Jotunheimen National Park

Jotunheimen is a practically undisturbed area of majestic mountains, glaciers and lakes, with hard unyielding rock types, formed under great pressure deep down in the earths crust and later forced up to the surface. Norways highest peak, Galdhøpiggen (2,469 m) lies within the national park. Icecapped Glittertind is only a few metres lower. But the cruellest peaks in Jotunheimen are among the Hurrungane to the west.
There are also several large lakes. The largest is Gjende and in the late summer the glacial melt-waters turn it an opaque emerald-green, in contrast to the deep-blue waters of Bessvatn 391 m higher up. The path along Besseggen, the knife-sharp ridge between the two lakes, is a well-known tourist attraction. The great drop from Besseggen to lake Giende below is immortalized in Ibsens "Peer Gynt" – it was perhaps here that Peer in his fantasy made his daredevil leap over the Gjendin Edge astride a buck reindeer.

Jotunheimen holds the altitude record for a large number of Norways mountain flora. The beautiful Glacier Crowfoot is the highestgrowing flowering plant, thriving at 2,370 m on Glittertind, only l 00 m below the summit. Purple Saxifrage and Rose-root or Midsummer men also grow as high as 2,300 m.
In many parts of the national park the rocks are calciferous, supporting a rich variety of lime-loving plants, such as the sweet little Mountain Avens.
Some species, such as Alpine Rock-cress, Hairy Stonecrop and Red Alpine Catchfly, are only found in scattered mountain areas around the North Atlantic and this has long puzzled botanists. They may have survived the last Ice Age in isolated ice-free areas along the coast or on peaks rising above the ice-sheets.
Most of the national park lies above the tree-line, but mountain birch grows freely around Lake Gjende and there are trees at 1,200 m in the east.

Hunters and fishermen have used Jotunheimen for thousands of years. Sites dating to 3000 BC have been found near Gjende and Russvatn lakes. Traces of pit-falls remind us of the time reindeer were hunted in this way; it became illegal in the 19th century. Today there are domestic reindeer herds over much of the national park, but wild reindeer still dominate in the west.
Man has left many traces in Jotunheimen, such as the remains of cabins for falcon hunting and the cairns which still mark the ancient trackways. Mountain pastures were used for summer grazing in many places: Gjendebu was originally a summer farm and at Memurubu the shielings were in use right up to the present day.
There is good trout fishing in several lakes and streams and fish breeding supplements natural spawning.
This national park is one of Norways most popular mountain walking areas, and the Hurrungane group with Store Skagastølstind (2,403 m) is a mecca for climbers.