Day 12 *17.07.2023

After some rain during the night, we woke up to sunshine and a fantastic view of the glacier and the glacier lake.

After a cozy breakfast on one of the benches in the parking lot with a view of the glacier, we headed to the boat dock. There, a boat was supposed to take us across the glacier lake where a hiking trail leads to the glacier. When we arrived at the dock, we realized that the boat was a speedboat with room for 12 passengers... Well, we put on our life jackets, including Ella 😉, and off we went. We had so much fun... The ride only lasted 5 minutes.

Back on land, we followed the signpost for Svartisen 5.6km... We walked through a forest and past a small picturesque lake in the sunshine along the hiking trail. Then suddenly, the trail ended and we continued on the stones that were round and smooth from the glacier (in the past). And then it started raining out of nowhere, quite heavily. We quickly realized how slippery the stones became when they were wet. We found some shelter under a larger stone to protect ourselves from the wind...

15 minutes later, the rain stopped and we continued walking, or rather climbing... Suddenly, we saw the glacier again, close but still 800m away... A signpost showed another 0.9 km, further over rocks, etc. But since we were keeping an eye on the weather through an app and it was about to rain again, we decided to turn around at that point... It was a shame, but safety comes first...

And it was a good decision... On the way back on our hike, it started pouring again. Then fog set in and it got cold. So, the decision was the right one...

Back at the car, we drove a few kilometers (333) to Storforshei to a great campsite by the river (Campingplass Mo i Rana: Storli Camping). We arrived there at 8:45 PM and we took advantage of the offer to eat and drink in the 'Sami Hut'. It wasn't cheap, we paid 93€ for 3 servings of reindeer stir-fry with salad and bread, 2 drinks (water & homemade cranberry juice), and 2 desserts (ice cake with warm cloudberries).

Then we quickly set up the tent, this time with the awning, and did some laundry, took showers, and had some entertainment before going to sleep...