Gold Key Goals

In June we had a very special visitor from Canada come to stay with us and we did all sorts of things, including visit the palace park. This year the Queen and King are celebrating their 25th year as reigning monarchs and the palace park was turned into "The Jubilee Park" for the festivities. Turns out the Queen is a huge supporter of DNT and the Jubilee Park featured not one but two DNT cabins! (These will be the easiest cabins I ever visit...)


The older of the two cabins, Hovinkoia, opened in 1937. It was DNT's 5th unstaffed cabin, and their first forest cabin equipped for "self-catering". This style of cabin became popular with DNT in the 50's but at the time Hovinkoia was built nearly all of DNT's cabins were staffed lodges and small stone mountain cabins. I'd say now the opposite is true and the majority of cabins are unstaffed "self-serve" cabins.


Before it was moved to the Jubilee Park, Hovinkoia lived about 2 hours north-west of Oslo. Now that the summer is over, the cabin will retire at the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History and in few years a new cabin will open in its original spot.

The other cabin that was in the Jubilee Park was super modern and even though we've already seen it we may have to make a point to check it out in the wilderness because it looks amazing. More to come!

Update (September 20/16)
In case you're wondering what's involved in moving a cabin, I was at the palace this evening and it looks like it's a pretty big ordeal!

---

A few months after our visit to Smedmyrkoia, the same group of us headed to Spikertjernhytta with modest expectations. To our surprise the cabin had been redecorated since the photos were last updated online and we were happy to enjoy the improved decor!


Spikertjernhytta is a serviced cabin in the front with space to stay for DNT members in the back. We didn't realize the DNT portion was part of the same building so it took us a few minutes to figure out where we would be sleeping, exactly. There was nobody around when we visited in mid-April but I imagine it's a popular spot in the winter when waffles are being served.



Outside the cabin there is an great outdoor fire pit with lots of space to sit and a lake that could have been good for fishing, had it not been covered in an inch of ice. Inside the cabin there is a radio (a surprise luxury!) and we thoroughly enjoyed all of Norway's top hits, on repeat, on P4 while cooking dinner.

We had a great weekend lazing around the porch, and then lazing around the fire pit (with wool blankets), and then lazing around inside and playing card games once it got dark. Highly recommend!

---

Dølerud is an old cabin from the 1800's that opened through DNT in November 2015 after being renovated with funds from Norwegian hat superstar hotel magnate Olav Thon. It is not too far into Østmarka (the part of the greenbelt east of the city), which makes it an excellent candidate for a day trip.

We went in early April, just as the ski season was ending. We started at Skullerudstua and stopped to eat lunch at Rundvannet (lake). Having eaten, we continued on our way and hiked uphill a bit before coming to a really steep descent within a kilometre or two of the cabin. The photo doesn't quite do it justice. We had to hold on to the trees to navigate our way down.


The rest of the trail was relatively flat. When we got to the cabin, it was still boarded up for winter. We didn't open the window coverings so it was dark but the cabin was really nice inside. Dølerud was my first visit to an "Olav Thon cabin" and I had no idea that the comfort of not one but two couches was within the realm of the possible. The outhouse was also new and fancy (read: clean). A huge improvement over some others we've visited.


After lazing around on the couches for a while we went home the same way we came but stuck to the gravel road when the marked trail pointed back to the forest, as to avoid the steep hill we had come down.

If you're planning a trip to Dølerud there are a few things you should know:

1. Dølerud is close enough to the city to have cell service, 
2. There were some passer-by's in the short time we were there so you might expect some visitors if you are staying overnight, and
3. Østmarka is full of blueberry bushes that are ripe for the picking in June/July through to September. 

Plan accordingly!

---

In the morning we had a visit from a Skogfanten (child cabin collector) while we were cleaning up and getting ready to head out. Kids under 13 can visit cabins in Oslo marka (greenbelt) and get a prize for every 5 they visit up to a maximum of 20 cabins (there are 25 or so cabins in Oslo marka).

Our ski home was quick and painless...no thoughts of a Red Cross scooter rescue this time!

---

I am not the best skier, but I thought I could manage the 8km trip to Kobberhaughytta because it was mostly downhill. In this I failed to realize two things:

1.  Skiing downhill on cross-country skiis is not as easy as one might think, and 
2.  Skiing downhill one way often means skiing uphill on the way back.

After a long trek I finally thought I saw the cabin straight ahead through the forest. I did not. Instead, the cabin was up a steep 200m hill. But nobody told me visiting 100 cabins would be easy. I told myself that I could pay to stay overnight if I really needed to.