Preikestolen

Preikestolen – How to avoid being a tourist.

When the other group was on the Fjord-to-Sea-trip we had one week off, were we decided to take advantage of the great weather and planned a trip to enjoy and explore the Preikestolen and the area around. We were a group of six people, who didn’t travel together before.

 

Day 1 – Preikestolen, a little disappointed at first

 In the morning we drove the 4 hours to the Preikestolen parking spot and hiked for 1.5 hours to the infamous piece of rock. Preikestolen is one of the most famous and most visited nature attractions in southern Norway and therefore I expected a lot. Especially pictures from others, who went there, kept my hopes very high and I was a little disappointed when I saw the rock. The sky was covered with clouds and the amazing view we expected, was not that amazing. Nevertheless, I was completely stoked by the view you have looking down the Preikestolen. Crawling very slowly to the edge you look down a 600m long vertical wall, that stops right before the Lysefjord. A little shaky, I moved quickly back from the edge to a safer area. After taken the necessary pictures we were searching for a camping spot not too far from Preikestolen, and found a very nice spot. We set up the tents, made dinner and went to sleep after setting an alarm to see the sunrise.

Day 2 – Sunrise and Preikestolen without tourists

sunrise over Lysefjord

The day started early, but getting up that early was totally worth it, as we had an amazing sunrise over the Lysefjord and a beautiful view from Preikestolen with no one else bothering us.

After another nap and a decent breakfast, we went on along the Lysefjord, looking for another spot for the next night. After one of our group fell into a river and was soaking wet we decided to not go any further and camp on the way back. There we found a beautiful camping spot at a small creek. At first, we were a little concerned about the loud current next to our tent, but in the end, it didn’t bother us at all. We finished the day at a nice bonfire.

 

Day 3 – Stavanger and ice cream

 

On the next day we went back to the parking spot and drove to Stavanger. Strolling around the city we went for ice cream and snacks and planned the next steps of our trip. Afterwards we did some basic sightseeing and headed for the beautiful beaches just south of Stavanger. Arriving there we went for a quick dip in the water, as it was still quite cold and set up our sleeping spots. With a big chance of rain in the night, we decided to take the risk of sleeping without a tent and we got lucky as it turned out to be a dry night.

beautiful sunset at the beach

 

Day 4 – Heading home along the coast.

 Having only 3 more hours to go we stopped often at nice spots to enjoy the amazing coastline of southern Norway. In Helleren the other group decided to extend their trip for one more night as they want to hike to the Brufjellet the next day. So we split up and we headed home, arriving in Kristiansand in the evening.

 

fancy dinner á la Nicola Kretzer