The four huge waterfalls of the Husadalen Valley near Kinsarvik, Norway

We said goodbye to Marti and Ryan yesterday morning. They are heading to Bergen for a few days, and then flying back to Texas. It was fun seeing them again and doing some more mountain adventures. Pretty sure we'll meet up again somewhere else in the world!

Ruth and I headed a little further north to the town of Kinsarvik. 

What we're learning with Norway so far is that there isn't much distance between attractions! It seems that every ten kilometers or so there is another hiking trail or waterfall or scenic vista. It's totally amazing. 

We found somewhere to park in Kinsarvik and went for a walk around town.

Ruth with a couple of Norwegian friends!

Just enjoying the view.

Wednesday turned out to be a nice day. I think it's the first day in a while where we never had any rain. High was about 17C (63 F) and not much in the way of wind which is perfect hiking weather. 

The small harbour at Kinsarvik.

A lone sailboat making it's way home.

The fjord at Kinsarvik is a salt water one and eventually leads out to sea. I guess I haven't provided a map lately... 

Where we are now.

The stone church in Kinsarvik is one of the oldest in the country.

They say it was probably built around 1160.

It's all Greek to us.

The interior is fairly plain.

Some kind of old painting on the wall.

Organ and wood carving.

Tuesday had been a much needed day of rest after our tough Trolltunga excursion. However by Wednesday afternoon we were actually feeling pretty good and decided to do an 11 km (7 mile) roundtrip waterfall hike!

The Kinso River runs through Husadalen Valley coming from Europes largest mountain plateau. There is a lot of snow melt going on right now and the girl in the tourist office said that the four huge waterfalls in the valley are running very strong. The hike up there has some steep sections, climbing a total of about 700 meters (over 2,000'), so it's not a walk in the park. But we figured that if we didn't make it to the fourth waterfall, we would simply turn around.

They say that this hike takes 5-6 hours, so we would normally start a hike like that after breakfast. But because it doesn't get dark until almost midnight, we didn't feel that starting off later in the day would be a problem, and it wasn't. We had some lunch and set off at about 1:30pm.

The first thing we saw was this funny swing that someone built over a stream.

Once again, the trails are well marked and the information boards are normally in three languages... Norwegian, English, and German.

This trail has been known for decades as one of the most beautiful hikes in Norway. Some parts are demanding and steep, slippery when wet. The hike takes you into the Hardangervidda National Park, the largest in Norway.

The four waterfalls are spaced apart by about 1.5 kms (just under a mile) each. It's a steady uphill climb that gets steeper towards the last two waterfalls.

We're not at the waterfalls yet! 

This is just to show you how heavy the flow is at the Kinso River right now.

Tveitafossen.

The first one.

Ruth, admiring Nyastølfossen.

The second waterfall.

Each one is impressive on their own!

A little higher up.

I think Nykkjesøyfossen (the third waterfall) is the prettiest.

If you look closely at the top and to the left you can just make out the fourth waterfall, Sotefossen.

Notice the cabin on the left. It is available for overnight stays through the national park system.

Zoomed in.

Another view of Nykkjesøyfossen.

Zoomed in.

Getting to the fourth waterfall (Sotefossen) is probably the toughest part of the hike. But we were feeling pretty good so we decided to go for it. After all... we came this far! The path winds steeply up some rock to a sort of a plateau. All the way, you can hear the water crashing down. There are also some gorgeous views looking back at where you came from...

This is what the river looks like below the fourth waterfall, but above the other three.

Looking back at where we came from.

Sotefossen.

The fourth waterfall.

I took a video for you just to give you some perspective...

Such a beautiful area.

We could see one area where the water crashing down from the falls seemed to disappear. We walked over to find a bridge over a narrow gorge. The power of water is amazing. I took another video for you...

Crazy.

We took a slightly different route back down that gave us a bit of a different view of the others...

Ruth in front of Nykkjesøyfossen.

Nyastølfossen.

What an afternoon! It was another great hike, but we need another day of rest after that. It was almost 6:30pm by the time we got back to Max, so we had been gone five hours. 

We decided to stay parked at the trailhead. It was nothing special, but I didn't feel like driving!

Not sure what's on the agenda for today, but it will include a nap!

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