All good things come to an end and so did Leirvassbu. I did not quite want to leave for our next stop (Gjendebu), I admit. But adventure still lay ahead so, of course, of we went!
Let’s hit the trail to Gjendebu
This day we got an earlier start: 8:20 AM – 10 minutes earlier than prior – success! After the typical great breakfast, we were getting ready to go and saw our Canadian friends from 3 lodges. We knew this would be the last time our paths crossed in Jotunheimen so we had to say goodbye. We greatly enjoyed talking to them at dinners and hearing their own stories of hiking. Brian and Cindy: hope our paths (so to speak!) cross again!
The landscape around the trail
The trail today was about another 12 miles or so. It started also waking along lakes and getting to another fantastic long waterfall before beginning to descend some. Of course, rock fields and water crossings were not going to be absent…
Eventually we got almost to lake level and walked along a fast moving creek. Also, the surroundings changed pretty quickly to areas with trees, something that was rare in the prior days’ trails.
The facilities at Gjendebu
Eventually, after crossing a farm full of cows and their dung mounds, we made it to Gjendebu, our second to last lodge of the Jotunheimen circuit.
The common area was large and could accommodate the crowd. It was not anything as fancy as some of the other lodges’ common areas.
Our room was another bunk bed room without a private bathroom. We were close to the showers and the toilets a little further down. A door in the hallway (dividing the hallway) kept making noise all through the night until it got a doorstop. The rooms did not have power outlet but plugging anything in the hallway felt safe enough. Gjendebu was definitely not my favorite lodge. In fact, of all of the ones I stayed at, it was my least favorite.
Dinner time in Gjendebu
Dinner was tomato soup, then some pork cutlets, chased by almond cake with vanilla sauce poured on it. The dessert was really good. We enjoyed talking to the Swedish mother-daughter pair sitting next to us; always cool to hear how people live elsewhere, why they are there hiking, etc.
We sat for a bit in the common area after dinner, just relaxing while waiting for bed time.
This pic sums up the day and, likely, the entire circuit!
On to Day 5 (Gjendebu to Memurubu)
Back to Day 3 (Spiterstulen to Leirvassbu)
