For the Last Adventurer, the hike that he says he’ll never do again and always does is Mt. Whitney. For me? It’s Half Dome. It’s one of those hikes that I swear up and down that I’ll never do again, but each time someone mentions doing it, I always end up applying for a permit.
The last weekend of May, some friends and I headed to down to Mammoth for some mellow peak bagging fun. “Mellow” by their standards, less so for mine. First stop on our list was Red Top Peak outside of Mammoth Lakes.
Devils Postpile National Monument is a gem of the Eastern Sierra. Once a part of Yosemite National Park, Devils Postpile is now its own standalone national attraction. The name refers to a cliff of columnar basalt exposed by glaciation. The NPS website does a far better job of explaining the formation of the columns, so I won’t even go there.
Avdalen Gard was the last outdoorsy stop on our Norway stop, and it was great. We saved the best for last. Trolltunga was great and Vettisfossen was cool, but Avdalen? Words can’t even describe how magical it was to me, and photos don’t do it justice. It was stunning!
The next stop after Bergen was Årdal to visit my friend Kris at Utladalen Camping and explore a tiny fraction of Jotunheimen National Park. First on our list was Vettisfossen.
With a drop of 275 meters (or 902 feet), Vettisfossen is the tallest unregulated waterfall in northern Europe—meaning it doesn’t go through a hydroelectric power station. The trail begins on a tractor road that follows the Utla river. It winds around and crosses the river several times before ending at Vetti Gard.