curious builders

Norway Two (SignaTUR MASSIV)

Duration: 14 days | Distance: 341km | Jul 25 2025

341km. 10445m of altitude. 14 days.

I walked the full SignaTUR MASSIV in reverse direction (south to north) — and I had a blast. What an adventure! This is by far the longest hike I have ever done.

Photos

TODO

Gear

  • The lightest I have ever gone
  • My setup felt really dialed in and almost everything worked as it should. Every item had a clear reason why it was with me on this trip.
  • 48L backpack
  • ~ 10 kg when I left home. Pack contained some food for the first few days.

Notes

Moving fast

I moved fast on this trip. The suggested duration for SignaTUR MASSIV is 18 days. I did it in 14.

I had a few days where I cut the day short (i.e., set up camp at 17) or stayed at a hut and relaxed (+ charged my electronics) during the day for 2 hours or so. Otherwise I walked all day, every day.

I had two reasons for this: I like a challenge and I was short on time.

The challenge part is fine. But being short on time was a bit stressful. In the end I had more than enough time. But I really pushed hard the first days to make sure I had a buffer.

I don’t know if the hike had been better with a few more days. I definitely pushed myself. But that is part of the adventure.

If I had to do it again I think I’d do it at roughly the same speed. But I’d prefer to have a bigger buffer at the end.

No Inner Tent

One of the most impactful gear decisions I made turned out to be going without an inner tent. I went with just the outer part of my X-Mid 2 Solid tent.

For most of the trip this was nice. I really enjoy the tent this way. Easier to set up and lots of space inside. But some sections of the hike had quite heavy mosquito activities and without an inner tent to escape to I suffered a bit.

My escape from mosquitos was to go inside my sleeping bag and have a headnet protecting the opening. But this did not work well when the weather was hot (which it was). The first night with mosquitoes I tried escaping into my sleeping bag but I immediately started cooking while a swarm of mosquitoes flew around my head. It was so uncomfortable that I angrily got up, took down camp, and walked until the air turned a bit colder. It never really turned cold so I had a pretty bad night. But lesson learned. After that I hiked later into the evening if it was a hot day. And/or I made sure to set up camp in a place with a draft. A bit of wind seemed to make a huge difference on the mosquitoes.

While I was out there I cursed myself a bit for going without an inner tent. But I’m not sure it was a wrong decision. I’m glad I learned the lessons I did. And I was also glad my pack was as light as it was.

Another, more unexpected consequence of going without inner tent was that I really did not want to camp at campgrounds when my hike was over. The fear of being stuck an entire evening there trying to avoid potential mosquitoes was enough for me to pony up and get a room. Hard to tell if I would have done the same with a inner tent or not. But at least this was my excuse to get inside at the end of my hike.

Foam mattress

I bought the Nemo Switchback short version for this trip and I’m super glad I did. I’ve been debating air vs foam for a while and I’m now firmly back in the foam camp. I just really like the sturdiness. And with the short version this mattress is also lighter than my air.

The only thing I’m missing to test out is colder temperatures. The short Switchback does not cover my legs so naturally it isn’t something I’ll use for really cold trips. But I’m wondering how far I can take it. And if the short pad is too cold I have a longer, heavier one as well.

Maybe I’m all foam now, except the coldest winter hikes where I’ll probably use a combination.

Cowboy camping

The weather was way hotter than I had expected. Lots of days with no clouds, quite unusual for Norway. So I spent several nights cowboy camping in the mountains. Absolutely loved it. No need to set up or take down a tent. No noise from wind hitting the tent. Just me, my sleeping bag, and the mountains around me.

I definitely want to do more of this.

Fast charger

Bring a fast charger for my phone if I need to charge during a trip. Norway has a lot of huts but I only had a slow charger so I struggled to keep my electronics charged.

Stuff sacks

I had 4 storage sacks:

  • 3L stuff sack for misc. items I would use during the day.
  • 20L dry bag for stuff I would only need at camp.
  • Old 10L dry bag with holes (no not really dry) for food
  • 12L dry bag for my sleeping bag

The food and sleeping bag sacks worked fine. But I continued to move items from the 20L bag to the 3L bag as I needed them during the day from time to time. E.g., my power bank and charging cords. In the end the 3L stuff sack as a bit too small for all these items. It is also not a dry bag so electronics in it isn’t the best idea — some of it could get wet if I encounter really bad weather.

I should maybe have a bit bigger “day sack” (and then a smaller “camp sack”). Or figure out something else.

Guylines and tent stakes

Bring more guylines and tent stakes if the weather is bad. I had 8 stakes and two extra guylines. This was okay but I could have used a bit more to really stake down the tent in windy conditions.