When we thought about what we wanted to include in this year and what we wanted to get out of our time together as a family, one place kept calling to all of us: the Skapet Huts in Norway. It was a Google image that first attracted us and we all kept coming back to the idea of visiting these huts. In the end, I planned most of our time in southern Norway around these cabins.
The Skapet Huts are a series of 6 cabins near a main cooking/dinning area with another outbuilding (containing a latrine and supplies) and a sauna down a path to the lake. The Skapet Huts are either 2.2 or 6 miles in by hiking trail (depending on which way you come) and they are run by the incredibly efficient Norwegian Trekking Association (https://english.dnt.no). They help maintain over 500 cabins and have over 23,000 active members providing access to remote cabins in Norway which range from rustic accommodations to full service. These particular cabins were unique because they won an architecture design competition by the architects of KOKO; they are truly stunning! There were many reasons we placed these huts so high on our list. First, as a family, we seem to do best in the mountains with smaller crowds; by hiking to the huts, we could get into the mountains and have a home base from which to explore with less people around. I have also found it rewarding to stay in cabins with shared common areas while traveling with kids. You can have your own space, but you cook and interact in a main cabin area, getting to meet people from all over the world. The last reason we chose the Skapet Hutswas was because of their simple, stunning architecture which brought the outside inside. The cabins did not disappoint. They were more comfortable and more well thought out than we appreciated from the pictures and the cabins were filled mainly with Norwegians from around the country who graciously shared stories, stews and saunas with our family.
As the light changed, so did the way the huts blended into the surroundings. This was our front door, with clothes drying from a run and a fern the girls has been playing with earlier. It felt like if this was in the forest you would miss it all together.
The common room was a great place for cards, cooking and company. The bright red and black wool blankets and the incredible view make it hard to leave when the rain came.
Cooking breakfast pancakes; a 5-year old quickly informed us in Norwegian that we were cooking them all wrong; our pancakes were too small-they needed to be big and round.
Inside one of the 6 cabins. This is the one we had rented for 5 days. There is sleeping space for 40 more in the main cabin and they always try to keep some space open for last minute members who need a bed.
I think Lily could have stayed inside all day enjoying some down time playing in her own world.
Looking towards the inside from the outside
This was the shower that was connected to the sauna. You could heat the water in the sauna, poor it into the shower tank and take a warm shower outside. It was also surprising how often the lake was used as a bath!
Here is a view of the main cabin as you approached it with our constant neighbors - the sheep.
The gray of the huts fit the clouds when they rolled in and cooled everything off.