Mr. Bichler: June 1 ~Kayaking in the Sognafjord, Flam~

Last evening we did a marathon of hiking in the Flam area. I had pre-loaded 3 geocaches that were in the area and two of them were pretty close to the hostel we were staying in. We wanted to check out the beach where the kayaks would be leaving from and it just so happened that this was where one of the caches was hidden. We found it in about 15 minutes but once again happy for the find, but disappointed that it held nothing to trade. Another cache appeared to be about .5 miles from where we were so we headed out to find this one as well. Chad decided that he wanted to hike to the Brekkflossen waterfall with Trish and went back to the hostel to prepare. Our quest was a little more difficult in that if we were crows and could fly across the bay it was only .5 miles but there was a large bay we had to go around so it was actually more like 1.5 miles by the time we got there. We found the logical spot and were busy searching the area when Sharon cleared her throat. She had found her first geocache. Luke was thrilled as it was filled with collectibles and a TB (a travel bug for you muggles out there). The TB was a white rubber duck with a dog tag attached. Later, in Bergen when we had Internet we learned that this duck had started in the Netherlands and had been traveling in Germany for the last 1 1/2 years. His goal had changed and he wants to travel to warmer climates so we will be taking him back to the states and put him in a cache near a beach in Delaware, maybe Rehobeth Beach. As we left the cache Luke kept talking about how he wanted to join his Dad on the hike to the waterfall. I was hoping they had decided not to go because I thought it might be too strenuous for both he and I to take on at 9:30 at night after we had just walked nearly 2 miles already. He had a melt down when Trish said he couldn't go so I agreed to go along and that way when he decided to turn back I could walk back with him. I have to give him all the credit, he completed the hike, and it was pretty strenuous, all by himself and never complained. (except for the 10 minutes after which he got into some stinging nettles looking for the cache. Grandma was not on his favorites list at this time!) We never did find the cache but agreed that it was a very satisfying hike and the waterfall and the view from it was priceless!

2nd geocache in Flam, The TB Hotel

Luke and I dropped off our TB, a small polar bear named Nanuk. His goal is to visit as many zoos as possible before returning to the USA and the Columbus Zoo.

This is the bay we had to walk around to get to the 2nd cache

The beginning of the Brekkflossen Falls Hike

Luke never complained once and was in heaven hiking with his dad.

I felt like I was in the movie Heidi, all the sheep, even the lambs had tinkling bells around their necks.

The waterfall in the distance

A view of Flam from the mountain side

The boys at the waterfall

This was about as close as we dare get to the waterfall. It was wet and slippery and I'm pretty sure the cache we were searching for was on down the trail. We opted for safety. The view was enough for all of us!

Today we were up fairly early to prepare for our kayak trip. We had to check out before we left on the trip as we would only have about an hour when we returned to get our things and board the ferry for Gudvangen. We grabbed a homemade crepe, mine was apple and cinnamon and walked down to the beach where we had been the night before. We met our guides, Wilhelm of Sweden, Solla of Spain and __________ formerly of California. (can't think of his name at the moment, will add it later) We spent an hour putting on our gear and practicing emergency exit drills that I prayed we would not have to use in the cold Nordic waters. When our guides felt confident that we had passed the test of surviving a spill in the drink we pushed off on our tour of the Songnafjord and the Old King's Path, our destination. Sharon and I shared a kayak, Trish and Luke in another and Ed and Chad together. What an amazing feeling to be kayaking the waters of a Norway fjord!