Pulpit Rock Weekend - The Hike

The sun is already up before 6 am and not set until after 10 pm but stormy days are dark. We drove to and from Stavanger in moderate to heavy rain for "Pulpit Rock Weekend" - May 11 - 13.

Young single adults and center directors gathered in Stavanger throughout the evening; coming from Bergen, Oslo, Trondheim, and Kristiansand for the event. We dined on burritos.

We enjoyed some entertainment and sang songs together. Then each of our group of around 50 went off to stay with a host and get some sleep before rising early to catch the Tau ferry.

The storm had blown through but the wind was still going strong as we took the 45 minute ferry to Tau.

After a short 20 minute drive we arrived at the Preikestolen Hytte and the trailhead.

Moving from left to right you can see that we had a climb of about a thousand feet over a distance of 3.8 kilometers as the crow flies.

This was a very rocky trail in a country of rocky trails. We took well over the two hour estimate on the way up but made it back in just two hours. Most of the hikers were spry young people but a few of us sixty-somethings made the trek just fine.

Speaking of sixty-somethings, here we are at one of the flat parts of the trail.

This was very much like hiking in Desolation Wilderness in El Dorado County, CA.

Finally we came over a little rise and caught our first glimpse of Lyse Fjord, which runs inland past Preikestolen.

The panoramic views of this place are fantastic.

As you can see by the lack of a guard rail, chains or even warning signs; there are not many personal injury attorneys in Norway. I think the rule of thumb is: "If you are foolish enough to fall off this rock the gene pool doesn't need you!"

Ahhh youth...let's sit on the edge or peek over to get a nice view of a drop of close to 2000 feet.

This was our lunch spot.

By the way, there is an ominous and growing crack and crevice across the pulpit. It is measured each year to chart its growth. I know you are dying to get a look at the view straight over the front edge so her it is looking over the front edge of Preikestolen...



A photo doesn't capture the distance or the feeling in your stomach. The advice we got was, "If you happen to fall, look to the left - it is the better view."

A memorable day on Preikestolen.

Tired knees but happy hearts.

Clyde Biesinger and I took the hike together twice in 1966 - once in the rain. In those days you could count on seeing very few people on top. This was our third trip up together.

We were lucky to hit the only non rainy day of the week for our hike.

We made it home by about 5 pm and then to the church for the evening event: a talent and cultural celebration presented by the Filipino contingent of the Stavanger Ward.

They sang, danced, shared thoughts on Filipino culture and provided a wonder dinner that included Pork Adobo - one of my favorites. Those are lighted candles on top of the dancers' heads. We made it home to our host's place dead tired but well satisfied with a memorable day.

We attended Sunday meetings at the Stavanger Ward. I ran into Helgunn (Bjerga) whom I had not seen since she was 4 years younger than her 18 year old daughter.

I also caught up with Brother Nordby, with whom many sets of Elders lived back in the sixties. He had a hot house tomato farm in the area called Hinna.

This is most of our Bergen group on the last ferry ride before Bergen. The drive / float takes about 4 and a half to five hours. We were tired but in a good way. Pulpit Rock Weekend was a great success.