The Hardangervidda

Now, while I wouldn't consider myself an expert on lonely places, I feel I know a little more than your average Joe. I've stood at 10,000 feet among the 4,000 year old bristle cone pines, wandered between the Joshua trees of the Mojave Desert, and listened to loons call on the lakes of the Canadian shield, if I must present a few of my credentials. However, that being said, I have never encountered a place that carried with it a profound loneliness like the barren heights of Hardangervidda. It lies between Bergen and Oslo, a large plateau (Vidda is Norwegian for "wide expanse"), at an average height of 3,500 feet. Its height combined with its northern latitude prevents the growth of any trees, and so nothing but barren moorland, pocketed with crystal clear lakes and streams, stretches as far as the eye can see. I may sound like a broken record, but words truly don't capture the feeling the heights evoke, and so, dear reader, I leave you with some pictures.