Trail head at Løyningdalen.
Start of path to Gråfjellet.
| Gråfjellet from
Løyningdalen Gråfjellet |
| Estimated net time | 2-2½ hours | ||
| Difficulty | No difficulties. | ||
| Drinking water | Nothing reliable along the route. | ||
| GSM coverage | Coverage throughout the route (April 2010). | ||
| Parking | Room for a couple of cars around trail head. | ||
| Start height | 15 metres | ||
| Vertical metres | 480 metres for the roundtrip. | ||
| Trip distance | 5.5 km | ||
| GPS-file | X | ||
| Map |
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| Route photo |
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From Bergen drive road E39 south towards Os, and then into Osøyro centre. Follow road 552 towards Hatvik, and continue 1.2 km on 552 after you have crossed the bridge across Oselva river in Osøyro centre. Turn left here, where signed for "Lønningdal" and "Samnanger", and continue 9.9 km. Then turn left, following sign for "Øvredal". Drive another 800 metres and park on the left hand side just before a bridge crossing the river on the right hand side.
Start walking by crossing the bridge and walk 300 metres uphill to where the road forks. Turn right here, and fork right onto a forest road after 50 metres. Follow this forest road uphill and north-east for 500 metres from the first fork. You are now in a slightly steeper section of the forest road and should turn left onto a path. This path is not very visible, but if you look closer you will see and old wooden sign on the ground and some white fabric on the small trees. The path soon gets a little more defined, and you will continue to find white fabric on the trees as the path winds its way west and north through the bush. When you get up into a flatter section continue to follow the path marked by white fabric. The path now turns right and heads north towards the south ridge of Gråfjellet. In places the path is very vague, and the marking in the form of white fabric more or less stops, but as long as you stay on or close to the ridge you will find your way to the summit. It is probably better to stay on the right (east) side of the ridge than the left (west). The summit is marked by a pole with a post box, which is likely to hold a registration book.
The descent is best done by reversing the ascent route.
Arriving Os the night before, by car from Brattvåg because of the Icelandic ash, I managed to persuade my colleague Torgeir to join me for a hike this Tuesday. My plan was Gråfjellet along the Samnangerfjorden fjord, and it proved to be a nice hike in fine conditions. Torgeir is relatively fit, trying to keep up with his 15 year old cross country skiing son, so we did a fair pace all the way up to the summit. After enjoying the fine views, in particular of the Rosendal alps, we headed back down at a steady pace.