Day 1 – Backpacking Sørøya – Hiking Tarhalsen from Akkarfjord
The mythical Midnight Sun does exist! 12:00am and we were able to see it on one of the calmest days up here on the northern most part of Sørøya. This was the view from our tent after our first day hiking on a 6-day trip overland from the north to the south of the island – a 100km hiking trek. There was only the sound of the ocean crashing below on the cliffs and a few birds flying by. It was calm and peaceful and a perfect place to stop after a tough first day.
Here was our campsite for the night near Tarhalsen – still bright at 9pm at night.
We set off from the city of Hammerfest. A short 30 minute ferry ride brought us from major civilization to the small village of Akkarfjord.
Our plan was simple: hike to Tarhalsen, the towering cliff-head that crowns the northeast corner of Sørøya, on this day – and then to continue the whole way southwards to the far town of Sørvær using a 100km stretch of trail that’s really well marked for how little it is used in its entirety. We had all our camping equipment with us for the next 6 or 7 days – a tent, sleeping pad & bag, gas for a primus, cooking ware, matches, a compass, our map, and food and snacks. We left Saturday July 19th and arrived to Akkarfjord at around 3:00pm.
Here’s a photo of some pre-hiking last minute eating before the major trek.
This day we were super lucky as there was no rain or not many clouds in the sky. The island is only 30 minutes by ferry from Hammerfest, yet once you get there, it feels like the most isolated place in the world. Something very refreshing about being away from it all.
Akkarfjord does have a small cafe where you could grab some food and drinks or a last coffee. There’s also a guesthouse and a restaurant if you choose to spend some time before heading out. From the dock, it’s actually a short and steep climb up to the first real view point – perhaps 15 minutes of hard climbing with full backpacks.
A fairly happy hiking photo after reaching the top of the first climb (many more to come later). We were still following the road, but midway on the road the trail juts to the right and that’s where you can begin trekking. On the next few days, we would only encounter three more roads. As a note, you’ll want to buy a touring map to know where you are on the island. I believe the newer maps do have the full trail shown. We had an older map from 2014, which had the usual snow scooter trail, but the hiking trail veers off in certain places. If in doubt, follow only the stones marked with a red T sign.
Here’s the sign to Petterveien – midway down that road, which the turns into the trail to Kjøttvikvarden (a large stone built monument at the top of one of the peaks) and then connects to Tarhalsen in a counterclockwise way.
Today’s total distance was about 9km to Tarhalsen. Along the way, you’d pass Kjøttvikvarden (pictured below). While the hill doesn’t look too steep, this was the first day and heaviest day with our packs. It was pretty difficult near the top.
We were greeted with great views of the nearby islands, the open landscape, and saw only a few other people on the other trails.
Just to the ocean side of this rock pile was a huge cliff – probably around 300m tall or 1,000 ft down.
Here’s the view looking back towards where we started.
Up to the right is the same rock monument where we were and the cliffside.
Here were the only others that we passed by – a pack of wild reindeer who kept their distance.
Before you get to Tarhalsen – maybe 800m away – there’s a last stream that you can drink from and get water from. As with a lot of Norway, you can drink directly from the river or stream. On the lower levels, you may want to boil the water just in case. Although I do suggest that you use a purifier if you’re on a longer journey. This is a good place to fill up before you camp for the night.
And finally we made it to Tarhalsen. There’s a small hut down closer to the water. You’d take the super steep trail (left of the photo above) down and it sits in between here and the far peninsula that you can see.
We decided to skip on going down to the hut to sleep there because it would be an extra 800m distance and another 300m up and down with our heavy backpacks.
Which was fine because we got this view as our campsite.
And so 6 hours and 9km later – we made camp and watched the midnight sun climb just high enough over the horizon to shine over the ocean.
Location:
You can take a ferry from either Øksfjord or Hammerfest to Akkarfjord. You can use Snelandia (northern Norway transport company) to buy tickets online for the ferry and see the schedule. Because the ferry arrives later in the afternoon – it’s advised that you don’t plan for such a large day of trekking. Tarhalsen is reachable but you may have a late finish in the day since you’ll start at 3pm. A note that this ferry route will cost less than the return ferry route.