Featured Photograph

Kvalvika Beach

The sun was shining brightly that morning on our way to the Ryten trail, but as soon as we drove into Moskensøy, a deep dark blanket of clouds covered the sky. My father and I started hiking, worrying that the reduced visibility will persist all the way to the top. The cold winds and humidity seemed to shatter any hope of a unique view of the landscape at the end of the hike. However, our disappointment turned to excitement with the first hikers we encountered. They were beyond themselves with happiness at what they had witnessed on the peak. Everybody coming down the mountain was urging us to climb and experience it for ourselves.

The scene unfolding in front of our eyes was incredible: turquoise waves breaking gently on the golden sands of Kvalvika beach, which joined three mountains at the base. To the right, Kjerringa had a crown of clouds streaming from its peak, Moltinden stood in the middle, right below the moon and Torsfjordtinden, to the left, was completely covered in the low clouds created by the temperature inversion. I could not have wished for a better present for my 30th birthday. We sat down, we ate lunch and we smiled at all that beauty.

Everybody was right. The hikers who told us to keep going were right. The people who told me that Lofoten is the most beautiful place on Earth were right.

YouTube

I remember the exact moment I first saw a photograph of Lofoten. Nothing I had seen before even came close and I found it hard to believe that it was a real place. Having seen it in hundreds of photographs throughout the years had not prepared me for the beauty that nature etched into this land. Green mountains rising from the depths of the Norwegian sea carry the stories of the last 2 billion years. Peaks bearing the black scars of ancient earthquakes, shores covered in wildflowers and turquoise clear waters are cradles of life where you can find elks, foxes, stoats, whales, seals, fish and numerous birds.

Read more here.