| Høgevard from
Tempelsetra Høgevard |
| Estimated net time | 3-4 hours |
| Difficulty | No difficulties. |
| Drinking water | Plenty of running water from streams along the path. |
| GSM coverage | Unknown. |
| Parking | Room for many cars at car park at trail head. |
| Start height | 910 metres |
| Vertical metres | 630 metres for the roundtrip. |
| Trip distance | 12.4 km |
| GPS-file | X |
| Map |
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| Route photo |
From Noresund, on road 7, drive west in the round-abut, following signs for "Ringnes" and "Norefjell". After 1.1 km turn left where signed for "Eggedal", and pay toll at the unmanned toll booth (NOK 40 per 2009) after another 500 metres. From here continue 8.0 km to a junction, where you continue straight ahead (don't fork right). Follow the same procedure (straight ahead, not right) at the junction after another 1.6 km. After another 14.2 km you will see a sign pointing right for "Tempel seter", and you turn right here. 3.2 km along this road you get to another unmanned toll booth (NOK 50 per 2009), and then continue another 2.6 km to Tempelsetra. Find parking somewhere on the large car park.
Start walking by heading north on the forest road. After you have crossed the river you will find the path that runs north towards the saddle between Ranten and Høgevard. Approximately 1.5 km from the car park the path turns towards north/north-east and runs on the right hand side of the river coming down from the saddle. When you get to the saddle you turn right, following signs for "Høgevard". This path will first take you south-east, and then east, untill you get to the small lake Høgevardtjenn. From here you turn left and circumvent the lake on the north side, and then head south-east to Høgevard summit. The summit is marked by a big pile of stones.
The descent is best done by reversing the ascent route.
This Tuesday morning I drove from Sarpsborg to Bærum to team up with friend Håvard, with whom I was going to spend the next few days hiking Hemsedal mountains. The original plan had been to go to Trollheimen, but because of the terrible weather forecast we decided to go to his cabin above Nesbyen instead. Our plans for this first day was to bag Ranten, Gråfjell and Høgevard on our way to Nesbyen.
By the time we got to Tempelsetra the weather across the Norefjell mountains was also pretty depressing, and we soon understood that it was no point planning for a long hike. We therefore decided to settle for just Høgevard, since at least this mountain was visible. Despite the lousy conditions there were a number of other hikers around, but it seemed most of them only were out for short walks around Tempelsetra, and not wanting to take on one of the mountains.
Høgevard summit was a hostile place this afternoon, with some rain and a very strong wind, so that any opening we still had for including Ranten and Gråfjell in today's hike was by now definitely closed out. Instead we started our descent, and we both looked forward to get back to Håvard's cabin and some decent food and drinks.