Norwegian Mountains

Bjørgafjell, 354m

Mountain area : Nordhordland
Fylke/Kommune : Hordaland/Lindås
Maps : 1116-II Sæbø (Statens Kartverk, Norge 1:50 000)
Primary factor : 256m
Closest villages : Eknes, Knarvik
Hiked : Jan 2004
See also : Djupedalseggene
See also : Austlendingen
Bjorgafjell seen from highway E39

Bjørgafjell seen from highway E39

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Introduction

Bjørgafjell is one of many forest hills in the Nordhordland region, which I have, for this web-site, defined to end at the Austlendingen massif. As there are not many high mountains in this area, you get a fairly good view towards the north, west and the south. Of course, Austlendingen and Husdalsfjellet blocks any eastern views.

Bjørgafjell is not among the highest hills in the Nordhordland region, but is perhaps the easiest summit to reach. One can drive up to the Bjørgo houses, approx. 200m above the sea level and reach the summit within a short hike on forest road and trail. It takes less than one hour to drive from Bergen, and the hike takes also less than one hour. A good place for a lunch out in the open.

Primary factor:

Bjørgafjell's primary factor towards the higher Djupedalseggene is 256m. The saddle is in a road junction SE of Eidaåsen. The last adjacent contours on the Norgesglasset 5m detail map are 100m. The saddle is interpolated to 98m.

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.

Bjørgo - Bjørgafjell (all seasons)

Difficulty : Class 1
Exposure : None
Comments : Short family hike
Distance : Approx. 1,2Km to summit
Time : Approx. 45mins to summit
Starting Elev.: Approx. 210m
Vertical Gain : Approx. 150m

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

From Bergen, follow highway E16/E39 to the Åsane junction where the highways part. Follow highway E39 towards Førde. From the toll station at the Nordhordlandsbrua bridge (fee is NOK 45,- for passenger cars per Jan 04) follow highway E39 for 16,7Km and exit right towards Hindnes/Eknes. Within less than 100m you reach another junction. Turn left towards Hindnes.

Follow this road for approx. 1,3Km and you will arrive a new junction. Turn right towards "Bjørgo" (3Km) and drive until road end. Ask for permission to park near the uppermost farm.

The route

Go left just before the uppermost farm. Locate an old cabin and go through the gate on the right hand side. Follow the old forest road upwards, staying right of the forest on your left. After you have passed 300m elevation, the forest road turns into a trail just before a fence. Cross the fence through a gate and follow the trail to the summit, which is just ahead. Some random sticks with red paint provide trailmarkers. The summit is marked with a white/red trig. point.

Descend your ascent route or read the trip report for a round-trip description.

Trip Report Jan 17 2004

I woke up late expecting to see rain, snow or something ugly in that category. To my surprise I saw clear blue sky. I decided to go skiing on Gullfjellet. Troll's back was still bad after spending a day with some female dachshunds, and was confined to home. I prepared the skis and was on my way. Before I had reached the main road I changed the plans and headed north. Now I was eager to collect something new and Bjørgafjell was the last hill in the Nordhordland area. I expected I could ski out there, and I planned a ski-trip across the entire ridge.

As I was getting closer to the destination, the lack of snow was overwhelming. I noticed some frost on the ground, but nothing for skiing. It would be a hiking day. The route from Bjørgo looked far too short, and I decided to drive to Hindnes and still hike the entire ridge. While driving along the hill, the amount of forest made me change plans once again. When I reached Åsgård I asked I guy for his opinion. He suggested I should follow the forest road from Åsgård (3,6Km from the Bjørgo junction).

I was allowed to park by the nearest house, and started hiking 13:00PM. The forest road turned into a Y fork immediately. I stayed on the rightmost forest road, running alongside an old stonefence. The guy's directions didn't make sense, and I followed the forest road until road end. Then I headed up a hill in the forest, which seemed logical at the time. I ran into a fence, and I wasn't sure if I was on the inside or the outside. I hiked along the fence in a dense pine forest. Pointy and sharp branches was broken by the numbers as I headed upwards (there is now a good trail).

Finally I was out of the forest, but had no clue where the high point was. I had no map of the area as I had changed the plans after leaving the house. I decided to cut across the ridge, heading for the nearest high point. This turned out to be the high point, with the trig. point. I reached this point 14:00PM. After a round of pictures, I decided to follow the main trail from the summit down to Bjørgo. The lack of snow made the trail easy to follow. Just below the summit, I ran into a flock of wild sheep. I guess the surprise was mutual. When I looked back towards the summit, a big bird, most likely an eagle, was silently sailing above me.

Instead of heading down to Bjørgo, I sat course towards another high point on the hill that would provide some good views towards Bergen. This point was clearly a bit lower than the summit. One can never be sure about those trig. points. There is no rule saying the trig. points are the highest points. After a new round of pictures, I headed back to the trail and followed it down to Bjørgo.

Now I was facing several kilometres on road before I could get back on the road leading to Åsgård. I asked a guy if there were any shortcuts. Indeed there were, and I was on my way up a forest road that seemed to head back towards up the hill. But the forest road ran pretty much east-west and when I had fjordview, I left the forest road and headed off-trail down a valley that would take me to "Vågen", a local name for the innermost part of the fjord. The valley was easy to descend and suddenly I was on yet another forest trail that took me down to a road. This shortcut saved me 3,5Km. I was happy. After another 20 minutes, and 1,9Km on the road, I reached Åsgård 15:30PM, after a fun 10Km hike.

Pictures from the Jan 17 2004 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.

1. On my way from Aasgard (207KB) 2. Nordhordland hills (283KB) 3. Arriving Bjorgafjell summit (195KB) 4. North/Northwest view from Bjorgafjell (421KB) 5. Djupedalseggene seen from Bjorgafjell (347KB) 6. View towards Nord-Gulen (421KB) 7. Austlendingen seen from Bjorgafjell (498KB) 8. Bjorgafjell summit (114KB) 9. Eagle above Bjorgafjell (37KB) 10. Wild sheep on Bjorgafjell (239KB) 11. Bjorgafjell summit (162KB) 12. View from Dale to Bergen (275KB) 13. View towards Bjorgo (203KB) 14. Bergen mountains seen from Bjorgafjell (230KB) 15. At the timberline? (92KB) 16. Arriving Bjorgo (131KB) 17. Bjorgo trailhead (143KB) 18. Looking back towards Bjorgo (113KB) 19. Shortcutting back to the fjord (257KB)

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Pictures from other hikes:

South view (zoom) from Vardefjellet, 513m (643KB) Osteroy mountains (275KB) Osteroy mountains (258KB) East view from Grønetua (part 1/2) (932KB)


Other hordaland mountains Other Lindås K. mountains westcoastpeaks.com