As part of our stay in Stavanger, we took a day trip to hike the Preikestolen – an immense tongue of rock sticking out over a fjord half a mile below. It’s a robust hike with amazing views along the way, and we signed up for a guide to take up in a small group that included a woman from Hong Kong and a mother with her adult daughter, originally from Australia, the daughter now living in London.
Poppin’ around? Look at Scandinavia | Stockholm | Oslo | Bergen | Stavanger | Preikestolen .
The Preikestolen, or “Pulpit Rock” as it’s translated, is a natural feature that became a bit of a tourist attraction. It’s remote enough that it didn’t feel overrun, but a modest enough hike that a casual hiker can do the trip. I would say, equipment matters; we saw a few people in foorwear that was a bit too casual, but there they were, still hiking the trail.
We met very early in the morning, picked up by our guide – Stephan, a former German military emergency responder who retired to Norway to be closer to some of the outdoor activities he enjoyed. The woman from Hong Kong was an avid outdoors person as well, though her husband had passed away recently and this was her first big trip without him; we ran into her later at our hotel, with her decidedly non-outdoorsy brother. The Australians were delightful company, the mother being perhaps my age or just a little older, the daughter being about Izz’s age or a little older.
We set out on what I took to be the “back trail” or a sneak route that guides preferred, and we would take the more common route on the return.
The first part of the hike was described as the hardest: a steep ascent up a rough trail. Stephan loaned Izz a hiking pole that she used the remainder of the day, which helped a lot. Once we got up this trail, the hike was mostly a gradual ascent snaking along the sides of various mountains leading to the Rock.
We took breaks along the way. There were excellent views before we even got to the Rock.
Stephan pointed out “Devils Bite”, the colloquial name for a subalpine flower long regarded for its medicinal properties. It’s so named because supposedly, the Devil was so frustrated by the flower’s ability to heal that he took a bite out of it.
We took breaks along the way. Altogether the hike was a couple of hours each direction, a little longer on the way up, a little shorter on the way down. We had a bit of lunch after we arrived at the Rock.
Eventually, we got to the top of our approach, and took in what Stephan had promised as an advantage: a series of views from above the Preikestolen.
In the above picture, you can see some tourists milling around on the Preikestolen below.
We got in some of our own tourism pictures. Izz had brought along a family heirloom her grandmother gave her before we departed New York.
Then we hiked down a different way than we’d come up. This patch in particular was a bit treacherous, but afterwards, it was all pretty smooth.
At the trail head, we had cappuccino and hot chocolate, and exchanged photos from our phones. After some rest, we piled into the van and returned to Stavanger, then went our separate ways.
