Hiking in the Sylan mountains – Rapport fra fjellet

Last week I was “dreng” at Schulzhytta for some days. That is helping Mari who is running the place from july until 25th September. Schulzhytta lies in the middle of Skarvan and Roltdalen national park, and belongs to the Norwegian Trekking Association, DNT/Trondhjems Turistforening. It is the most remote cabin in the mountains of Sylan in Mid-Norway. That is, it takes 5 to 7 hours to walk there from the nearest road.

Since it had been heavy rain and the rivers were flooded I did not go from Herjøen/Bleka i Selbu as usual, but went from Tydal, that is from Skarpdalen were you reach Ramsjøhytta (DNT-cabin) after one hour. Then you pass Ramsjøen and you cross the mountains in Ramskaret. The weather was not too nice, so Fongen (1441 m) and the other mountains could hardly bee seen.

Going up Ramskaret the weather was getting more foggy. Wooried a bit since I had not gone this way before, and as I was all alone except for my dog. But it was ok. I could almost easily follow the red dots that markes every route organized by the Norwegian Trekking Organizaton. So I did not need to use the compass in my backpack.

After Ramskaret the weather was better and the landscape quite easy to walk. There is still 2-3 hours walk left to reach Schulzhytta. But quite a nice walk, more or less down hill and with a few reindeers and a lot of lemmings to see.

The first night at Schulzhytta, ten riders from Dyrhaug came to eat dinner and spend the night. Dyrhaug Ridesenter have organized mountain trail horseback riding in Sylan for more than 30 years, and people from many countries come to experience these mountains spending a week horseback-riding. More pictures of Dyrhaug and others offering horse tourism in these mountains.

It is possible to do a lot of daytrips from Schulzhytta. Me and Mari went to the mountains of Rødhammaren (928 m) and Sprøyten (948 m), northeast of the cabin. It is not so steep a climb, but with nice views towards Meråker and Sweden. And if we had continued, we would have reached some nice, small rivers and lakes for fishing. But that will be next time! Insted we met a few reindeers.

Back at Schulzhytta 16 other riders were due to arrive. This time members of the icelandic horse association of Mid-Norway.

They brought an accordion and a lot of good spirits.

The autumn is a very nice time in the mountains, but I had to leave. Going back I got company. One young man from the Nederlands who were walking alone in Sylan. And midway we met another dutch young man, hiking alone in the mountains.

These mountains are absolutely right if you want to experience nature by yourself. You rarly meet anyone. And the few I met was from Germany, Sweden, England and the Nederlands, apart from some norwegian riders.

Here we pass the cabin Ramsjøhytta, also run by the trekking organization. It is small and you have to cook your own food, but the place is really nice. But we could not stay. It was time to go home.

More pictures from Skarvan and Roltdalen national park here.