This is my follow-up post of Part 1: How to prepare for a nature trek. It’s about my TrekDoc: a checklist that you can fill out before you leave on your nature trek and that you can share with the trek participants and the people who stay at home. It serves multiple purposes:

1. It’s a preparation checklist so you won’t forget anything
2. It simplifies communication between the participants
3. It’s a convenient information source for the people staying at home

At the end of the trek, I usually add some extra info to the document (under Results) like some trekking statistics (e.g. moving time per day, trekking distance, height ascended and descended), the final trekking route, some pictures, and lessons learned. That way you end up with a complete log of your trek which can be a useful guide for future trips.

Below you’ll find my TrekDoc with sample data, loosely based on a trek I did in Norway in 2021. I have the same document in Google Docs, one that you can easily copy and use as template for your own nature trek.

Example TrekDoc Femundsmarka Aug. 2021

Activity
Goal
Date
Location
Hiking route
Participants
Program
Transport
Water & food
Sleeping
Navigation
Gear
Weather
Animals & plants
Costs
Online info
Other
Results

Activity

Hiking and wild camping.

Goal

Have fun and pretty intense hikes (4-5 hours/day with a backpack over rough terrain).

Date

Sat 7 Aug. 2021 (about 7:00) – Fri 13 Aug. 2021 (about 21:00). This is 7 days (5 days in the field, 2 days traveling).

Location

Femundsmarka national park in Norway. Together with eight connected nature areas (some in Sweden), it forms Gränslandet (‘Border Land’) which is one of the largest continuous areas of wilderness in southern Scandinavia (2.100 km²). The lakes are at around 800 m elevation, the treeline at around 1.000 m and the highest mountains at around 1.500 m. There are many marshes and lakes and sparse pine and birch forest. The area is also great for canoeing and fishing.

Hiking Route

Our planned hiking route is drawn on Google Maps (total distance: 70 km). It can always change depending on local conditions like bad weather.

Day planning

River crossings

Our route crosses a number of streams. However, in hiking areas in summer, sometimes temporary bridges are built.

Peaks

5 highest peaks in the region: Storviglen (1.561 m), Elgåhogna (1.460 m), Stor Svuku (1.416 m), Gröthogna (1.401 m), Brattriet (1.276 m).

Participants

Program

Every day hiking and wild camping, except the two traveling days. The first day (7 Aug. 2021) we stay at a camping near Femundsmarka and the last day we hike a relatively small distance back to the car. (Typical day: 8:00 get up, 9:30 leave camp and hike, 12:00 lunch, 13:00 hike, 16:00 make camp + exploring, 18:00 dinner).

Transport

1. Train/bus from home to Amsterdam Schiphol Int. airport (NL)
2. Flight from A’dam to Oslo Gardermoen Int. airport (Norway)
3. Rental car from Oslo to Femundsmarka
4. Return in reverse order

Flight schedule

Source: www.google.nl/flights

Water & food

Water

Source: local lakes and streams (there are many). Purification: filtering (Katadyn filter) or cooking (camp stove). If there is enough wood around, we can also cook on a campfire.

Food

We bring food for 5 wild camps in the field.

Carry all food in a large stuff sack. Everybody brings their own food.

Cooking

Sleeping

The first night we sleep at an official campsite.

Wild camping

In Norway they have the “allemansretten” which means wild camping is allowed under the following conditions: no motorized vehicles, at least 150m from houses, not on public parking places, max. 2 nights, leave gates like you find them (open or closed) and there are no special camping spots nearby.

Navigation

Maps

• Most detailed maps in Norway are often 1:50.000 instead of 1:25.000.
• Hiking routes in Norway are often marked with cairns (mounds of rocks) with a painted red “T” or with red painted sticks if there are no rocks around.
• I also have Topo GPS maps of Norway and Sweden on my iPhone but I tend to use the paper maps more because I prefer the larger viewing area and I like to save phone battery.
• We need at least one compass.

Gear

Per person

For general use

Weather

General

Femundsmarka has a subarctic climate (Köppen climate classification). This means long, usually very cold winters, and short, cool summers.

Averages in Aug. (elevation 800m)

Sources:

• http://hikersbay.com/climate-conditions/norway/femundsmarka/climate-conditions-in-femundsmarka-national-park.html?lang=en
• https://www.windfinder.com/windstatistics/drevsjo

Keep in mind: temperature drops about 0.8C every 100m of elevation (= lapse rate), and wind generally increases.

Snow line

In Summer in East Norway the snow line is at 1.600 – 1.700 m.

Sun

Moon

Source: https://www.heavens-above.com/

Weather forecast

• https://www.yr.no/en/forecast/daily-table/1-524963/Norway/Tr%C3%B8ndelag/R%C3%B8ros/Femundsmarka%20nasjonalpark
• https://www.senorge.no/

Webcams

(e.g. to check snow lines)

Valdalsfjell (820m)

Animals & plants

Some of the animals and plants we might see:

Fauna

Arctic fox, Beaver, Brown bear, Carp, Char, Crane, Common redshank, Duck, Falcon, Golden eagle, Grayling, Grouse, Lemming, Loon, Lynx, Moose, Musk Oxen, Osprey, Otter, Perch, Pike, Ptarmigan, Raven, Red fox, Reindeer, Roe deer, Salmon, Sheep, Snow hare, Snowy owl, Stoat, Trout, Wolf, Wolferine

Flora

Bilberry, Birch, Black crowberry, Cloudberry, Common cottongrass, Dwarf birch, Golden root, Heather, Juniper, Lichen, Lingonberry, Map lichen, Pine, Reindeer moss, Sphagnum moss, Spruce, Star moss, Willow

Bugs

Mosquitos (and other stinging insects) can be a real plague in the Summer in Norway so sometimes we need to wear a long-sleeve shirt, a head net and gloves. Prime mosquito time: 15 June – 31 July.

Every day check your body for ticks (some carry Lyme Disease). If you remove them within 24 hours after a bite, normally you are fine.

Costs

• Excluding costs own outdoor gear!
• Make sure you have travel insurance that covers off-trail hiking and wild camping in the mountains

Online info

Area

• Femundsmarka National Park – National Park website
• Gränslandet – 2.100 m² nature area (Femundsmarka is 1 of 9 connected areas)
• UT.no – route planner of the Norwegian Trekking Association (DNT)
• Hardangervidda trek in 2017 – Report of a trek in a similar area (Online Caveman blog)

Trekking skills

• How to prepare for a nature trek
• How to pack a backpack by American outdoor store REI
• Navigation skills by the Mountaineering Council of Scotland
• Finding five-star backpacking campsites – 6 min. video by Andrew Skurka
• How to ford a river – 8 min. video by CleverHiker
• Tips for ultralight backpacking – Andrew Skurka’s blog

Other

• Keep your stuff light! Max. weights:

• Packing tip: pack your bag at least 2 days in advance.
• Fitness: make sure you are fit enough to walk 5 hours with a backpack over rough terrain.
• Norwegian words that might come in handy:

Norwegian      English

Bekken         Stream 
Bom            Toll
Bre            Glacier
Bro/Bru/Brua   Bridge
Dalen          Valley   
Elv            River 
Fjell          Mountain 
Foss           Waterfall
Hytter         Cabins
Låst           Locked
Moh            Meter
Myr            Swamp
Nord           North
Øst            East
Søppel         Trash
Sør            South
Sprit          Alcohol
Tørkerom       Drying room
Tur            Trek
Ulåst          Unlocked
Varde          Cairn
Vatnet         Lake
Vei            Road
Vest           West
Vidda          Plateau

• Currency in Norway: Norwegian Krone (consists of 100 øre). 1 NOK = about € 0,11.
• Time difference Norway – Netherlands: none.
• Driving: max. speed on many Norwegian roads is only 80 km/h and there are toll roads.
• Power plugs: for powering electrical devices in Norway you can use the same power plugs as in The Netherlands.
• Cabins: the Norwegian Trekking Association (DNT – Den Norske Turistforening) has 480 cabins (staffed lodges, self-service cabins and no-service cabins) all over Norway. For the self-service and no-service cabins, often you need a special key to get in.
• Mobile connection: you will probably have little (or no) connection with your mobile phone in the area (no calling signal and no internet).
• Alpine distress signal: 6 signals (e.g. whistle blasts) per minute, 1 min. break, repeat, etc. Reply: 3 signals (e.g. whistle blasts) per min., 1 min. break, repeat, etc.
• Emergency plan: If Mary (John’s wife) has not heard that we have returned to civilization on Friday evening 13 Aug. 2021, she will contact Norwegian Mountain Rescue.
• Emergency phone number in Norway is (same as in The Netherlands): +47 112.

< The section below is added after the trek >

Results

Distances and times

Route

Google Maps (final trekking route)

Photos

Online Caveman blog

Lessons learned

• Pete’s sleeping bag (down bag from REI) was slightly too cold for 2 nights. (Estimated night temp.: 5 °C).
• The new 1L Katadyn Befree water filter works excellent. It has a higher flowrate than the Sawyer Mini filter and the water bag is easier to fill in streams because of the bigger opening than the Sawyer water bag.
• All river crossings either had a small bridge (not all on map), or stepping stones, so no need to get feet wet
• The unmarked trails were not too bad to walk on
• Every campsite had a campfire place with stones and enough firewood
• Cloudberries were tasty and abundant in swampy areas
• We regularly had 4G mobile reception in the area