When I visited Norway in August 2015, I had a particular goal to achieve but I always hesitated until the last moment: Hiking up Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock) near Stavanger.
It is a large rock 604 meters above the ground on Lysefjord, which lies 25 km to the east of Stavanger. The top of the rock presents a magnificent view of fjord and the surrounding mountains. This place was considered to be one of the most scenic hikes of the world by many travel magazines.
I hesitated because I wasn't so clear about the level of difficulty of the hike. Some blogs said that even elderly people wearing sandals comfortably climbed, but other blogs were talking about walking on the edge of a cliff at some point. Finally, I stopped being a coward and decided to experience this for myself. What was there to lose anyway! After all, I could not have skipped it after coming all the way to Norway!!
I spent the last two days of my Norway trip in Stavanger. My plan was to wake up early in the morning of my second day there, hit the road early, hike and spend 1-2 hours at the top. Then, I had to go down to catch the Oslo flight in the evening.
I had to check the weather forecast every hour, because if it had been a cloudy day, I would not have seen any view at the peak due to the mist. When I got up early in the morning and checked the weather, I saw that a thunder storm was expected at 2 pm. Yet, that did not discourage me because I would have been finished by then (hopefully).
Transportation
The easiest way to go to Preikestolen is through Stavanger. First, I took the ferry from Stavanger to Tau. From Tau, the bus departed for the starting point of the hike. The all inclusive return ticket was 300 NOK which I purchased online beforehand but you can also buy them at the information centers.
Transportation between Stavanger and Preikestolen takes about 1 hour.
The Hike
The starting point is about 270 m above sea level. So, you don't actually start climbing from sea level.
I wasn't worried about getting lost along the way because there were already a lot of people both ahead and behind so I basically followed them. In addition, there were signs such as the ones below.
Maps (see below) were placed at certain points, which helped me to locate myself on the hiking route and how long I had left until the summit. This path had a very fluctuating inclination as you can see. The trail was made up of stoned steps, which was one of the factors that made it easier.
It was almost flat for a while at first. As you can see on the map, the trail gets steeper halfway through. This was where the stone steps narrowed down and became higher. I didn't have any trouble, except for the traffic and trying not to bump into other people. According to my watch, the difficult bit came in 40 minutes into the hike and took 10 minutes to pass.
Flat part
Steep part
Throughout the hike I came across some nice scenery of the lake and the fjord along the way, serving as a teaser for the big view. There were even a couple of people swimming in the lake because it was a warm day.
I reached the top in an hour and a half, pausing shortly in every 10 minutes! It was a lot easier than I expected.
And a lot more crowded.
Because I was alone at the time, I had to ask others for help in taking pictures, but people had problem catching my best angle. I cornered a couple and we started a mutual photography session. That was ridicilous!
Yes, there were hundreds of poses!
The woman who took this one below was laughing histerically.
Then, finally Steemit profile picture!!
Then, I decided to dangle my feet. Wow, it was a terrifying feeling, both terrible and magnificent, to sit on the edge of the cliff! The beauty was beyond words! I was 604 meters high above the sea level, sitting on the edge of a rock that looked like it was carved and flattened by a thousand sculptors. When I looked down, there was nothing between my feet and that deep blue, which made me dizzy. Boats passing by looked as small as white dots. While floating along in the water, they were leaving perfectly linear traces of a lighter blue color. I wondered if people could have noticed me if I waved at them. The weather was clear, but the rain clouds from across the fjord were approaching. That was the most beautiful sight I've ever seen in my life to that point. Unlike some other places, the beauty in the photos was not false advertising, it was just a partial reflection of the reality.
By the way, I strongly advise everyone to crawl their way , because it was windy as hell. Nobody got hurt, although there was a massive scream session when some guy stumbled on a stone.
When I started to go down, a very heavy rain started pouring. Because of the crowd people were walking in line, so there was a slight light traffic on the way down. I was getting pretty wet, and I had a flight to catch. Seeing that the flow of people was too slow than usual, I created myself an emergency lane and somehow ended up outrunning them.
Overall, I was able to reach one of the most scenic views of Norway and the world without having to spend an enermous amount of physical effort. I would have died of regret, if I hadn't taken my chances.
I highly recommend this hike to people of all ages!