Lofoten Islands – An Evening Over Stamsund

One afternoon I took a hike up one of the hills above Stamsund to watch the sunset.  Wasn’t the best light I’ve ever seen, but at least it was mostly clear and the wind was relatively calm.  It crossed my mind to wait around a few hours in hopes of some auroras, but after waiting around for a little while, I decided it was far too cold for such an idea.  Maybe I will bring a sleeping bag up nextime.

While the hike up the mountains was mostly deep snow, the top was windswept and icy.  I made it to the top with a little bit of sun left, casting long shadows across the winter landscape.

Panoramic of the mountain Justadtind (in the center of photo). 4 photos at 31mm stitched together.

In the far north, the sun never gets very high in the sky, making more of a low circle around the horizon as the day passes on.  Due to this relatively low angle of movement, the twilight time before/after sunset/rise lasts much longer up in the arctic than at milder latitudes.  In only another month in a half, the sun will set for the final time of the summer.  It’s amazing how long the days already are this early in the year.

the mountain peak in the distance is Steinstind (the peak on the left is the higher one, though doesn’t appear so in the photo), the high point of the mountain ridge I was on.  this photo was from near Stamsundheia.  In summer it’s a nice easy hike along the ridge.

View towards the village of Ure (below mountain in center of photo), with the islands and skerries off the coast of Steine on the left of the photo.