Today I conquered a mountain!

Today I conquered a mountain! I haven't been super great at updating the blog so this will be a longer post. I arrived in Norway yesterday and I had a difficult time finding my hostel. I had to take a bus from the airport to the city center, and then I had to take a different bus to the hostel. I decided to stay at a hostel outside the city, rather than in the city in order to be closer to spots to go hiking. One of the reasons I wanted to travel in Norway is to go hiking. So I booked a hostel in Bergen at the base of Mount Ulriken. However on the way to the hostel I got off at the wrong bus stop. I asked the driver if it was the right stop, but he may not have understood me and said yes. So I began walking around for a bit. I walked through a long tunnel full of graffiti and honestly it was pretty cool.

However once I exited the tunnel it was obvious I got off at the wrong stop. So I called the hostel and they told me I could either wait for the next bus, or walk up a hill to hostel. I chose to hike. So with my pack I began hiking up around a hospital, past a cable car station, and up a steep incline to my hostel. With my 30 pound pack I immediately regretted the decision. However as I walked up I was able to view Bergen in the distance and it was quite beautiful.

However it was raining, so it seeing the hostel at the top of the hill was a welcome sight. Once I got there and got to my room I met my roommates. Matt from the UK and Josh from Germany. I was the third person in our 4 bed dorm. We began to talk and after a while Tim from Australia showed up. Together we spent the rest of the day together and during dinner met and talked to many other people. Josh left this morning, so Matt, Tim, and I planned to hike up Mt. Ulriken to where the cable car station is. We invited another Aussie we met, Jack, to tag along as well. However the following morning Jack was a bit hungover so we left without him, with the promise that he'd meet up with us somewhere on the hike. We began our hike after breakfast and in a break in the rain. The weather here in Bergen is very spotty with rain happening frequently.  You can never tell when it will rain or not since the sky is just gray. We decided to head out during a pause in the rain and headed to the trail head which is a block away from the hostel.

The path up was mostly a stone path with stone steps.

As we hiked up we kept looking back at Bergen and seeing the larger area expand around us.

Tim, Me and Matt near the cloud line

However once we entered the cloud line the trail became more difficult to follow. We actually got lost at once point, but Matt had a map and we were able to find the trail again. However I began to regret not bringing my hiking boots as we continued up and were confronted with a muddy alpine bog that we thought was the trail.

This is what we thought the trail was....however the real trail was to the left...

 So my shoes got muddy and wet, and I said screw it and pushed forward.  Most of the hike past that point was foggy it was hard to see anything. But the times when the fog blew away they would reveal breathtaking landscapes.

As we neared the cable car station, we found a trail that was suppose to lead to the summit. It was only 300 m so we decided to go for it. As we walked down the trail Jack caught up with us, and the 4 of us began hiking to the summit. We found a downed sign at a fork in the road and had no idea what way to go, Matt and I went one way, and the Aussies went the other. Matt and I went the wrong way. So knowing where the summit should be, he looked at me and said "let's just cut across." So with my shoes already muddy and soaked I said "sure okay." We then hiked straight toward where we thought the summit was.

After treking for a bit, we found Jack and Tim who showed us where the summit was. So we hiked up just to say we have been there, assuming that we'd take a photo with a gray background.

Called it.

However once we got near the top the winds picked up we were able to take a peak at Bergen!!

It got super windy and we were tossed around, but we continued on and made it to the cable car station! However the clouds still covered most of the city so the view wasn't too spectacular. To help support Strong Against Cancer, and to kickoff Childhood Cancer Awareness month, I gathered the guys together to take a picture, making Strong Against Cancer global! 

#strongagainstcancer

We finished the hike there and took the cable car down to view the city and because we were tired. We cleaned up at the hostel and headed to the city, but that is a story for another time. This post is already long enough, and it's 11pm here. 

New Edition to the Blog: Step count!

Total Trip Step Count: 89,698 

I brought my fitbit for me to track my steps and use as a watch but I have been forgetting to include my step counts in the blog.