Winter Solstice – A Wild Adventure

I totally need to tell you this story about how I and my love and my baby got lost from each other far into the mountains!

We had been so busy with the last markets and orders for this year, so we didn’t have time to hike or spend much time in nature these last weeks. We always let our little boy spend some hours outdoors every day, both in the garden and in the forest, but we rarely get to do long hikes, at least not together as a family. But this year, with less orders than usual, we had managed to make space to celebrate the winter solstice!

The weather forecast was good, we could see the blue sky even though cloudy, but we needed to find the sun… as where we live, it disappears for some months every winter due to the tall mountains. So we made a plan to hike in a location in the area yet undiscovered, but where we knew we would find the sun. And also high enough up in the mountains to find some snow.

When we were starting our hike we were lucky to witness the sun laying low in the sky just between two mountain tops by the fjord at the exact moment of the solstice! From there we hiked through a truly beautiful and slightly magical forest. Everywhere there was something interesting to lay your eyes on, twisted trunks, gnarly roots, more diverse trees than usual, a temperate rainforest… because there were no snow this close to the fjord, it was dry and easy to walk. Although very steep! The path was zigzagging and we were almost climbing through parts of it, and it took hours.

We stopped by this old hut which was in complete disrepair, but interestingly mossy, about halfway up the mountainside.

We were getting closer to our main destination, an old mountain farm. Most Norwegian farms used to have a summer farm high up in the mountain where they went with their animals every summer to graze, consisting of a cottage and a building for the animals, where they were milking and making dairy products. Although I find it unreal that they got their animals up this particularly steep place… possibly goats? I need to learn more about this.

We entered something which to me strongly resembled a portal of big towering gnarly pine trees. It felt special and interesting, and Ruben said he felt it too. A portal to what I do not know, but this is where things started to go wrong. I needed a break, as I was suddenly feeling dizzy, and some unusual pain in my chest. So I fell behind, while Ruben kept walking, as he was carrying our little boy and he was sooo sleepy and crying a bit. The only thing to do in such a situation is to keep walking in a good tempo and he’ll soon fall asleep.

I made my way up the mountainside, but was taking some pictures of the sun, and unexpectedly found chanterelles along the path. I couldn’t see Ruben or Lindi anywhere, but I just kept going, thinking they were waiting at the top. I got to the old mountain farm, which was in a bit worse condition than I had imagined, as the log buildings had completely collapsed and they were slowly getting reclaimed by nature.

But Ruben was nowhere to be seen. I assumed he had kept walking out of the forest and towards the top of the mountain, both because he would just had to keep going so our son wouldn’t wake up (which he does when we stop). And also because the sun was setting/disappearing behind the mountains, and I knew Ruben really wanted to see the sun, which he would if he kept walking further up (and it wouldn’t be the first time he was chasing the sun). It was hard to see where he could have gone, as there were new hilltops everywhere and you couldn’t see what was behind the next one. So I left the mountain farm and kept walking, following a human track from there. Suddenly the tracks disappeared, but I continued on… reasoning I must have lost them, as there were many bare spots. Though mostly snow, snow that was totally crusty, like the type where you step through it every 3 steps or so. If you didn’t try it, it is totally exhausting. But I kept going at a fast pace, hoping to see them somewhere in the distance.

I just went on and on for a long time, sometimes looking behind me to enjoy the beautiful view. In the end I was near the top of the mountain, the landscape was wide and more open, and I still could not see them. I realized there was no chance they could be up there, and I decided to head back. I started getting worried, imagining him, the love of my life, laying dead in the mountainside somewhere, and that I could at least hope to find my baby alive. Other possible scenarios also crossed my mind, but for me this was incomprehensible and a mystery. We had never gotten lost from each other before, and we had never gotten lost anywhere in nature on any of our numerous hikes.

Now you may be wondering why I didn’t just call him. I was carrying a big backpack with things such as firewood, candles, extra clothing, baby stuff, food… AND his phone 😉 I also called for him various times with high pitched sounds, to no avail.

I’m not kidding, I’d been frantically chewing on iced crunchy snow for hours at this point to help my overheated body due to the steep climbing and because we brought too little water because we always find some on our hikes… I was so thirsty when I finally found a water hole to stick my head into… lol!

And my earlier bright and happy mood was dropping because of my numerous times of stepping through the sharp snow, gliding on the ice, and a couple of times falling through the snow and into a wet and muddy pit, making me quite soaked. I noticed most of my fingers were bleeding because of the sharp and icy snow. And I was literally running/stumbling back down to the old timber buildings. Ruben was still nowhere to be seen, so I continued on through the forest, and called for him several times. Finally I heard him call back in the distance! It was so good to see him again! We reunited and shared our stories about what had happened. Turned out what was in the beginning a wide and really well made path, had become quite narrow and almost disappeared in the area where I last had seen him. The path had forked without me noticing, and we had gone separate ways. Both of the paths led to a mountain farm… but to two separate ones! I only knew it was one of them. Ruben had been watching the truly beautiful solstice sunset from the other one (waiting for me), while I was running around up in the mountains chasing the sun, and him. He then went searching for me further down, imagining me dead or something as well, because he knew I would never turn back 😉

Luckily we found each other again, our boy was so happy to see me! He actually hadn’t fallen asleep earlier, not until just before he got woken by our calls. We decided to make the campfire we would originally make by the mountain farm, right there in the forest instead. We gathered more firewood and kept it going, trying to prepare some food and rest a bit, ideally trying to have a cozy time by the fire.

I made the advent spiral I had been dreaming of, although just something simple this time… I find this tradition so beautiful and enchanting and heartwarming, I was lucky to experience it in 2006 and always wanted to make it a part of my future children’s life.

“The Advent Spiral is based on old German (Bavarian) traditions, where farmers would bring moss and twigs into their homes and fashion a garden on a table, which was lit with candles in apples. For them it was an expression of an old parable of Paradise.

“Evergreen boughs (a symbol of life everlasting) are placed in a spiral form on the floor with a large candle in its center. The spiral begins; one at a time each child walks into the spiral with a lantern in which sits an unlit candle, and make their way to the spiral’s center. There they find the large lighted candle and from it light their own. They place their lantern somewhere along the spiral’s path and then they walk their way back to their seat.

It is a special moment to watch a young child wend their way through the spiral’s path and find the universal light that they then take back to give to the world. The experience of the Advent spiral reflects the human experience at this time of the year; entering a time of darkness, of shorter days and longer nights and going forward with hope to welcome the light of the sun after the winter solstice.”

Source: https://www.waldorfschoolofcapecod.org/blog/why-we-walk-the-advent-spiral

I’m so happy I made it happen for my boy, although just in a simple and symbolic way. It is a beginning! He was tired and very moody due to lack of sleep unfortunately, so I can’t say any minute was particularly relaxing. But after putting out the fire, we lighted a torch and made our way down… and he quickly fell asleep on my back. Such an eventful day! Me and Ruben both agreed it had been a great day, however super exhausting and an emotional roller-coaster where nothing had gone according to plan 😉 Now I am excited for future years winter solstice celebrations! Who knows what may happen?

Do you have some things you like to do on the winter solstice, or some things you wish you were doing?