonna be bad high. I did it though…not very gracefully but I did it. I kinda crawled out to the rock, stood up really slowly, got my pictures, and then crawled back to safety.
Immediately after I thought to myself, that was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done…but it was awesome. I knew it was worth it. My sense of adventure had been satisfied that day for sure. I’ll never forget the feeling when I got a clear view of the edge for the first time. My heart shot up to my throat and I immediately had respect for that piece of nature. It was beautiful and terrifying at the same time. There are plenty of things to do in Norway that don’t involve standing on a suspended rock…but you know you want to do it too.
Wander Susan Wonder 