New boots for Ruth, and hike to a waterfall...

It was such a beautiful day when we woke up... mostly blue sky and sunshine. So we decided to go for a short hike right away. After all, we were already parked at the trailhead so we might as well use the trail!

It was only a short one though... 2 kms up a ridge to have a bit of a view of the town below.

Just enough to get the blood flowing...

Max really liked this spot.

Max's parking spot overlooking the valley.

We've seen several of these shelters, but this one was pretty run down.

Scenery along the way.

Looking down on the town of Valle.

Old barn.

Nice picnic spot.

And then we drove down to town and went back to the small sporting goods store where Ruth had found some hiking boots that she liked.

One of the reasons things are so expensive here is that Norway has high sales taxes. 25% on general goods, and 15% on food. But the tax is included in the advertised price, which is the way it's done in most of the world. In our experience, it's only Canada and the U.S. that don't advertise prices including tax. Except on alcohol and fuel in Canada, where you are paying the tax included price.

But tax is always shown on the invoice as a separate line item, even though the advertised price already includes it.

25% tax!

So, the boots were 2,199 kr ($292 CAD, $230 USD), and that included $58 CAD, $46 USD) in tax. Interestingly, Ruth found a similar boot by Mammut on Amazon Canada that were almost that price without taxes. So while we didn't get what could be considered a "deal", we didn't really overpay either.

The old boots were Oboz brand, and we wouldn't hesitate to buy them again. The boot itself lasted well, she simply wore out the sole. Too much hiking! But, they lasted over two and a half years, so for us that's pretty good.

Old versus new!

And then it was time to give them their first workout!

The Gloppefoss Waterfall.

Not a long hike, and certainly not that strenuous. 6 kms (3.7 miles) in total, with a bit of an uphill climb to get there. Once again, the stated duration time of 2-3 hours was generous. We took our time on the way there and even did some extra stuff and we were still back at Max in an hour and a half. I admit that we were kind of rushing on the way down because we thought it was going to rain, but it never did.

Heading higher.

The water is crystal clear.

Scenery along the way.

Once again, we are still amazed that there are no black flies or mosquitoes. Hiking heaven! 

Our first view of the falls.

We took a separate path to get to the base of the falls.

The temperature was nice, but the mist of the falls was cool.

You have to cross the stream at one point.

Oh, and again here.

Made it!

Beautiful falls.

Can you see Ruth on the bottom right?

I took a short video for you...

Time to head back.

Interesting flowers.

Scenery along the way.

Trail through the pines.

Then we did a little more driving north. We don't have to be anywhere special until Sunday when we are meeting up with Ryan and Marti again, but even that is only 150 kms (93 miles) from here so there's no need to rush.

We passed the Ferrari club going the opposite way.

Very nice!

And we found ourselves another nice overnight spot.

GPS 59.52493, 7.364318

Looks like today is a bike riding day!

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Camco Pop Up Recycling Container.

And in Canada...

Timex Watches for Father's Day.