Ic.17    Section Sapmanelva - Jitnemenjaevrie 19 km

Following River Virmaelva meant mostly boggy no trail hiking. Twice more I had to get out off my boots and into my Crocks to cross rivers today. Finally shortly before reaching Lake Virmavatnet I left the river behind and climbed up into Virmafjellet. It became quite steep and rocky until arriving at the top. There were still wet meadows up on top but mostly rocky. For a while it became difficult to follow the GPS track so that I deviated from it before finally getting back on the track. Getting back down from the fjell required walking down a good sized snow / ice field. Glizzading was out of the question as it ended in a scree field. Bypassing it would have meant a difficult climb down across the same rock field. Step by step I slowly came down back on solid ground. Towards evening I arrived at a small creek feeding into Lake Jitnemenjaevrie. Here I set up my tarp. The sun had come out late in the day but my camp was soon in the shade. In the distance I could see 3 tents. A few days later I learned that I had met these German hikers earlier. When filtering my water I was not careful enough and dropped the Sawyer filter. The housing broke into several pieces. I could not find all of them on the ground. With scotch tape I repaired it enough to be just about usable.

River Virmaelva

Crossing River Virmaelva

No trail across Store Bjørgefjellet

Rocky climb without any trail

I came down this snow and ice field

Store Bjørgefjellet