Hiking Pulpit Rock and Driving to Bergen

“It was a pretty easy hike, but it was terrifying once we got up there,” said Taylor about our Wednesday morning hike to Preikestolen, or Pulpit Rock.

“Taylor is absolutely wrong. It was not terrifying [at the top], but it was a pretty easy hike,” shared Wyatt. “And I took a picture up there with a stranger dude.”

“It was the only disappointment of the trip, because of the weather. The hike itself was great,” said Tim.

Pulpit Rock is one of the most famous hikes in Norway. About a 45-minute drive from Stavanger, the hike itself is 2.5 miles out to the rock, then 2.5 miles back. On a good day, Pulpit Rock looks like this:

Do you see that cliff?!

Another view. 

But let me back up and tell you about Pulpit Rock (and more) from the beginning: Wednesday morning, we jumped out of bed, raring to go. And by we, I mean Tim and me. The kids were a harder sell, but we coaxed them out of bed with promises of delicious food at the Thon Hotel breakfast buffet, which as you know by now, does not ever disappoint. We ate our breakfast and checked out of the hotel a bit after 7am. As we drove to Pulpit Rock, the fog rolled in. And it started raining a bit. No matter. We were DOING this hike.

We parked our car in the Preikestolen parking lot with the kids half asleep in the back seat. Eventually, they got out of the car, we double checked that water and snacks were in our daypack, we all went to the bathroom, and then we walked to the start of the trail.

Lessssss go!

Not exactly thrilled to get moving.

I hit the start button on my Garmin watch and we began the hike. The kids woke up pretty quickly – I think the little bit of rain and some necessary rock scrambling helped.

Even at 8:30 in the morning, the trail seemed crowded. The hike itself was beautiful (at least, what we could see through the fog) and definitely steep at times. There were dogs hiking with their owners (impressive) and parents hiking with babies in Baby Bjorns and backpack carriers (more impressive).

It's a hike over rocks.

I see smiles!

Sherpa steps.

More rocks.

As we got closer to Pulpit Rock, the trail’s steepness increased. We rounded one side of the mountain and bam, there we were. Pulpit Rock was crowded, and I can only imagine how much more crowded it would have been on a clear day.

Pulpit Rock got its name because of its square-shaped steep cliff. It rises about 2,000 feet above Lysefjorden, a fjord. Atop the cliff, there is an almost flat top approximately 82 feet by 82 feet. You can only reach the rock by foot, hence this popular hike.

We inched toward the edge of the cliff. Tim, Taylor, and Wyatt all got down on their bellies and looked over the cliff. I got down on all fours and got about a foot away from the edge. You couldn’t see anything – there was that much fog.

Tim was disappointed the fog socked us in, and I was, too, to a certain extent. I know the view would have been amazing. I also know the view would have been terrifying, given my fear of falling from high places. A friendly Australian man came over to talk to us and encouraged Wyatt to take an optical illusion photo. He laid down on the rock near the ledge and had Wyatt lay down next to him. Their feet were hanging over the cliff. I was having convulsions on the rock behind them as the man took a couple photos of their feet that, on a clear day, would make it look like they were sitting on the edge of the cliff.

The feet photo with the Australian man and Wyatt. It would have been MUCH more dramatic had you been able to see the landscape below instead of the fog.

I'm beside myself. Can barely even look at this photo.

A family photo -- in the middle of the rock.

Snack time!

When my blood pressure came down a bit, we ate some granola bars and gummy bars on top of Pulpit Rock (in the middle!) and then Taylor and I were ready to hike back down. Also, the weather up there was getting worse; the temperature was dropping, it was fairly wet, and the fog was rolling in more thickly.

We got the heck off that rock and began our descent. We moved pretty quickly for the first 45 minutes or so; once we were away from the steep parts, I could breathe more easily and enjoy the scenery. There were a ton of people coming up the trail; it got super busy later in the morning.

Back at the hike’s starting point, three hours later (although it was more like 3.5 hours with breaks) we celebrated with some sandwiches and carrot cake in the Preikestolen café. And then we got back in the car for the four-hour drive to Bergen, our next and final stop before heading home.

Back in the car, headed to Bergen. Tim is enjoying reindeer jerky.

The drive to Bergen was gray and cloudy and at times rainy – and so gorgeous. We drove through probably 57 tunnels (ok, more like 12-15). Some of these tunnels were 200 meters in length; a couple of them were eight to 10 kilometers long. I googled tunnels in Norway and learned that there are over 1,000, with more coming online all the time. It’s how you get around in a country that’s full of fjords, islands, and peninsulas. We also took two ferries along the drive.

Here again, Norway excels in efficiency. Some tunnels had tolls; cameras snapped photos of our license plate and will bill us that way. Same deal with the two ferries. This country is so organized and orderly!

We got into Bergen about 6:30pm, checked into our hotel, and then walked to the old part of town to find dinner. Once back at the hotel, we were all exhausted from our long day. But Taylor and I were running out of clothes and the hotel had a laundry room that was open 24 hours. You’d better believe I was going to take advantage of free laundry – and not the bathroom sink kind. I convinced Wyatt he had to turn over socks and underwear for me to wash; he most definitely did not want to do that, telling me that none of his clothes smelled. I disagreed heartily; we compromised and he gave me two pairs of socks, some underwear, and a shirt (I think he got the better end of this compromise).

After much wrestling with the European laundry machines – and looking up manuals online – I managed to do a load of laundry. I’m not too sure if that washing cycle worked and how clean our clothes are, but with just a couple days left in our trip, good enough is just fine.