Hiking with cows (you can take the boy outta the country...)

The guy I'm renting my room from in Oslo has a friend with a dairy farm in the mountains in Norway, and every year at the end of the summer they walk the cows from the summer farm higher up in the mountains, down to the winter farm, in a lower valley. I was invited to come along for this unique experience.

Norway has lots of tunnels, this was also me playing with the camera

Finndalen - the valley where the summer farm is located, with the farmhouse in the foreground

The summer farm

Curious cows - roughly the first 2 hours of the hike is going through this valley, with the cows straying from the road more often then you'd care for

Above the tree-line vegetation

The cows figured it out - after a certain point, the cows understand what's going on, know the routine, and just follow the path

Mountain blueberries - not sure if these were the edible type, I didn't venture a try

Mountain plateau - view from somewhere up on the mountain, enjoying the view to the other mountains and the spots of sun

If a cow can do it - it's a long hike, but the cows seemed to manage ok

First glimpses toward the valley where the winter (main) farm is

Down is the hard part - the view was spectacular, and crazy to see the farms looking so tiny so far down below, going down the mountain is particularly hard on the joints

Main farm - (winter farm)

Main farm - the view at the main farm, looking further down the valley

Skjåk - roughly the location where the farm is, and also across the river is where they make Norway's famous Brunost (brown cheese)

Old stave church - Lom

Stave church interior - apparently one of the oldest stave churches in Norway

Lom - rapids/waterfall in the town of Lom, a very picturesque and touristy location

Reindeer crossing? or beware of reindeer on the road (or is it elk/moose?)

Scenic route home - drove through a nice section of mountains for a bit of a scenic route back to Oslo

Rock strewn landscape, with mountains in the background

Small mountain waterfalls

More scenic vistas - that's actually a tiny village down by the water, so you see the water is actually a ways away here

Less mountainous scenery - it still puzzles me how people farm here