05-23 Pulpit Rock Hike Norway

The day is finally here. We are hiking to the top of Pulpit Rock. 334m (1,096 feet) elevation gain to a height of 604m (1,982 feet). The hike was 3.8 km (2.25 miles) long one way.

At 6 this morning we were slightly concerned, because it was all foggy outside and we couldn't see the horizon. Back to bed.

Getting up at 7, things look much better outside. We have breakfast in the Lido Restaurant and then watch us coming into Stavanger while getting ready in the room.

At 9:50 we go to the Showroom at Sea Theater and then out to our bus.

Our guide is Camellia and Lars is our bus driver. These guys were a great team;  we are the first bus in line for the ferry, which allows us to be first off the ferry and arrive first at Pulpit Rock. The bus drives right on the ferry. Which makes it easy for us.

We arrive at Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock) trail head and after a quick bathroom break and picking up our lunch and water we are on the trail at 11:50 am.

Brian goes up on his own to allow him more time at the top for pictures.

Pat and Karen kept a steady pace with only a couple of two minute breaks.

It's beautiful out here and just as steep as I imagined. It goes on like this for 1/4 mile.

The hike is strenuous and takes almost the full amount of time we had for the climb up. We were allowed 110 minutes and it took us 105 minutes.

Some sections were flat with expertly placed boulders for a semi flat walking surface or wood planking across marshy areas. You relished these.

Because there were a lot of these types of trails that tested your knees and your patience. It didn't pay to be in a hurry.

There were markers like these along the trail every couple of hundred meters that told you how far you had come and how far you had left to go.

This was a particularly difficult section.

These two followed us at our pace for quite a while and we would joke back and forth about how hard this was on our knees and if there was a zip line down option and if maybe the bus could meet as near the top. It made the hike more enjoyable.

The terrain wasn't always going up steps.

And when it was flat and going down hill there might have even been a smile on our faces.

There are NO safety ropes or wires on the most dangerous sections of the trails. They just expect you to not want to kill yourself.

Pulpit Rock in view! O! The Joy!

Karen the Dare-Devil.

Although we were worried about the amount of time they had allocated us on top, we did have plenty of time once on top to take pictures. Karen even sat down and put her legs over the edge.

Brian was on the next level up and got us in several pictures before coming back down and joining us.

There were a lot of people going up and going down and at the top, but there was plenty of room at the top to get pictures and sit down to eat. Pat and Karen ate our sack lunches, which was a sandwich, an apple, a bottle of water and a candy bar (like a KitKat). Karen didn't like the sandwich so she ate the breakfast bar she brought from Seattle and the apple. That was plenty for her.

The shirpas from Nepal made this trail and are still improving it. They are doing an excellent job, except they could make the steps not quite so tall. It's really hard on my short legs. All of the steps are very stable, so that makes it easer to keep a steady pace.

Our return time was 2:10 and that's what time it was when we started to head back down. Brian stayed with us for the trek down. About that time it started to sprinkle. It didn't last long. We put our rain coats back in the backpack and continued down.

We made it with plenty of time (only took 90 minutes to get down) to check out the gift shop (found nothing) and have an ice cream bar and some water. Karen really needed the water. Our bus left at 4:00 to catch the ferry back. We were the last group of people on board the ship at 5:35pm. Departure from Stavanger was 6pm.

We are so very thankful that there was no rain during the hike. While we were on the ferry coming back it started to rain and we just couldn't imagine doing the hike in those conditions.

We had dinner in the Lido and then played some ping pong 🏓 before heading to trivia at 7:30 with Garth and Julia.

Played some Trivial Pursuit in the game room before going to Music Trivia. We did really well and won, scoring 27 out of 32. It was 60s - 90s music trivia. Brian was a huge help on this one.

Long day, but a great day.  Time for bed.