Backpacking Among Giants: A Trip Report from Norway’s Jotunheimen Mountains

In August of 2025, the inaugural NOLS Alumni Norway Backpacking Trip ventured into the Jotunheimen Mountains for ten days of challenging hiking amongst stunning scenery. Our group first met in Oslo before traveling about five hours by bus to the Jotunheimen region in western Norway.

The bus conveniently dropped us off at our first hut of the trip and it was from here that our journey really began. Jotunheimen means “Home of the Giants” and contains Scandinavia’s highest mountains.  As we set off from Gjendesheim, our first mountain hut, we got an immediate introduction to the giants we would be hiking over the coming days. The trail shot straight up to a ridge line.

For our first day of hiking, we followed one of the most famous hiking routes in Norway, the Besseggen ridge. It’s a steep, rocky, windy climb that is pretty exposed at times. The views along the way made it all worth it, though. From the top of the Besseggen ridge, we had stunning views out over the mountains surrounding us and the lakes far down below. That first day wound up being our longest hiking day of the trip as we were slowed down by tougher than expected terrain.

For the first three days of our hike, we stayed at huts on the shore of Lake Gjende. The trail from one hut to the other took us high into the surrounding mountains where it wound around alpine lakes and descended steeply back down to the valley floor. The final hut we stayed at along Lake Gjende was Gjendebu, the oldest cabin in Norway of the 550 managed by the Norwegian Trekking Association, known simply as the DNT. The huts offer varying levels of service from fully staffed cabins where hikers can find full room and board to self-service huts where a little more effort is required. All of the huts that we stayed at on our journey through the Jotunheimen were fully staffed except for one.

From Gjendebu, we headed deeper into the mountains to a more remote area of Jotunheimen National Park. During our trip we were fairly lucky weather-wise. The temperature was cool and it could get pretty breezy on top of the mountains but there was also sunshine a lot of the time. Except for the day we hiked from Gjendebu to Olavsbu. All day long we battled on-and-off rain and gusting winds coming directly at us. It was cold, wet, and muddy. We definitely built some character that day, but it made us appreciate the weather on the rest of the trip so much more.

That evening found us at Olavsbu, the only self-service hut we visited.  Staying here required us to haul water from a nearby stream and to cook for ourselves using dry goods stocked in the cabin’s surprisingly plentiful pantry. The self-service hut was a fun change from the staffed huts.

While each staffed cabin was fairly similar in how they operated, it was interesting to see the differences between those that were accessible by road and those that were most definitely not. Skogalsbøen (pictured above) was a remote hut deep in the mountains that relied on solar panels and a generator for power and received its supplies via helicopter.

All of the food we ate during our trip came from the huts we visited along the way. Breakfast in the morning was buffet style and we packed our own lunches to take on the trail with us from the sandwich spread found in the breakfast buffet. Dinner each night was a three-course meal, typically served family style. It usually consisted of a vegetable soup to start, followed by a main dish of meat and vegetables, and a sweet dessert to finish. Some common Norwegian foods we encountered were reindeer meat as well as brown cheese, a sweet tasting cheese best enjoyed on waffles. 

One hut that relied on a helicopter drop at the beginning of the season for supplies had accidentally received 7 kilos (15 pounds!) of salami instead of the lamb meat they had requested, so the meat eaters among us had salami with every meal there. Our group had a variety of dietary needs from allergies to vegetarian and vegan members and all of the huts were very knowledgeable about our needs and more than willing to accommodate everyone despite being in remote locations.

From Skogalsbøen we headed out on our biggest day of climbing to reach the highest DNT hut in Norway, Fannaråken. Over the course of about seven miles, we climbed almost 4,000 feet up a steep and rocky trail. The climb was absolutely worth it as we were rewarded with a gorgeous sunset on the top of the mountain. Looking out at the blue skies over the surrounding mountains the following morning felt like we were on top of the world. This was the smallest hut we visited on our trip and the perfect culmination of our journey.

Pro Tips for Hiking in Norway: What I learned along the way

Quality rain gear that can double as wind gear is key. As mentioned before, we encountered a bit of rain and wind on some of our hiking days. It was also colder than I anticipated and I was glad to have rain gear that helped stop the biting wind even on sunny days. Despite it being August, there were still snow patches in the mountains.

Even if you’re not typically a trekking pole kind of person, in Norway you will become one. As we quickly learned from day one of hiking, there is not a smooth trail in all of Norway. Each day we found ourselves navigating boulder fields big and small, wading through sections of trail that had been reclaimed by the small streams once running across them, and just generally stumbling along an always rocky and uneven path. The trekking poles were incredibly valuable in helping us keep our balance through endless days of rock hopping.

Norwegian Time is a thing. For each day of hiking, we had estimates of how long it would take to cover the miles planned. We quickly realized that those estimates were correct for people that had grown up hiking these mountain trails regularly, but were not quite as accurate for a group not used to the terrain.  We began referring to this as Norwegian Time. It can be calculated by adding about 15 percent to the amount of time you would typically estimate a set number of miles to take.

In Norwegian, the word used to describe something amazing or very pleasing is herlig. As our group trekked through the mountains of Norway, we experienced moments and places that could only be defined by this one word. So if you’re up for a challenge, the mountains of Norway are calling. Just know that the trail will always be rocky, and the view will always be so, so herlig.