Day 2
We awoke early, packed up, and headed downstairs to breakfast at the Oppdal Turisthotell. They had a nice spread with hard boiled eggs, a selection of sliced meats and cheeses, and loads of accompaniments. Even a few funny random foods like vegetable soup and chicken wings, and plenty of preserved fish products, which I didn’t sample. We ate as much as we could, to fuel up and get ready for our Musk Ox Safari.
We also went down to the Coop grocery store in town which opened at 9am to buy lunch items, and I wish I could report back on what was there other than this giant pile of carrots, but we shopped as fast as possible (8 minutes from start to finish in a foreign grocery store?!? Never happened before. Eric says: the amount of time Kim can spend in a grocery store is basically unlimited).
We met the Oppdal Musk Ox Safari guide, Sigbjørn Frengen (aka Sig), and his German Wire-haired Pointer, Tell, at the train station. We had arranged in advance, via email, to get a ride with the guide to and from the Oppdal station. Fortunately/unfortunately our hike ran long and we had a train to catch, so Sig kindly arranged for a couple heading in the opposite direction of Oppdal to take us and our luggage to the Dömbas station after the hike. It worked out well! Sig arrived in this excellent Volvo, which was super-fun for us to have a lift to the trailhead in, and had room in the trunk for our luggage, and an adorable dog to share the back seat with Eric!
The musk ox hike was great! It was mostly flat, by Norwegian standards, and hiking across alpine tundra is interesting. The small details are what fill in the experience of walking a large number of miles across what might be termed unattractive landscapes. While both the musk ox and reindeer are living in the area, we only saw the musk ox. Frequently, there would be groups of five or so musk ox, but they were so far away, they looked just like little specks in the binoculars; musk rocks they were called.
Luckily, we had the chance at the end of the hike in (4.5 miles) to dash ahead with a smaller contingent and see a solo male musk ox eating willows in a nearby riverbed. While the resulting photographs are basically crap because we couldn’t get too close, you get the idea. And honestly, as much fun as good photographs are, being there in the moment and having a chance to see this majestic animal was totally worth the hike and the money.
Sig was a great guide and he shared with us about not only the musk ox, but also about the flora and fauna of the Dovrefjell–Sunndalsfjella National Park. We learned about edible plants, reindeer and their food sources (lichen! the light green stuff in the photograph below), and many more tidbits as we hiked.
Our group was made up of a variety of people, and a variety of hiking abilities. My only reservation about the safari was that the explanation of the length, difficulty level, and so on wasn’t well covered on the website or email communications I had with the company. I think that the truth might scare some customers away, but maybe it’s for the best. Some of the folks on our trip were struggling to keep up, and couldn’t make the last push to see the musk ox, which was somewhat sad. Sig, however, did an excellent job making sure everyone was accounted for and at no point did he seem frustrated at the speed of the group. I was impressed because there was a large swing in ability levels.
After seeing the musk ox, we hiked the five miles back to the parking area. Most folks had driven themselves, and our ride back to Dömbas was in a new VW Eurovan called The Californian with Gizelle and Andreas. We had a nice time chatting with them and their camper van was rad! They dropped us near the station, and we grabbed some snacks and headed up to catch the late Raumabanen to Åndalsnes, our overnight stop.