Eirik across Norway
Eirik Hennissen Pedersen
In 2016 Eirik Hennissen Pedersen undertook an incredible journey. He decided to walk from the southmost point, to the northmost point of mainland Norway. The trek would take Eirik through biting cold, blaring sun, high peaks, and stunning vistas and push his limits physically and mentally.
The on-foot trek would take him almost a year to complete.
This is the story of Erik’s 3500km journey.
Despite being a self-proclaimed bad planner Eirik did prepare for his journey. He had filled his backpack with necessities like a tent, sleeping bag, clothes, food, and a range of electronic equipment like power banks, a phone, a camera, among other miscellaneous items.
Putting everything together Eirik was carrying about 35 kilos.
“I’m not a good planner, I didn’t plan.
I only planned that I was going to do it. I had some idea where I was planning to walk, but it was actually a bit random.”
Eirik expected that his trek would be relatively straightforward without too much hassle. He simply did not understand how difficult the journey would actually prove to be. But he was going to learn soon enough.
This was Erik’s first long distance walk. Challenges like weather, terrain and mental obstacles were maybe expected but the harsh reality and toll these would carry were yet for Eirik to discover and endure.
As Eirik set off from Lindesnes in august 2016, with his dog and trusted travel companion Frøya, there was nothing holding him back.
Eirik describes his first few weeks as sunny. Rough terrain was keeping his trek far from relaxing, however. The trip was psychically straining, which made Eirik wonder if he would have the strength and stamina to complete the entire trek. Sore muscles and blistered feet were definitely disheartening, but the isolation is what Eirik describes as the hardest challenge.
“I wasn’t used to being alone at the start. It was really difficult.”
Eirik experienced many situations where he only had himself to rely on throughout the journey. Eirik deems that as a positive however. He wanted to challenge himself, push his limits, and get to know himself better. Which being alone did create an environment for. Furthermore, experiencing the beauty of Norway was a goal in itself for Eirik.
Besides his dog Frøya, Eirik faced the journey alone. He would still have many encounters with civilization throughout his journey however. He met fellow hikers, and regularly stopped at grocery stores for supplies. Eiriks' father would also accompany Eirik for short sections at several points along his trek as well.
Eirik predominantly walked through mountains since he found it easier to orient himself and navigate from vantage points, the heights also provided astonishing views. He also hiked through forests, tundra, hills and marshlands, along with other types of terrain. Eirik did walk along roads as well, but tried to avoid them if possible, since that defeated the purpose of the trip.
It would also make for a rather dull experience.
“The point was to be in nature, far from everything. “
As Eirik continued to push north the months passed. Before long it was October and Eirik had walked all the way to Hallingskarvet national park. His dog Frøya, was great company and made the loneliness more tolerable. Furthermore, Eirik was slowly but surely getting used to the rough terrain and isolation, which made the days more bearable to endure.
Meanwhile Frøya was living her best life. Getting to run around with few limits is surely any dog's dream. But around the middle of October Frøya hurt her leg and struggled to walk.
With Frøya not being able to continue, Eirik decided to temporarily abandon his journey. Letting his dog heal and ceasing the opportunity to take a break.
After a four month break needed for Frøya’s recovery, Eirik was ready to continue his trek from where he left off, Hallingdal. The involuntary break might not have been needed but was surely appreciated. With newfound resolve and an eagerness to continue, Eirik once again set off from the comforts of home and back into the wilderness.
At this point it's February and Eirik must continue forward through a freezing Norwegian winter.
A formidable challenge for any outdoorsman, but certainly for someone as inexperienced as him.
Despite this, Eirik felt more comfortable taking on the next leg of the journey. He had prepared himself mentally and had already walked a few months, so he knew what to expect. However, Eirik knew that walking during the winter would be a more challenging task. Eirik wouldn't only be walking though, he brought a pair of skis and a pulk. Allowing him to travel faster and easier. Snowy and mountainous terrain would characterize the landscape as Eirik pushed north into Jotunheim national park.
Norwegian winters can be extremely cold and dangerous. February technically marks the end of winter, but it certainly didn’t mean coldness would end with it. Eirik often found himself walking in sub zero temperatures from late winter well into spring.
At points Eirik walked in temperatures as low as negative 25 Celsius.
Cold enough to give an exposed body part frostbite in minutes.
During the night when temperatures dropped and as Eirik couldn’t keep walking to stay warm the problem was exacerbated.
Eirik struggled to dry out his wet shoes and sweat drenched clothes during freezing nights, and often went to bed freezing and wet. Despite this Eirik slowly got used to being cold, there wasn’t another option, it was simply impossible to stay dry.
Snow and freezing temperatures would challenge Eirik beyond Jotunheim and was an element he had to battle continuously as he moved northeast past Rondane and into skardsfjella in March, April, and May. Eirik remembers dreading to put on his semi wet shoes for a long day’s walk.
Despite mostly sleeping in his tent Eirik made sure to make good use of the few hotels and cabins he stopped at throughout his journey. Using the opportunities to dry and maintain equipment, get a good night’s rest, and shower. Something he often went months without.
As spring was about to leave and summer was about to arrive the cold luckily subsided. The nights were still bitter but during the day Eirik could more comfortably push northwards. Despite being warmer, Eirik was traversing a very mountainous route. Which made traveling by skies a viable and preferred option well into summer.
Eirik had seen a lot of local wildlife on his travels like moose, birds, goats, among others. Often stopping to photograph them. One of the scarier animal encounters however was when Eirik was approached by two local reindeer shepherds one morning. They had spotted bear tracks close to Eirik's tent. It was presumably looking for newborn reindeer calf while Eirik was sleeping the previous evening.
Luckily the bear had moved on, deciding not to approach Eiriks tent in the dead of night.
In June, Eirik pushed northward into Norland county. fully determined to reach his goal at Kinnarodden - The northmost point of mainland Norway.
On the 13 of august 2017 Eirik had spent a year crossing Norway. When he set off he had expected to be done way earlier. In fact, had Eirik not taken a four month break for frøyas recovery he would have reached his goal already.
It didn't matter to Eirik however, he was closer than ever, and at this point nothing was stopping him. Rough conditions didn't face him anymore, he had experienced the worst Norway had to offer and continued forward all the same.
Walking, even though tiresome, had started to feel like a drug to Eirik. When he took breaks he was practically itching to get back on his trek. Standing still made Eirik feel unproductive and restless.
As autumn came Eirik traveled at record pace, going past places like Kautokeino and Karasjok. Eirik had improved his stamina so much that towards the end of the trek he often walked 20-30km a day depending on the terrain. More than twice the distance he walked during the beginning of his trek.
On the 25th of October 2017 Eirik was on the last stretch before Kinnarodden.
As he approached the end a feeling of slight melancholy came over him, the realization that this was the final day was all too real. Eirik felt both happiness and sadness. Happy to finally accomplish his goal, but sad because it would all be over soon.
It was getting dark and Eirik practically needed to run to reach his final destination, while he still had sunlight to navigate in. But before long he had done it, reached the end, and as Eirik pitched his tent for the last time this journey he couldn't help but to reflect on what had transpired throughout his trek. The sights he saw, the challenges he overcame, and the lessons he learned about surviving in the wild. More importantly however, Eirik learned about himself, and found a new sense of confidence and independence.
Web documentary by Jolana Svabova, Casper Kanestrøm, and Ali Bhatti
