WHS hunting is interesting and fun. Some are more interesting some er more fun. The interesting part of the Struve geodetic arc is the story about Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve and his work. The fun is the hunting - finding obscure places – like those with a Struve “tag” on it.

We have visited 14 of these sub-sites in 5 countries (of the total of 34 in 10 countries), mostly by car.

Our first encounter was in Finland 2010 (just a small wooden pole in the woods). In 2019 we visited all five in Belarus (all stone monuments - and fairly easy to locate) and this year we completed the four in our own country, Norway. Few of these Norwegian sites are very visual, but it is fun finding a way to reach them.

Struve Norway

Norway’s got the northernmost Struve sites thus making it a bit “out of the way” for most travellers, but for us WHS hunters we make our business “everywhere” and a visit to for instance the site of Alta with its rock art is mandatory. Not far from the centre of Alta situates one of the easiest one, and our first – in 2016.

Lille Raipas

A little less the 2 km east of the World Heritage Center – Alta museum turn right and follow the E45 for 3 ½ km. Then turn left and cross the river and follow Raipasvegen (the Raipas road) for another 3 km. The road is possible to hike altough it's not very hike friendly. A hike along the path for 3 km take you to the target. It is an elevation of 230m so it is an easy hike. At the top there is a plaque attached to the rock surface, a good reward for “a hunter”.

Fuglenes

Halfway between the airport and the city centre, some 2 ½ km north of the city centre of Hammerfest (following the road around the bay) is the northernmost Struve site of Fuglenes situated. The huge memorial is impossible to miss arriving at the peninsula. It might look a bit “too much”, but it is an easy rewarding site – if you are finding yourself in Finnmark.

Luvddiidcohkka

Returning to Finnmarksvidda this summer we definitely wanted complete our “Struve quest”. Luvddiidcohkka is the one closest to Alta (of the remaining two). This site is the tough one to locate, thus more fun. Information is a bit hard to find, but as the coordinates are known going there should be possible.
As for Lille Raipas you travel south along the E45 aprox 7 ½ km. Then turn left and cross the river and follow Gargiaveien (the Gargia road) another 16 km to Gargia Lodge. 4 km later the road is unaccessible for domestic cars! At least that is what they told us at the lodge. The Struve site is some 18 km further south on the road. Facing this “obstacle” we just had to find out how far we could get (with our domestic car), and maybe hike from there. Our “quest” started at ten in the evening, still bright “daylight”. We slowly gained km for km – anxious of what would meet us. The dirt road was bad, fragile and we could see that recently melted snow made the road conditions barely good enough for us right now, but a rain shower might completely ruin it.
After really slow driving for an hour - we suddenly were there! At least the spot we had to start hiking, and so we did. We followed the tracks of made by ATV’s, but we quickly learned this was not the right direction. We adjusted the direction more south towards a hilltop where we found the marked path to Luvddiidcohkka and around midnight we arrived at the Struve site. The site itself is on hilltop with a concrete bauta (picture), not very elegant but a marker. A reward!
Later we learned there is a signet access from south…

Baelljasvarri

For the fourth one follow E45 further south and around 130 km from Alta you find the small town Kautokeino. Having passed through the town and crossing the river we turn left and followed the road RV2 and went 10-11 km to and through Avzi. It is an easy 1 ½ km slightly upwards from the car parking. On the hilltop (there are no mountains in Finnmarksvidda) is Baelljasvarri – the site. At this site there is also a plaque attached to the rock surface, the reward.

 

### Randi & Svein Elias