This is Nordmarka as few visitors — and even many Osloites — ever get to see it. A full-day push into the deep forest, far beyond the day-tripper trails, through a landscape of ridgelines, remote lakes and ancient logging roads that haven't changed in a century.
We head north from Sognsvann and don't stop climbing for the first hour. The reward is a ridge with views across an unbroken sea of treetops that stretches all the way to the Swedish border. From here the route threads between lakes — Store Sandungen, Fyllingen, Hakkloa — on gravel roads that alternate between fast and flowy and slow and rocky.
The midpoint brings a long descent to a remote trailside cabin for lunch — packed by us, eaten outside whatever the weather. The return route takes a different line, adding a final ridge climb before the long run home to Sognsvann. By the end your legs will know about it. So will your face — from smiling.
