We had a hitch hike race to Preikestolen which is a cliff that drops over 1,300 ft into a Fjord. The teams included Katja and I as team one, and Jais and Steven as team two. We all had bus tickets so we took the local bus out as far as our tickets would take us which was Flekkefjord, approximately 3 hours away from Kristiansand. Katja and I won a bet the night before so it was agreed that we would get dropped off at the farthest possible spot and the other two would get dropped off one spot before. This was arranged to avoid having 4 hitch hikers all together.
Unfortunately for us, our tickets took us to the center of town and towns are always hard to get a hitch hike out of, because the traffic is not direct. After about an hour of walking around town and trying to find the right road, we ended up back at the spot where we had dropped off Jais and Steven. We walked a little further up the road and saw the two of them getting into a car! Katja and I couldn’t believe that they got the better end of the stick even after they lost the bet!
Luckily for us, 5mins after we started hitch hiking, a camper van pulled over and said he would take us! Steven and I really wanted a camper van during our dog sledding trip so I was so excited that we got to ride in one. The guy that took us had just bought the van and was bring it home. We were in his van for about 1.5hours which felt like so long because I was really tired, and I fell asleep a little bit. We got dropped off on the side of the highway which was a little scary because the cars were going so fast and because we had to walk through a tunnel. The tunnel was pretty cool, but definitely dangerous. Cars were honking at us which echoed so it was really loud; once we left the tunnel a police car pulled us over and said that we were not allowed to walk on the high way. So we walked about 3 meters away from the highway till we came to a little round about where we got our next hitch hike to the Luvik ferry.
While we were waiting for the ferry, a guy came up to Katja and I to see if he wanted him to take a picture for us. We talked for a little bit and told him we were hitch hiking to Preikestolen. He seemed pretty impressed and went to clean out his car to see if he had space to fit us in. He came running back to tell us he had space for us and he could take us all the way to Preikestolen; needless to say we were quite pleased with our new friend.
We arrived and ran into Luke and his family which was pretty fun. They had their camper van with them so they invited us to coffee in the van which was so sweet. Katja and I waited about 2 hours and then the other team arrived. Once we were all there we started our hike to the top. The hike was pretty steep initially, and it was quite tiring carrying our packs since we had not carried our packs in a while. It was definitely noticeable that this was a tourist attraction with how clear the paths were marked.
We set up camp about 1km away from the top of Prekiestolen, and then we left our packs there and hiked up the rest of the way. The weather was pretty cloudy but still such a great view on the top of the cliff. I was worried that I would be really scared when I went up there but surprisingly enough, I have come to find that I like heights. It was unreal looking off the side of the cliff and just seeing the straight drop! We stayed up there for about 30min before we headed back to camp for dinner time.
That night we thought it would be cool to wake up early and see the sunrise on the top of Prekiestolen. So we set our alarms for 4:30am, with the intentions of waking up. Sadly it was raining at 4:30am so we agreed that we would go out once the rain stopped. The rain didn’t stop till 8am so we got a little extra sleep. After our tents were packed and breakfast was made we hiked to the top again and had some morning coffee that we had made at our camp site. We were the first ones up there that morning so it was fun to have the whole place to ourselves without any tourists.
Coming home was the tricky part of our trip. Steven and Jais went on the road right away to find a hitch hike while Katja and I tried for 1.5hr to find a hitch hike in the parking lot. After waiting so long with no luck we decided to start walking on the road even though it was raining. Within 5min of walking on the road, 3 Norwegian girls picked us up! It was really nice to finally be on the move since we were in the same spot for so long.
The girls dropped us off on the road a little off track from where we wanted, but luckily enough we got picked up within 15min but a German guy who was headed to the ferry. Let’s just say Katja sat in the front seat and I didn’t do much talking that car ride. Once we were on the ferry we had to find another hitch hike. Katja was looking at a van that had a kayak on top and thought that would be a nice hitch hike. I really hate asking people if they have room for people, especially two people with huge packs. Anyways we asked the guy and he said we could go with him!
Hitch hiking has really taught me that you never know what you’re going to get until you ask. The guy with the kayak was so nice and a really good time to talk to as well. He took us to a road that was a direct shot to Kristiansand which was so helpful of him. We waited about 20min on the road before this cute lady pulled over and picked us up. She was all smiles and would giggle about most things Katja and I said throughout the trip. We got a ride all the way to Flekkefjord from her and from there we took the bus to a train station.
We thought our bus car would work for all sorts of transportation but learned after we got on the train that the card was only for buses. We asked to be let off the train when we found out our cards wouldn’t work; but the conductor said that there was no way we could find a way home if he let us off. So he told us “happy birthday” and that we could stay on the train for free.
This trip really made me appreciate people in Norway and their generosity. Every time someone picked us up I was just so thankful and amazed how many nice people there are around us every day. When people are nice to you it really makes you want to return the favor in some way. I know I can’t hitch hike in the states so I am going to have to find another way to pay my experiences forward 🙂