Trekking to Hell's Peak
The Helestinden Peak hike is in the town of Vinstad which requires a ferry to get to. We parked in the lot at the end of Reine and paid using EasyPark (which was a good idea as we needed to add more time while we were still at Vinstad). We took the 9:45 ferry, did not have reservations, and started waiting in line around 9:30. Everyone in line (down whole dock and up to the top of the stairs) made it on. We paid on board with a credit card for the round trip (return time wasn't specified). It took 30 minutes to reach the dock in Vinstad. From the dock there is a gravel road leading towards Bunes Beach and the Helvestinden trailhead.
Follow this for about 40 minutes until you reach a split leading straight towards the beach or right, towards a green sign leading the way to Helvestinden Peak Trail. Follow the trail past the green sign and up for a rocky scramble uphill.
It is a bit tricky to navigate as there are several paths heading up the mountain and knowing which is the best to take. Once you reach the saddle the view really opens up! This is a good turning point if you are afraid of heights or have a fear of falling. We continued up towards the peak. This part was easier to hike but narrowed out too much at a point where we decided it wasn't worth risking the fall and stopped for lunch.
Luckily, we didn't have to finish the hike as the views looking out from the ridge back to the saddle were the best we had seen our entire time in Lofoten!
The hike back took even longer, having to navigate the steep scrambling sections after the saddle. Some hikers were running down steep sections of rock! We sat and slide down some of these parts... We could have planned our paths a little better but having our nerves shot from the heights up top and legs getting sore, we were just focused on getting back down.
This is a difficult hike that verges on crazy as you near the peak but is well worth checking out for the overall experience and don't forget to stop at Bunes Beach after if you have time before the ferry!
