Colorful Lakstinden

The weather has been so good this week that Jesse planned an evening hike on Lakstinden near Sommarøya. Lakstinden is a relatively short hike, only 5 km (3.1 miles) round trip and 455 m (1492 ft) tall. The trail head for this hike started from a parking lot near Sandvikpollen, but we had to walk a bit further down the road until the trail started up the hill. We crossed a pasture fence then the trail cut back in the other direction. This section of the trail was very wet and marshy, but we were able to hop between grass mounds for the most part. We climbed a small hill and hiked along the rocks to a small stream with a bridge. After the stream crossing the hike became much rockier as it climbed along the ridge. The trail along the ridge was fleeting, but for the most part the cairns we followed were on the right side of the ridge, but then cut to the left going up through a notch in the rock. After the notch, some hikers today went to the right side to a cairn at the top of hill there, but the true summit is further along the trail, which wraps around to the left past a small alpine lake just before the top.

Today we didn’t take any pictures on the way up, since we hurried along to have enough time to cook dinner at the top. We brought a grill and made salmon, vegetables and garlic bread – our standard these days. But this evening I was wearing all my layers to keep the flies and mosquitos away. We stayed at the top until the sun was getting low. On the way down we took lots of photos of Sommarøy and the sunset over the ocean. It was a short but beautiful hike. But then again, every hike around Sommarøya seems to be wonderful!