Preikestolen and Kjerag

Having lived in Norway this is a must do hike to Preikestolen or otherwise called Pulpit rock and Kjerag. Both these are fantastic view points of Lysefjorden which goes through Stavanger. they are pretty much located on opposite sides of Lysefjord. However Preikestolen is easily accesible from Stavanger city, Kjerag is quite the opposite. You definitely need a car to go to the base point to climb up to Kjeragbolten. Michel and I decided 2 days before the weekend that we had to go here and made all arrangements. Turned out quite expensive but we were upto it anyway. We decided to rent a car for the weekend and drive so we dont waste time waiting for buses. We took the night train from Oslo to Stavanger and rented a car next morning in Stavanger airport.
Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock): Off we went by the car towards Preikestolen hytta, base point for the hike. We had to first cross the Fjord by a car ferry and then started out hike from the Base point. Unfortunately weather gods werent smiling upon us. It was very foggy and full of clouds that day. It was a beautiful sight to see the mist hovering over the lake on the way. Slowly the hike became a very steep climb. It was crowded despite the fact that it was very cloudy. Maybe everyone was as optimistic as were. It took us almost 3 hours and bit more to reach the rock. It was quite a sight. The Pulpit rock is steep rock face jutting out of the mountains. You can appreciate the steepness from the pictures. On a clear day you could see the Fjord all the way below and around. Quite scary to actually peep and look down from the rock. Still we sat at the edge and took a few photos for our memories and decided that we need to come to this place again on a clear sunny day to enjoy the full view. We were waiting for the fog to clear up, but in vain. So we just walked all around the place and started our hike back to the base point. It was a bit strenuous, but manageable and we reached the hytta and took our car and went to the Three Swords monument near Stavanger. It was 3 Huge swords stuck to the ground with hilts up in the air commemorating the Battle of Hafrsfjord and the King who united three districts into one kingdom.
Kjerag: We had a good rest the night before and started very early to Kjerag. The drive to the base point itself was about 2 hours. It was a beautiful though, through the low clouds sometimes as we were climbing and also the sheeps all along the way and magnificient natural sceneries all around. By the time we reached Kjerag it was quite foggy up there. We knew this was the toughest of the two hikes, but little did we know that it was going to be very steep climb all the way. The initial climb was pretty much on a slippery rock face with no trails, but just a chain to hold on. All along the view just kept getting better. After a particular elevation, we were actually high above the clouds and view became much clearer. We could see the whole mountain ranges covered with snow caps, water falls and the clear fresh water streams from the melting snow. It was just beautiful. Then we saw Kjerag. It is a big rock or Boulder stuck between 2 mountains. its almost like a round marble stuck inside the bottle neck. The scary part is that it was 1000m deep below into the fjords. It was still cloudy and we were again robbed off the view of lysefjord. Having decided to push ourself to the edge we stepped onto the Kjerag and took a few pictures. One slip and we would fall 1000m below. Quite scary!! Thinking back, I dunno how and why I did it.. These mountains were a good place for Base jumping for the sky divers. Because of the bad weather we couldn't see any. We hikes around a little bit to explore some untouched areas and drank water from the clear stream, we tarted heading back to the base point. Just after 3 hours we reached the car and headed back to the airport to catch our flight. We just made it in time and by a stroke of luck were offered to take the later flight back in exchange for airline vouchers. We weren't complaining at all. :). This almost cut our expenses into half. So all in all it was a very good trip and would def. love to do it all over again.

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