Travel Norway #4 - Live with big L - Cabin trip to Heia

Cabin trips - called here Hyttetur - are very important part of norwegian way of living. To be outdoor, to do sports, hiking, grilling, doing bom fire, hunting, fishing, all kind of outdoor activities are something Norwegians love the most!

Most of the cabins doesn't have running water (water is running on the nearby stream or lake), have outside toilet (ute do) but almost always are situated in attractive location - near the sea shore, lake with fishes, some mountain areas, woodlands etc. All of them have inside fireplace. All of them are fully equipped in basic kitchen stuff like catlery, pots, plates, also candles, fire wood, blankets and many times also books to read, some food (pasta, tea, coffee) maps, visitors book and many other great things :).

^{Left click on the image to view in Full Screen mode!}

Some of the cabins are rented by private people, some of them are rented by turist organizations. For me, it is always the best way to spend some time out in the wilds. Fishing, photo shooting, sitting by the fire, listening to the silence - this is what I love the most in this kind of trips. And of course exploring new areas as much as I can :).

Today I want to share few shots from one of my favourite winter cabin trip to Heia - small village (or a place ;)) near Grong in northern parts of Norway.

^{Left click on the image to view in Full Screen mode!}

Wooden cabin which we visit this time was big...very big... I was together with my wife, so just a two people in a cabin can holds up to 16 visitors. And this cabin was also quite comfortable comparing to others which we visited before. It had electricity, running water - even in winter time, 3 fireplaces inside, of course kitchen, big rooms, many beds and, what was most amazing for me - sauna :). I love sauna, especially in winter time. There is nothing better than sauna and cold shower after - so much vitalizing energy in one second that could wake up dead man...

^{Left click on the image to view in Full Screen mode!}

Cabin was surrounded by woods, few rivers and lakes, which was mostly frozen that time. We had to walk around 2 km from a parking place so it was very quiet even in the night time.

^{Left click on the image to view in Full Screen mode!}

We spend there 2 nights, first was super clear - with fast flowing clouds on a starry sky, with amazing full moon light on the surrounding, with a lot of snow and complete quiet atmosphere...

^{Left click on the image to view in Full Screen mode!}

^{Left click on the image to view in Full Screen mode!}

I went for a night trip with my photo gear, tripod and of course snowshoes, without them, I couldn't probably walk anywhere - the snow was like 1m deep. Gear used: Canon 6D with wide lens Canon 16-35mm, for the long exposure I put extra ND8 filter. Some of the exposures were as long as 120 seconds.

^{Left click on the image to view in Full Screen mode!}

Second day we travelled to nearby places - some more rivers, mountains, waterfalls...normal stuff ;)...

^{Left click on the image to view in Full Screen mode!}

^{Left click on the image to view in Full Screen mode!}

During the night it begun to snow - and it was snowing until next morning - huuuge amount of fresh snow, light as a feather, covered the world around. I took a last walk to enjoy the views and this amazing amount of fresh snow. It was very hard to walk, even using the snowshoes didnt helped much, so sometims I was just falling into the snow, struggling myself to push forward, very tiring excersize but enjoy every second, every fall and every step made. This was winter paradise that time that place!

^{Left click on the image to view in Full Screen mode!}

^{Left click on the image to view in Full Screen mode!}

3 days in the cabin, inside norwegian wilds - experiencing the real winter, beautiful day and night time, enjoying the time with beloved person by the fireplace, eating good food, drinking good wine, reading books, sitting in the sauna, shooting amazing landscapes - this is what I called Live with big L.

^{Left click on the image to view in Full Screen mode!}

I hope I menaged to bring some good energy and inspiration for You!