Såta, 489m
Fløyen, 423m

Mountain area : Samnanger
Fylke/Kommune : Hordaland/Samnanger
Maps : 1215-IV Samnanger; (Statens Kartverk, Norge 1:50 000)
Primary Factor: Såta: 186m
Primary Factor: Fløyen: 27m
Hiked : July 2003
See also : Høgehaugen
See also : Burlifjellet
Saata seen from Gullfjellet

Såta seen from Gullfjellet
Click on image for mountain names

Introduction

Just south of Tysse, between the Kvamskogen-Fusa mountains and Samnangerfjorden, you will find a number of lower forest hills. Around lake Stemmevatnet, you will find Såta (489m), Fløyen (423m/425m) and Steinafjellet (443m). Fløyen is the more frequently visited hill, most likely because of the excellent views from the top. Såta, which is the highest of the hills, is harder to reach. One can walk through wetlands and forest from Fløyen, the approach described here, but the easiest approach may be to follow the forest road south of Fløyen, then into Altasæterdalen valley, and locate a path up to Såta from here.

Heights

The viewpoint on Fløyen is 423m. There is a 2m higher spot, slightly further west, and you will find a path between the two points.

On the GPS compatible maps from Statens Kartverk, the Såta 489m point is found NE on the summit ridge, which was 38m from the point that we nominated to be the high point. Looking at the 5m detail map on Norgesglasset, you will see a 490m contour just below the summit marking. This indicates that the high point is not the trig. point on Såta. My GPS suggested that the height was closer to 495m. As such, we have visited the high point, but not the trig. point.

Primary Factor

Såta (M711: 489m, Ø.K: -) has a primary factor of 186m, towards the higher Burlifjellet (855m). The saddle is found a bit north, and east of Fossåsen. Ref. Økonomisk Kartverk (5m contours), you cross the 305m contours on the high route, but not 300m. The saddle heigh has been interpolated to 303m. On the Ø.K: map, it looks as there is a 390m contour on Såta, but until this has been verified, I'm keeping the M711 height.

Fløyen (M711: -, Ø.K: 425m) has a primary factor of 27m towards the higher Såta (489m). The saddle is found between the two tops. Ref. Økonomisk Kartverk (5m contours), you cross the 400m contours on the high route, but not 395m. The saddle height is interpolated to 393m. Note that the M711 423m trig. point does not mark the highest point. Ø.K: also indicated that there is a 42m contour further north, giving an interpolated height of 428m, but I cannot remember any higher point when I visited the 425m point. I will check this again when I visit Steinafjellet later.

Trail descriptions:

Note: Class ratings are in reference to YDS (Yosemite Decimal System).

Note: The trail described below is not necessarily the easiest trail to this mountain.

Highway 48 - Fløyen - Såta (summer/autumn)

Difficulty : Class 2
Comments : Trail to Fløyen. Off-trail to Såta
Distance : Approx. 1.5Km to Fløyen. Then 1.3Km to Såta
Time : Approx. 2-3 hours round-trip
Starting Elev.: Approx. 200m
Vertical Gain : Approx. 340m

Map of the area
Map of the area
Detailed map
Detailed map

Access

From Bergen, follow highway E16 towards Oslo. At Trengereid, follow highway 7 (Oslo) down to Samnangerfjorden. Pass Bjørkheim (Statoil gas station on your right). Continue through two tunnels, and just after the second tunnel, exit right onto highway 48 (Tysse). Follow this road for 9,6Km and locate a small parking (3-4 cars) on the left hand side. This is on the top of a long hill, so be careful as you turn out.

The route

The trail begins by the parking. It is not marked, but very visible. The trail climbs gentle upwards, and you will pass a cabin on your right, after a while. Further on the trail, notice the "Fløyen" trail sign on a tree, on the left hand side of the trail. Leave the main trail here (which runs to lake Stemmevatnet) and exit trail onto a less visible path. This path can be quite boggy and muddy after rain.

The trail passes a small cairn before continuing to the Fløyen view point at 323m. 165m further south is the Fløyen high point (325m), but it is the 323m point that provide the views.

Såta is a long forest hill, 945m away (straight distance) in the east. First, you need to pass the lake by Fløyen, for instance on the south side. You will quickly lose the path and you have to make your own way across the ridge towards Såta. You will descend all the way down to 400m before you start gaining vertical meters towards Såta. If you make it to a saddle just in front of Såta (saddle is perhaps 20m wide, and descends on both sides), then you will most likely locate a path that leads towards the summit. The path takes you to a meadow just SW of the summit ridge. The high point is not marked, and this is not the 489m point on the map. This point is probably 5-6m higher. If you want to look for the 489m point (we didn't) then seek further NE on the ridge, but you will need to descend some, in order to find this point.

Descend the ascent route to the saddle mentioned above. Then head back the same way you came, or try a different route back to the original Fløyen trail.

Trip report July 09 2003

Another fine evening to spend on a hill that I haven't been to before. Again I called my colleague Ketil, and asked if he felt for getting into a bush war. I had already Såta in mind, as the hill was close to where he lives. My first thought was that no trails led to this hill, and that we would have to get physical with the terrain. He then told me that a trail led to Fløyen, and then I assumed the walk over to Såta wouldn't be all bad.

I picked him up at 19:30PM and we were on our way up the trail to Fløyen by 19:50PM. The trail was easy to follow, and Troll was busy with dog stuff, moving back and forth on the trail. At the trail fork, we took the Fløyen trail, and the ground turned wet and boggy. Troll was now busy enough with just keeping up. We arrived Fløyen 20:30PM, and had a good view towards the Kvamskogen-Fusa mountains, and a good west view towards Møsnuken, Sveningen and Gullfjellet.

Between us and Såta was forest, wetlands and small lakes. We manoeuvered around the obstacles, but this wasn't exactly fun. When we finally arrived at the base of Såta, we found a vague path that gave us a fairly easy ascent up the hill. When we entered the top ridge at 21:05PM, we had no clue where the summit was, but we agreed to go left. After some ups and downs, the ridge rose noticeably, and we both agreed we were on the top. At least when trees were taken out of the equation. My GPS supported this theory, and we decided to escape from the bush jungle.

We agreed to take a different route back, and headed towards lake Stemmevatnet. I anticipated there would be much less water than usual, revealing a nice shoreline to follow. There was no shoreline, but the terrain wasn't all that bad. We scared the living daylights out of some sheep who didn't expect visitors. Soon, we joined the Fløyen trail and was down by the road 22:05PM.

Pictures from the July 03 2003 hike:

Move cursor to read notes, and click on the images to see full version.
Some of the thumbnails may have been cropped to fit the format.
Pictures are presented in the order they were taken.

Arriving Samnangerfjorden (248KB) The lake Stemmevatnet/Floyen trail junction (212KB) A stream from lake Stemmevatnet (161KB) Higher mountains seen from near Floyen (250KB) Lake Stemmevatnet in the background (158KB) Mosnuken by Os, seen from near Floyen (200KB) Sea view from Floyen (178KB) Road view from Floyen (205KB) Small lake by Floyen (149KB) Saata summit (202KB) Floyen seen from Saata (88KB) By lake Stemmevatnet (127KB) Approaching the Floyen trail (93KB) Enjoying sunset while passing Osteroy on the way home (62KB)

Pictures from other hikes:


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