Huldra Epic Escape
Description
Are you ready for what is probably the country's (Scandinavia's?) longest trail ride from the high mountains to the lowlands?
Do you think 1,100 meters in height difference and that almost 35km of a total of forty-some are on footpaths sound fat?
Huldra was a seductive and mysterious female creature without very many clothes and with beautiful forms who lured young men to the mountains and whom no one saw again, hence the name.
Everything can't just be #Enduro with a pickup truck and a lazy 10 minute run down a wooded hill. If you're an #Enduroist, you should still take the trip as the whole run could easily have been turned into a world-class fat enduro with 2 SS of over 15 min, a slightly shorter one of 10 min, as well as a "sprint" of 5 min. If you have strong Enduro legs, things will be worth the trip.
After a trip with a chair lift, a 15 km gravel climb and an hour of sliding, you are up at 1350 MOH and looking out over the Skaraplatå that divides Hallingdal in two with Ål and Hallingskarvet on one side and Hemsedal, the Skogshorn massif and Golsfjellet on the other.
The path starts a bit rough from the top, but from the top you see a flat about 100 meters further down and to the right of the small pond you get the first downward stretch on a great path that is about 5 km long. When this is done, you are down on the plateau and you can start to stretch a total of 15 km consisting of classic AM cycling with some ups and downs. This section has everything from some of the saddest knotting imaginable, something quite in the middle of the tree, but also longer sections of high-quality cycling.
In short, this part goes something like this: After the first descent at Trettestølane (Ål and Hemsedal municipality meet, hence the name. There they have argued and quarreled for centuries and will certainly continue to do so ;D) you will enter a approx. 2km long marked "trillesti" which belongs to a (gravel) round which Hemsedal tourist office has marked. This one is a pain, deep narrow animal tracks, lots of basketball stones interrupted by wet bog which is rather badly beaten. The bright spot is that it is only 2 km and completed relatively quickly and that the next stretch of trail after a few hundred meters on gravel is super firm and flowy, almost 4 km long. This begins after a small climb up to Breisethovda. After this section, a small gravel section descends to a T-junction where you should turn right up towards Gaurhovd.
There are two paths over the next hill. One starts at the top before a small pond and the other (on the GPS track) up to the left on a small gravel detour after the pond and straight left at the top of a small climb. You come across both, but I think the latter is the best option. The paths on this stretch are traveled by quite a few horses, so this section is not an absolute hill climb anyway.
When you are over Køyrehovda, as it is called, it is a couple of kilometers on gravel. On the GPS track, it breaks to the left on gravel after about 2 km towards Habbesett because my legs were not ready for a (nice) path over Syningen (the hill just after where the track turns left). All you have to do is cycle 100,200 m straight ahead and push up on Syningen and you will be able to walk all the way to Habbesett. Just remember to keep left after the descent from Syningen and you will come out on the dirt road. The GPS track goes on just before Habbesett. The path further from here largely follows parts of "Skaraåsen round" (http://trailguide.no/3) so simply refer to it for further descriptions. I would still like to add that the section from here down to the gravel before the descent towards Gol is of a particularly high class when it comes to flow. Due to the provisions on landowner conflicts etc. on this page, I have chosen to censor the last 600 HM down to Gol and the official continuation from here will be the gravel down to where the path in here called "Riksveg 7" starts and continue on this absolutely high road down to the valley floor. Fine that au.
PS: Soft ice cream and or beer at Skysskroa in Gol is mandatory after a trip like this.
The trip is best enjoyed in July, August, but can perhaps be cycled in June if the snow did not fall so thick the winter before. September can also be a great month in the mountains, but as you know, it can quickly turn out not to be either.
Disclaimer: On such long trips it is difficult to get completely clean GPS tracks without detours, toll trips and shortcuts (refer to the gravel over to Habbesett instead of the path over Syningen and other small detours), but I expect it to be fine.
Access
Take the 8 seater in Hemsedal to the top, follow the green track down to Skigaarden and hook up on the gravel road towards Ål. Turn left towards Fagerdalen when the climbs on Fanitullvegen begin to ease. Continue the long climb and a small descent on rough and loose gravel road towards Fagerdalen. The path starts behind the innermost seats on the right.
