Norway And The Arctic Circle

September 18, 2003

Norwegian Arctic Circle

Traveling north from Oslo on the E6 highway, we stopped for the night at a cabin in Oppdal – one of the major skiing areas of Norway. Our goal was to reach the fjord area of Western Norway and explore the glaciers, fjords and country roads for birds and scenery. But, while studying the map, I noticed that we were relatively close to the Arctic Circle. I added up the map distances between towns and tallied a total of 674 kilometers. Pat was not terribly excited about the change of plans but agreed to go. “Why do you want to go to the Arctic Circle?” she asked. “Because it is there,” I responded. “Besides, I have always wanted to go to the Arctic Circle.” We almost took the trip to the Arctic Circle in Alaska a few years ago, but were deterred by reports that the road was unpaved and rough, and there were few motels and restaurants along the road that carries mostly oil trucks. This Norwegian highway was not only paved, there were plenty of gas stations, motels and grocery stores along the way. I really wished to visit the North Pole, but guess I could settle for the Arctic Circle – at least for now. I figured that since it was almost 700 km to the Arctic Circle and the upper speed limit is 90 km/hr, we might be able to make the trip in maybe 8 hours. But chatting with the campground manager, he suggested that the trip would take about 10 hours – a long day’s drive. We hoped to make the trip up and back in 2 or 3 days. “There are many small towns along the way and the road winds up hills and mountains, so it is very slow,” he said. For folks that normally drive their motorhome only a few hours in a day, 10 hours would be a

very long trip for us. An hour or so after leaving Oppdal, the rain started. We had heard that autumn in Europe was a time of good weather. Not true for Norway! September is the rainy period. It continued raining for most of the 10-hour drive – sometimes driving rain. Mostly it was light rain that did not make driving very difficult, but suggested caution on wet roads carrying lots of big trucks. The scenery that could be seen through the rain was unexceptional. We stopped for the night in Mo I Rana, about 70 km south of the Arctic Circle. Earlier, we had purchased a book listing the Bed & Breakfast locations in Norway. But we soon found that trying to find them was difficult since we could not read the language to understand written or verbal directions. Hotels in Norway are too expensive for our budget, so we have settled for finding small signs along the highway advertising “Rom” or “Hytter” or with only an icon for a small hut. They usually led to a room in someone’s home. Most are very nice and considerably less expensive than Norwegian hotels.

Rom in Mor-I-Rana Norway is certainly one of the most expensive countries in Europe. If we wished to live like King Harald V, our money would be gone quickly. Oh yes! Norway -- officially named the Kingdom of Norway – is a constitutional monarchy. According to the Encarta Encyclopedia 97 on CD ROM that is one key source of information, the king apparently has little real power except to appoint religious leaders, but still lives like a king. Norwegians enjoy one of the highest standards of living in Europe -- a big change from 40 years ago, when most of the coastal towns could be reached only by boat. The difference? How about oil?! As we flew over the North Sea between Iceland and the Netherlands, we could see the Texas Towers and oil ships that all appeared to be very busy. Much of the income from oil has been invested in highways and tunnels. Norway must surely be the tunnel capital of the world. Driving through a 20 Km tunnel is not the most scenic way to see Norway, but is sure is a good way to connect the towns in this mountainous country. For us, we would often like to avoid the

tunnels and take the alternate route over the mountains so we can see the wildlife and scenery. So far, we have not seen a single bird in a tunnel! Anyway, as we headed for the Arctic Circle from Mo I Rana, the highway followed the Dunderlandsdalen River from its mouth up into the mountains to its source in about 70 km. On the way, we went through Hell. The community of Hell is named after the caves – Hellir or cliff caves – found in the area. We also visited memorials to the Russian soldiers capture by Hitler’s army during WWII and used as involuntary laborers to construct the Atlanterhavsvollen (network of coastal guns) as well as roads, railways and such. Of the 100,000 Russian workers, about 11,000 died from executions, starvation, disease and exposure.

Norway's Hell The lowland forests slowly gave way to tundra. Our experience with changes in vegetation when traveling north was learned from travels in Canada, where the southern forests slowly give way to tundra as we traveled to colder northern climates. In Norway, the warm Gulf Stream flows northeasterly along the coast and keeps the ports ice-free throughout the winters. This is one of the main reasons that Hitler attacked Norway. It provided ice-free ports for shipping the muchneeded iron for his war machines. The Gulf Stream also keeps the climate warm enough so that large trees can grow at lower levels -- even at the Arctic Circle. The change in vegetation seems to be more a function of altitude than latitude, so that mountain tops are covered with tundra and valleys are forested and can support farming. Where the E6 highway crosses the Arctic Circle in the mountains, the flora looks much as I expected – tundra! A large visitor’s center was closed. It closed on September 15 and the day we arrived was September 16. But not to worry, we rationalized, from what we could see in the windows, it was mostly a tourist trap anyway.

Arctic Circle Visitor's Center On the highway, we had seen a “yield”-shaped sign with a drawing of a reindeer. Apparently, we were requested to yield the right-of-way to these jay-walking creatures. When looking for birds in the nearby tundra, Pat excitedly announced that she had seen a reindeer. We climbed a small hill behind the visitor’s center and watched a herd of reindeer as they browsed on reindeer moss and whatever else suited their fancy. They were several hundred meters away – too far for good photos – but they were heading for the highway. So we jumped into the car and drove closer to them. The herd was apparently accustomed to tourists as some lay down to rest as we were watching and photographing.

Reindeer Buck

We traveled a little further north, across a watershed divide and decided that – as much as we would like to travel all the way to Russia on this highway – there was much of Europe to see and only 44 days to see it all – so we turned around. Back in the large parking lot of the visitor’s center – designed for tourist busses -- we broke out the camera to take the traditional photos of ourselves below the Arctic Circle sign. A car drove into the parking lot and a fellow emerged. He was quite accommodating when I asked if he would be willing to take a photo of Pat and me. “This is where the true Norway starts,” he offered. “I teach in a small community much farther north.” “What subjects do you teach?” I asked. “I teach all subjects.” “Your English is excellent – why are Norwegians are so fluent in the language?” “We receive 6 years of English instruction in our schools and, of course we watch American movies and listen to American music. But, sometimes I think we watch too many of these Hollywood movies and they can be a bad influence on our children.” “We can agree with that!” Pat said. He also explained that, “my wife and I have visited the United States. Our daughter lived in Alice, Texas so we visited her there. It was spring, so the bluebonnets were beautiful.” Then he changed the subject. “See that mountain. Twenty years ago it was covered with glacier. Today, you can only see that one little patch.”

Melting Glacier

It was the very familiar story of global warming in this land where the glacial evidence is so very clear. “You may also wish to visit the small hill where the tradition is to build a rock mound whenever you pass this way. However, you will find that to build your own mound, you must steal rocks from someone else’s mound.” So, we climbed the hill and built a small cairn with stolen rocks.

Pat Building Cairne The temperature was only about F 50, but the wind was blowing strongly across the tundra, so the chill was beginning to penetrate our light jackets and sweater vests. It was time to turn around and head to southern Europe and more favorable climates. Winfield