19:03:34 From Adam Greenbaum to Everyone: What is the Walking the Wild Committee? 19:05:24 From Katherine Laird to Everyone: you look for speakers and schedule events? just guessing. 😁 CHERYL: Yes, it is a committee of Mountaineers volunteers who organize and run these speaker events involving Mountaineers members and their extraordinary adventures on foot in North America and around the world! 19:19:28 From Adam Greenbaum to Everyone: Rorbuer? 19:20:33 From Katherine Laird to Everyone: fisher cabins, usually on stilts CHERYL: Katherine, you are very handy to have around!! Yes, she has it - they used to be seasonal lodgings for the 10,000 fishermen who would come to Lofoten every year to fish for cod. Now they've been converted to quite nice tourist cabins. 19:23:04 From Paul to Everyone: no trees? 19:23:43 From Katherine Laird to Everyone: above the artic circle 😃 19:30:54 From Jim C to Everyone: What is the avg. temp of the water? CHERYL: From a climate website "the maximum temperatures along the west coast in July and August are around 15 °C (59 °F) and the minimum temperatures around 10 °C (50 °F)". 19:32:35 From Amy Jackson to Everyone: Helvetstinden was one of my favorite hikes I did while there (about a week after you did it) CHERYL: Yes, gorgeous views from there! 19:33:29 From Adam Greenbaum to Everyone: Is there fresh water available? CHERYL: There are only a few cases where you are far from a lake or stream. We did carry water up and down the peaks and also for our evening at Bunes beach. 19:33:41 From Katherine Laird to Everyone: let me guess.. you ate some cod CHERYL: Not a fan of dried cod but we did have fresh cod for dinner on occasion! 19:36:21 From tostrow to Everyone: What were average daily temperatures? CHERYL: In the 50s to the 70s. Shirtsleeves when it was sunny. 19:36:50 From Tom E to Everyone: Cod fish likes cold water! CHERYL: Apparently they come to the Lofotens to spawn, attracted by the warmer currents there. 19:37:31 From Cindy Hoover to Everyone: Can you give us an idea of what food cost in Norway? CHERYL: Restaurant meals can be quite expensive in Norway, easily $60 even without alcohol. You can expect that groceries will cost about 20% more. 19:39:57 From Adam Greenbaum to Everyone: Are these staffed huts or just a place to stay? CHERYL: We didn't stay at any huts on our Lofoten trip. We did stay at two different rorbuers which are essentially cabins with kitchenettes and a restaurant nearby. At Unstad we stayed in cabins and a house, again with restaurant nearby where we took our meals. 19:42:42 From Carol Johnson to Everyone: Was the Mountaineers group or were there other campers/hikers? CHERYL: I read everywhere that these places on Lofoten can be quite crowded but we seldom saw anyone outside of the villages themselves and on the ferries and roads. This could be because we were in the early season - I'd expect that more people go in July-August when it's warmer and people have work holidays. 19:45:21 From Katherine Laird to Everyone: Are there prerequisites to join a hike like this? endurance evaluation? CHERYL: For a Mountaineers adventure like this one we ask everyone to submit an application and there is followup to confirm recent experience with the difficulty level and multi-day travel experience involved in the trip if I don't already know the person. If you are traveling on your own, you can set an itinerary that is all the way from very easy to very challenging so you just need to do the research to know what the demands are for the type of activity you've scheduled. 19:46:50 From Katherine Laird to Everyone: did you rent vans? charter buses? CHERYL: We rented two vans (or our outfitter Hvitserk did) 19:51:08 From Jim C to Everyone: How much should we budget for a trip like this, including reasonable flights? CHERYL: That really depends on where you stay and what you do. For our itinerary it was in the range of $2500 for the Lofoten trip (including guide) and $2200 for the Jotunheimen trip (no guide, but with DNT memberships) for everything except air travel which right now is about $600-1000 RT Seattle to Oslo and $100-120 RT to Bodo from Oslo. Be aware that Norway is very expensive!! 19:51:52 From Meg Crager to Everyone: Did you encounter many insects? CHERYL: NONE! The only pests were sheep leaving little gifts at our Uttakleiv beach camp. 19:52:33 From Steve L to Everyone: Were you traveling on public lands... private? CHERYL: Much of the time we were hiking through areas with farms and houses or developed campsites and beaches so I infer that these were private lands. There are also National Parks covering quite a few of the remote places we went. It's very difficult to pin down the land ownership on Lofoten. 19:52:39 From Tom E to Everyone: Were you mostly on public lands? Did you need permits to camp? CHERYL: Didn't need any permits but we did have to pay to camp in the developed campground at Uttakleiv. 19:56:27 From Elena to Everyone: did you see any birds or beast? CHERYL: Lots of Seagulls. Apparently there are whales and sea eagles and quite a few other seabirds that you can see if you go to the right places but we didn't see any. 19:57:10 From Katherine Laird to Everyone: lots of cod. CHERYL! Yes! But we only saw dead ones hanging on racks! 19:59:23 From Cindy Wills to Everyone: Allemannsretten, the right to roam lets you wander and even camp 20:04:29 From Elli Gildnes to Everyone: I have been in Norway about 30x (dad had his family home there in Vistdal). Dream has always been Lofoten. Funny, I was in Yosemite last summer and compared it to Norway's granite, as well. Thank you so much for this amazing presentation!! I will definitely use it. CHERYL: Thank you!! 20:05:04 From Adam Greenbaum to Everyone: Was there a language barrier? CHERYL: No, people in Norway universally seem to know english and speak/understand it as well or better than we do. 20:05:06 From Tom E to Everyone: Close to 24 hrs of daylight? CHERYL: Yes, during the time we were there, we had something like twilight for a few hours but then fully light the rest of the time. 20:05:47 From Jim C to Everyone: Budget? CHERYL: See note above about what this itinerary would approximately cost. 20:06:05 From Steve L to Everyone: As you mentioned, you had lots of solitude. When is is busier? CHERYL: European holidays - July-August 20:06:35 From Jim C to Everyone: Kind of...what did you spend? CHERYL: See note above about what this itinerary would approximately cost. 20:06:42 From Katherine to Everyone: what did mountaineers charge for the trip in 2019? CHERYL: See note above about what this itinerary would approximately cost. We don't include a profit in our trip prices so the costs above are what we charged. 20:06:59 From Elli Gildnes to Everyone: yes ballpark budget for 8 days in Lofoten, please? CHERYL: You could go cheaper if you didn't stay in rorbuers, didn't have a guide, did a lot of wild camping, stayed away from restaurants. But not a LOT cheaper. 20:07:02 From Steve L to Everyone: So, is hiking not something that locals do? CHERYL: The locals are working people who either fish or take care of tourists and there aren't that many of them compared to the tourist hordes! I imagine that they love to hike and recreate outdoors like most Norwegians that I've met. But it's not mostly locals who are visiting the trails. 20:07:57 From Elli Gildnes to Everyone: That seems like a GREAT price for Norway.... CHERYL: We work hard to make these Global Adventures unique and also cost effective compared with commercial trips. 20:08:25 From Katherine to Everyone: prerequisites to take such a trip? what level of experiemce/endurance requiered CHERYL: For a Mountaineers adventure like this one we ask everyone to submit an application and there is followup to confirm recent experience with the difficulty level and multi-day travel experience involved in the trip if I don't already know the person. If you are traveling on your own, you can set an itinerary that is all the way from very easy to very challenging so you just need to do the research to know what the demands are for the type of activity you've scheduled. 20:08:25 From Bob Hammer to Everyone: Why fish heads important there and in africa 20:09:44 From Sarah to Everyone: Fish heads inexpensive and good source of protein CHERYL: Yes - the heads are a much less expensive product and the Nigerians apparently prefer that. Nigeria began to depend on stockfish after the Biafran Civil War when there was a huge famine. Stockfish was an inexpensive source of protein to feed a lot of people and it doesn't require refrigeration. But even after that the people came to incorporate it into their cuisine. 20:10:23 From Bob Hammer to Everyone: Heads of fish importance CHERYL: SEE ABOVE 20:12:29 From Adam Greenbaum to Everyone: Can any of this be done on public transit? CHERYL: There are buses but they are not very flexible and don't go to all the places we went. CHERYL: So sorry everyone about the black box at the bottom! Thanks Monique for showing me the solution! 20:18:09 From Adam Greenbaum to Everyone: Is it possible to wild camp on the circuit? CHERYL: It's a national value for people to be able to use the land for free. 20:34:38 From Cathy Cloutier to Everyone: We’re sack lunches provided by the huts? CHERYL: You were able to make a sack lunch from the breakfast bar (they charge you to do it) 20:36:44 From Juliana to Everyone: what were they farming at these farms CHERYL: I believe it's primarily sheep and cattle grazing (and even some reindeer!) 20:38:26 From Amy Carlson to Everyone: Please remind me what DNT means. Tnx. 20:40:16 From Deborah to Everyone: den norske turistforening CHERYL: That's it! Means Norwegian Trekking Association 20:45:07 From Bob Hammer to Everyone: Are sleeping bags carried or bedding furnished/ CHERYL: You need to bring at least a sleep sack. 20:45:46 From Michele Ritala - King County to Everyone: Do people ski up there in the winter? CHERYL: It is perhaps even more popular as a cross-country ski area than it is as a trekking area! Very welcoming for skiers. 20:47:29 From Carol Johnson to Everyone: Absolutely amazing presentation! thank you!! 20:50:36 From Deborah to Everyone: saunas? CHERYL: There may have been a sauna at the private huts but I didn't encounter it. 20:51:25 From Michele Ritala - King County to Everyone: Very thorough presentation. Thank you! 20:51:50 From Deborah to Everyone: There are over 300 DNT huts throughout Norway 20:51:52 From Bob Hammer to Everyone: Thank you for sharing beauty and adventure of Norway 20:51:57 From Amy Jackson to Everyone: Thank you! really makes me want to get back to Norway and explore more 20:53:27 From Bill Adams to Everyone: Thank You. 20:53:38 From tostrow to Everyone: Was other gear transported between huts? CHERYL: There are huts that have roads to them and I imagine you could pay someone to transport gear, but with the full service huts you just don't need to carry much gear. 20:55:19 From Sarah to Everyone: Excellent presentation Cheryl! 20:55:26 From Steve L to Everyone: One of the most interesting WtW talks I've seen... so far. Thank you!! 20:55:36 From tostrow to Everyone: Thank you Cheryl! 20:55:52 From Juliana to Everyone: thanks for presenting. 20:56:00 From Lauren to Everyone: Thank you! Very interesting and inspiring!! 20:56:11 From AStew to Everyone: thank you! 20:56:37 From Cindy Hoover to Everyone: thank you! CHERYL: So glad you all enjoyed it! Sorry for the technical glitches!