Speechless. Looking out at the world at a loss of words of the beauty displayed ahead. Not knowing what lies on the other side of the mountain ranges or what experiences that it may contain. There is nothing like the feeling of the cold wind in the air or gravel on the ground. Hearing the different languages of all the people surrounding my grandfather and I.
In this exact moment, on the top of Besseggen mountain in Norway, everything else faded away. The nature encompassed me with the feeling of bliss and tranquility. My grandfather and I had just reached the peak and felt the exhaustion take over our bodies. In those preceding four hours we had taken the Gjendebåten ferry across the crystal clear, turquoise lake Gjende to the trailhead. We walked along the wildflowers which slowly led to navigating through boulders. Stacked rock trailmakers helped us stay on the right way to the mountain.
We eventually had to stop to catch our breaths at the bottom of the strenuous climb we were about to embark on. We splashed some of the cold lake water on our faces to wake us up and decided to begin. The farther we got, the steeper the mountain got. No one was attached to a rope or a harness. It was just us and the mountain with a hundred thousand foot plummet to the lake below. I was looking around me seeing everyone else enduring the painful conditions of the climb, but every single person was doing so with a smile on their faces. Everyone was talking with one another motivating each other to push through the pain and continue. This sight made the hike all the more worthwhile. We weren’t doing this by ourselves, we were doing this as a community.
Standing at the top of that ridge I felt the rush of emotions and joy at the fact that I had completed one of the hardest things that I’ve ever done in my life. The sound of the rushing water on either side of me hundreds of feet below, I felt as if we were on top of the world.
All that was left was the trek back down the mountain. We were still four hours out from the end of the trail but we had come this far and had to push forward. We reached the bottom with my legs shaking from exhaustion and a big smile on my face. My grandfather telling me how proud he was of me for completing this hike with him. Nothing else could’ve made this moment any better.
Nearly two years later, I continue to travel and find new adventures wherever I go, but none will be like Besseggen. Besseggen is a place that changed my outlook on life and has taught me the value of going to the outdoors and exploring the nature around us. The hidden-in-plain-sight treasure will never go uncherished and is a place that I want to visit again in the future.
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