Estimated net time	5-6 hours
Difficulty	No difficulties.
Drinking water	Access to running water throughout most of the route while snow is still melting. Later in the season there is also access to running water in several places.
GSM coverage	Coverage at the summit and partly during descent (June 2008).
Parking	Room for many cars at the car park by Osavatnet. On nice days it is likely to be a charge (NOK 30 per June 2008).
Start height	312 metres
Vertical metres	875 metres for the roundtrip
Trip distance	14.8 km
GPS-file	X
Map
Route photo

If coming from Nesttun drive road 580 towards Arna. After you have passed the lakes Grimevatnet and Søylevatnet it is signed towards "Bjørndalen" and "Unneland" to the right. Follow this road for 2.0 km to Unneland, and turn right towards Osavatnet. Drive upwards approximately 4.5 km to the far (north-east) end of Osavatnet.

Start walking by following the service road that runs next to the river than comes down from Svartavatnet. 400 metres after leaving the car park the service road forks. Turn left here and follow the leg that runs towards north. 630 metres later you turn right in order to cross a bridge. Follow this good path all the way to Redningshytten. From Redningshytten follow the path that runs south-east, then on the left (east) side of a small lake. Approximately half-way along this lake make a sharp left and follow the path that runs north-east. Follow the large cairns all the way up to Gullfjellet, then down towards a couple of small lakes, and finally up to Gullfjelltoppen.

From the top of Gullfjelltoppen you can see two small lakes towards north; you are to pass around these lakes on the north side. Walk north, down the first hill from Gullfjelltoppen, then gradually turn left (west) and aim for the two lakes at Tjørnane. Pass the two lakes on their north side, and then continue down the narrow valley Kinndalen. Once you are down Kinndalen follow the path down to Svartavatnet, walk around Svartavatnet on its north and western shores, and then follow the path and service road back down to Osavatnet.

07. June 2008

I had travelled to Bergen the day before for a meeting with RR at Hordvikneset, and instead of taking the late flight back home I decided to stay overnight in Bergen and do a longer hike before getting the afternoon flight back home this Saturday. Nothing seemed more appropriate than doing the highest mountain in Bergen municipality; Gullfjelltoppen.

Thanks to Morten's excellent hospitality the night before I didn't get to bed before three in the morning, and with a 14:55 flight as a constraint it wasn't room for more than a little more than four hours of sleep. The plan was that Morten was going to join me for this hike, but he threw in the towel during the nourishing E&B breakfast he had prepared. I left Sælenveien just after eight, slightly worried whether I was in a proper state for driving or not, and headed for Unneland and Osavatnet.

I left the trail head at 09:05. It was yet another wonderful day, with clear sky and air temperature already creeping close to 20°C. My plan was to do the hike around Gullfjelltoppen in a clockwise direction, but just below lake Svartevatnet I crossed the bridge below the dam, and when I realised that this would take me on a counter clockwise route I thought "why not", and it didn't seem to make any difference.

I tried to keep a good pace up towards Redningshytten, since I wasn't sure how long the round-trip would take me to complete, and being aware of the flight I had to catch. After something like half an hour's walking the body was starting to feel good, and I gradually increased the pace towards the summit. Above 800 metres there was still a lot of snow left in the mountain, but the snow was relatively firm, so crossing it caused no problems.

After having spent some time at the summit, enjoying the views, taking photos and chatting with a couple who arrived just after me, I started the descent.

Photos 07.06.2008