After an absurd amount of planes, boats, and buses, Kim and I are finally made it from Fort Wayne to Tyssedal. Our flight was late arriving in Bergen, which was through us for a second as we were expecting to catch a bus directly to Odda. Rather, the man at the information services desk was able to put together an itinerary of a bus to the Flesland port, a ferry to to Rogaland, a bus to Odda, and finally another bus to Tyssedal. I was impressed with the fact that the buses and ferries were on time nearly every stop we made. The ferries work in conjunction with bus routes, so if a bus is late, the ferry waits to ensure you don’t miss a connection.

We arrived at the Tyssedal Hotel later in the evening, exhausted and ready to hibernate. After quickly searching the Norwegian channels on tv, we went to bed. I didn’t get much sleep. I was overly excited about the hike, and extremely nervous about a surprise I had planned for Kim. We woke up early and took full advantage of the complimentary breakfast. It was full of fresh fruit and vegetables, cheese, meat, eggs, bacon, coffee, tea and juice. It was awesome. They even offered to let us pack food to take with us. However, we packed a ton of Clif Bars and trail mix so we declined.

The weather was perfect. Kim had been checking the weather for months, so it was a relief to catch some sun. We didn’t have a car, which left us with a 7km hike to Skjeggedal, the even smaller town where the trail to Trolltunga starts. It took about an hour, so if you are able to flag down some hikers driving past, do it. The trail head gives you two options to start; a trail that winds up through the woods, or a more direct route up an old funicular. We were anxious to get up, so we took the “stairs”. A word of warning, it is very steep and even we had to take breaks on the way up. Once we reached the top of the steps, there is a small cabin town where I assume you can rooms. It stayed fairly flat throughout this section and then goes a bit more vertical at the end of it. It is a bit misleading, because you reach the altitude of the summit about a third of the way into the hike, and the majority of it moves laterally across the top.

The scenery is beyond gorgeous. Even before you can see the water, it’s unreal. The whole time we hiked, I just imaged the LOTR music playing as we trekked across the path. It’s extremely well marked with red “T”‘s and small rock piles. There are a lot of small lakes and a few streams that are clean enough to drink from. We knew this ahead of time, and it saved us a lot of space and weight in our bags not having to carry the water. The temperature did fluctuate quite a bit. We went from shorts and a t-shirt to pants and a jacket several times, but it was a minor inconvenience so stay comfortable.

The signs along the way that tell you the distance to the end were a big tease. You can’t really see Trolltunga until you are right about it. There was a quite a few others that were making the hike the same day as us, but everyone was polite and equally excited to be there. When we finally reached the top, I was starting to get nervous. Up until this point, I had been planning on proposing to Kim with some really romantic speech. Despite the incredible view, my heart was pounding. I had to figure out how to get her out on that rock and propose. She rushed down to wait in line to go out alone while I took pictures of her. She hopped out, did her thing, we traded places, and I took my turn out on the edge.

After I was done, Kim approached some random hiker and asked him to take some pictures of the both of us. This was my chance. Kim rushed back down in line. I talked to the guy with the camera, told him to take a lot of pictures… As we were waiting in line, I stood there literally trembling. when it was our turn, she ran out on on the rock while I slowly followed behind. I pulled her close and said “asd;kfjasdjf ajs;ldkjf  aj;sdj asdfj” ( I have no idea what I actually said, I was trying not to pass out from the nerves and fall to my death). I just remember looking up at her crying, hoping that they were tears of joy (they were) and she finally shook her head yes.

It was easily the best moment in my entire life. I realize that not everyone visiting Trolltunga will be getting engaged, but I still recommend seeing it. It is a great hike. The views are something you can only truly appreciate with your own eyes. It’s unreal. The bright blue water, the bright blue sky, the giant rock faces; it’s as close to heaven as I’ve ever been.

The hike back is long. With nothing to look forward to, it’s not quite as exciting, but as the sun sets, you get an entirely new perspective on trail. Take some more pictures. The sun follows your hike back, so you get some extra sunlight on the back side of the hill. When you get to the end where the stairs split from the trail, I recommend exploring the trail option. The stairs are shin killers. On the bright side, the view is still gorgeous.

The only thing I would do differently is go in the summer and camp. I’ve seen pictures of the stars and it looks incredible. We will be going back sometime in our life. That’s a promise.