Hiking in the wilderness with just you and your tent

Setting up camp on the summit with a magnificent view. — Photos: PHILIPP LAAGE/dpa

The ground is uneven, there are ants and deer droppings everywhere. My friend tries to reassure me that everything will be fine. We’ve been following the forest path for an hour and can hardly keep our eyes open. We won’t find a better place to set up camp.

The original plan was to follow a route in Femundsmarka National Park in Norway, with marked stages for each day. The woman from the campsite in Elga, on the shore of the Femunden, Norway’s second largest natural lake, advised us to take a different approach: look at the weather each day and then spontaneously decide where to go.