We have been camping in Scandinavia quite a few times during the summer and fall. This time we wanted to do something different and we called few of our friends to join us for this Arctic camping trip to Lofoten. The idea came when we wanted to see the mountains of Lofoten covered in the snow.
It was obvious that sleeping in a tent during the winter is totally different compared to nice and warm summer nights. We got equipped for this trip and our friends over at Bayerncar Oy offered us a nice BMW X5 that fit all of our gear for the drive to Norway.
We headed up towards Kilpisjärvi for the first night. On the way we stopped by at our friends grocery store Jounin Kauppa in Ylläs. He was kind enough to offer us the food for the trip! We didn't quite make it all the way to Kilpisjärvi for the first night, but near Kaaresuvanto we found this awesome Laavu to sleep in.
The actual adventure started the next day and we didn't have to worry about the time any longer. We stopped once in a while for photos and cooked some nice meals with our camping cookers. We almost made it to the Lofoten Islands on the second day, but we decided to stop in Målselva for a dinner and enjoy the Northern lights. The day had been so long, that we decided to pull our tents out and stay there for the night.
On our third travel day we made our way finally to Lofoten and everyone got super excited. The weather changed drastically every fifteen minutes and we stopped the car almost as often, since everyone went crazy with their cameras. We made it to near Leknes, where we were based pretty much for the rest of the trip.
We drove around every day to different photo locations including Reine, Haukland and Uttakleiv. Even though the weather wasn't the best possible, we were able to capture some nice images.
Our best part of the trip for sure was our hike to Kvalvika beach. We went there with our tents and rest of the equipment as we wanted to spend the night there. The weather was crazy again, as it changed from huge snowstorm to sunshine and partial blue skies. We lit up a bonfire and kept it going as the sun went down. We enjoyed our time in this quiet and beautiful beach and it definitely gave us a nice ending for the whole adventure.
Here are some photos from the trip!
Lofoten is calling and I must go
You might have noticed that Norway and especially Lofoten Islands have been featured in our posts here and on Instagram multiple times. Visiting Lofoten the first time few years ago just left a mark in me with it's amazing mountains and beautiful little fishing villages.
I have been to Lofoten for 6 times now, and the reason why I keep going back is that it is just so photogenic place. There is still so many things out there that I haven't seen and photographed. Finding a new perspective for photographing there is always a fun challenge. Pushing yourself and progressing as a photographer is important and keeps you going.
I hadn't planned going there, but the weather looked so promising and I hadn't been there with snow covered mountains, so I made a quick decision to pack up the car and head up towards Lofoten for this solo quest.
Below are some of the photos I took on the trip:
-Daniel
Road trip to Lofoten - Daniel & Dad
It was a regular thursday noon few weeks ago and I was having lunch with my dad. I happened to look at the weather app on my phone and it showed near perfect blue skies to Lofoten for the next 4 days. I said to my Dad that I'm leaving to Lofoten today! Then I realized that my dad had never been there and he had always enjoyed our photos and stories from our Lofoten road trips. Kind of as a joke I said to my dad that take few days off from work and come with me! My dad said that I really can't, I need to work and I have some meetings the next day. My dad started smiling and you could tell that he had already made a decision to go with me. He went back to work and arranged the meeting for next week and at 4PM we started our journey towards Norway, as I had packed everything while my dad finished his work for the day.
We had a car, tent, camping food and no plans.
-Daniel