I should have never wished for a cloud or breeze to break up the intense sunshine on Day 1 of hiking. Because Day 2 was wet virtually from start to finish, and it was just the beginning of the deluge.
Not long after we left the cabin in the morning it started to rain. My hiking shoes were quickly soaked through ('super saturated' as I liked to say); my only comfort is that I would have had wet feet regardless, because we were hiking through much wetter ground. There were numerous streams of run-off water from melting snowcaps, and a few large-ish rivers to ford. I was glad to have my hiking pole to steady me as I balanced from one rock to the next, or I could have ended up in water well over my knees. There were bridges at the major river crossings (one of which we almost missed due to a poorly-marked fork in the trail; we were saved from going off-course by a couple coming back from the wrong fork, who had been searching for a point to ford for a couple of hours, without success).
Still, the landscape was impressive, with more snow than the previous day, many small waterfalls, and an impressive descent with many switchbacks. We arrived at Stavali at about 6:00, after 8 hours of hiking (again taking longer than the map predicted), just as tired as the previous day. Stavali is a self-service hut, which meant that we could buy provisions, but had to cook them ourselves. We were delighted to buy fresh, unpasteurized milk, as the operator of the hut is a dairy farmer, whose cows could be seen (and heard! - they were wearing cowbells) roaming freely on the hills outside the hut. The hut could probably sleep up to about 50 people, with foam mattresses in a large loft room, and a few smaller rooms, although it was only half full. Mark cooked dinner (a pre-packaged cheese pasta, using milk to make the sauce, with canned ham), we played cards for a while (he started teaching me crib), and had a chance to chat with a friendly Norwegian (she was surprised we'd come all the way from Canada to hike in Norway, when we have so much wilderness of our own).
We had originally planned to stay two nights at Stavali, giving ourselves a 'slack' day to rest and explore the area, then head down the trail to Lofthus. But judging from our experience thus far on the trails (going so much slower than the projected times), Mark estimated that the trail to Lofthus would be too difficult, especially if it continued to rain. We decided to leave Stavali the next morning to take the trail to Kinsarvik instead, spending the night there, and then going along the coast to Lofthus the next day. The only problem was that we didn't have a reservation for a place to stay. We asked the other hikers about our chances of getting a room on short notice; one of them was from Kinsarvik, and offered that if we were unable to get a room, we could stay at her house. I was amazed that she would invite two complete strangers to stay at her house, and tremendously relieved that we would have a back-up plan.
Photos: Me, crossing one of the bigger snow packs; the welcome sight of Stavali at the end of a hard day of hiking; the cows, as seen from our bedroom window
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