Snowshoeing in Hallingskeid

Carey, Pancho and I took the train from Bergen to Hallingskeid on Saturday after a lot of stress with booking our train tickets. Once we got that part sorted out at the station, we went to the sporting goods store and each bought a pair of snowshoes. The train trip was about 2 hours and 20 minutes, and on Saturday the car that is meant for dogs was fairly empty, and very empty after Voss. We had the whole car to ourselves.

I knew Pancho would collect a lot of snowballs in his fur, so I put him in a spandex suit. Even though he looked so ridiculous, it was a really good idea because he could then be dry and warmer when we got to the cabin. The cabin is run by DNT (the Norwegian hiking association - Den Norske Turistforening), and was unlocked. There were 30 beds, 16 of which could be booked in advance. We took the chance of not booking in advance to save some money. The facilities were very nice, including a kitchen, room with dry food for purchase, drying room, lounge and a woodshed attached to the building with two dog cages and dog bowls.

We dropped our stuff off in one of the rooms, grabbed our snowshoes and headed out for our first test hike with the new gear. We struggled a little with keeping the heel strap in place, but we walked for about an hour and a half and Pancho could run off leash. He was in heaven! We got back when it got dark and tested out having Pancho in the woodshed with his food and water while we made dinner - soup, spekemat, baguette and red wine.

Pancho sleeping on the train on the way to Hallingskeid, ready for snow!

Pancho and Carey on our first hike.

The next morning we woke up and didn't head out for our hike until around 11. We thought we would try another route that was uphill. We got up to the top of the mountain and the wind seemed manageable. We aren't sure how far we walked before we found a rock to sit behind and have a snack, but as soon as we stood up we noticed the wind had really picked up. We considered walking a little further, but as the wind wasn't easing up we thought it was smart to turn around. We made sure to take a lot of dramatic footage with the GoPro and had fun making a little video.

The train back on Sunday was at 4:30PM and we were nervous about the seating situation because the people working at the train station said we didn't have reserved seats. We were instructed to just hop on and ask the conductor for assistance. Luckily we made it on the train which was packed with lots of other dogs, but Pancho was very well behaved. It was definitely a fun little getaway from the rain in Bergen!