Tue 16/08 – Dovrefjell 1
Today was the last day local buses were running. That’s why, in any case, we would’ve made the transfer to Dovrefjell at the latest today.
At 9 AM, we took bus 201 to Lom, then after a 9-minute wait, the one to Otta. After that, it was the train to Kongsvoll, one of the gateways to Dovrefjell, where we arrived at 12:30 PM.
There’s nothing around, but the little station is so colorful!
We then tackled the Musk Ox trail, a bit skeptical about spotting musk oxen on a trail with quite a few people.
The trail starts with a steep climb. Ugh, our packs are heavy—clearly, we didn’t optimize our supplies well! We followed the trail obediently, then veered off, but nothing—no furry creatures except horses getting photographed, probably as compensation.
We rejoined the path along the river and headed toward Reinheim hut.
We found a great spot above the river, our compensation being the stunning late-day light. But no horned animals, despite exploring the area.
Summary: 10 km – 465 m elevation gain
Wed 17/08 – Dovrefjell 2
The next day, we continued deeper into the park with pretty nice weather.
The Snowhetta (the park’s highest peak) was in sight.
The trails here are easy—what a relief after the rocky terrain of Jotunheimen!
After an hour, still nothing.
Jean Marie suggested climbing to the right, saying, "If I were a bison, I’d hang out over there..." I hesitated to follow but eventually decided to, because that guy has a knack for spotting wildlife.
We left our packs and started climbing. And bingo—he must’ve been a bison in another life because there was our first musk ox, a big lone male making his way up the slope.
We followed him at a safe distance—it was an amazing sight.
The park is full of hills and dips, so when you look up from the bottom of a hill, there can be quite a few hidden dips with musk oxen in them.
From there, it was game on—we saw plenty more, including a female with her young while descending from the big male,
beautiful groups in the distance on the other side of the river, groups on our side—it was a real show!
By mid-afternoon, we hadn’t even reached Reinheim hut because we’d wandered so much. But the wind was picking up, and bad weather was rolling in.
We pitched the tent behind a huge rock to shelter from the wind and took cover from the rain that started pouring down.
Around 6 PM, JM stepped out of the tent, and I saw him come right back, saying, "Come out slowly with your camera." And boom—a musk ox on the path, barely 50 meters away, calmly looking at us as it continued on its way.
Two hours later, another one on the other side of the tent!
Summary: 11 km – 445 m elevation gain and around 30 musk oxen!
Thu 18/08 – Dovrefjell 3
The night was freezing, and in the morning, the weather was gray, gloomy, and cold. By the time we packed up, our fingers were numb. We finally reached Reinheim hut (there were musk oxen in the distance right across from it) and gave up on the original plan to go all the way to Amodalshytta hut.
Instead, we took the path toward Snowheim hut, which at one point branches off toward Snowhetta.
