★ Experiences
Trolltunga, Norway
Worth making time for
In Norway, the rocks are the destination. Three of them have become famous around the world, and Instagram made them viral. Each one offers a different way to stand at the edge. One is a flat cliff top with no railing. One is a boulder wedged in a crack, held by nothing but friction. One is a tongue of stone reaching out over a turquoise lake. All three sit in the fjords of western Norway, and all three are reached on foot in the short summer season.
Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock)
Preikestolen is a flat topped granite cliff above Lysefjord, about an hour from Stavanger. The trail runs about 5 miles round trip and takes most hikers about four hours to a plateau about 80 feet square, with no railing at the edge and a 2,000 foot drop to the fjord below. It is Norway's most famous viewpoint, and the same cliff looks just as astounding from a Lysefjord cruise, where it rises straight out of the water.
Kjeragbolten, Norway
Kjeragbolten is a boulder wedged in a crack in Kjerag mountain, on the same fjord as Preikestolen and about an hour from Stavanger. The rock hangs about 3,228 feet above the water, held in place by nothing but friction, and walkers step onto it from a ledge about a foot wide. The trail runs about 7 miles round trip and takes six to eight hours over steep granite slabs with fixed chains.
Trolltunga
Trolltunga is a thin slab of rock that juts out from a cliff above Ringedalsvatnet lake, about three hours from Bergen. The slab hangs about 2,300 feet above the turquoise lake, with no railing at its edge. Walkers set out from Odda and the trail runs about 17 miles round trip, taking most hikers 10 to 12 hours. The legend fits the place. Trolltunga means troll's tongue, and the story says a troll turned to stone at dawn, leaving only his tongue reaching over the lake.
The three rocks share one season. June through September is when the snow has melted and the trails are open, and it is the only window for all three. Preikestolen is the easiest and the most visited. Kjeragbolten is the most nerve testing. Trolltunga is the longest day. Together they are the reason western Norway's fjords draw walkers from around the world.
Would you want to experience any of these someday?
