On this trip our group consisted of Hannah, kathrin and myself, Mel also joined us on the second day. We decided to stay local as we had limited time available therefore having a long journey would cut short the amount of time that would be useable to us. Also due to lack of snow in Kristiansand we could not fulfil the learning aim of improving ski technique. However we did have the opportunity to practice our navigation and increase the distance covered and the amount of weight we were carrying.

Friday 3^rd March.

We planned a route of approximately 15km around the nearby forest Jegersberg, we planned to go further into the forest where we had not yet been. The route was mainly along noticeable tracks and we mainly used compass bearings to check we were on the right course as well as using features along the way such as ‘crossroads’ in the paths, powerlines or rock and contour features. Alongside practicing our navigation we observed some differences between the types of forest we were now in to the type we have frequented with the Norwegians on our Monday day trips.

The area of forest we hiked in had a greater amount of flat and more open land; it was a lot marshier with the occasional reed bed at the side of the lakes which we hadn’t noticed before around the Jegersberg lake. It also was made up of different types of trees. There were much taller and had lost their leaves for the winter whereas around Jegersberg the trees tend to be evergreens and have needles which are not always lost during winter. Also on the ground I noticed that in Jegersberg there is a large amount of exposed rock even though this was true in this new area of forest it was in the form of cliffs that formed ‘valleys’ which the paths often ran though. Similarly in both areas the dirt on the ground is only a very thin layer meaning there is only a small amount of nutrients available for so many trees. To combat this I believe that as the tree grows taller and grows new branches the older ones lower down the tree die off and are shed resulting in trees that are bare nearer the bottom of the trunk. Also the thin layer of dirt means there is little for the tree roots to ‘hold onto’ because of this we saw numerous fallen trees across the paths and hanging off the rock faces. Maybe because of the higher number of rotting trees we saw some new funguses that we had not seen before.

One fungus was what we believe to be Orange Peel Fungus. This fungus is common and found in Britain, Europe, Scandinavia and also North America (First Nature, 2017). It comes in the varying shades of orange and its underside is always lighter. It begins as a cup shape but as it grows it develops folds and becomes a more wavy shape. It is a stalk less fungus and often grows in clusters on dead wood or disturbed ground (Encyclopedia of Life, 2017). This fungus is edible but said to be tasteless, it can also resemble similar fungi which are poisonous so it is not recommended to try it unless you are certain what it is!

(Mushroom Observer, 2011)

We also saw a large array of mosses and lichens mainly the ones we had seen before such as Star moss, Sphagnum moss, and Reindeer moss however we did see some that I hadn’t seen before in Norway. One of these was Pixie Cup Lichen. This lichen is a light grey/green colour and is shaped like small gold tees or ‘pixie cups’. It grows in damp and dark conditions and is therefore often found growing alongside moss (Wild flower finder, 2009). The cup and its stem is rough with ‘scales’ growing off the side, the base of the lichen is a mass of these scales.

Another type of moss we found I have not been able to accurately identify but could be a type of Hair moss.

Alongside these plants we also found evidence of beaver activity, when going through a particularly boggy section of ground we noticed that a large amount of trees in the area had fallen and we also were able to see teeth marks in the wood, along with wood shavings at the bottom of the tree. This lead us to believe that maybe there was a dam nearby.

Saturday 4^th March

Today we took a shorter hike of about 10km in the Baneheia forest. This forest is much closer to the city centre, we found that the paths here were much more distinct and maintained compared to Jegersberg and maybe this is due to it being within the city. Today’s hike was much more leisurely and the beginning did not involve much navigation as we did not have the correct part of the map with us.

As we had a small group of three people on the first day I felt the dynamics within the group were good, both social and task oriented. It was easy to make decisions compared to having a larger number of people. I don’t feel one person in particular took the role of leader, I feel we all had equal chances at making decisions and worked well as a team. Even with the addition of just one person to make it four I felt a change in the dynamics from the day before, there was more discussion over decisions or tasks and it was easy for the group to split into 2 pairs when walking rather than staying together and all talking together.