The Norwegian Trekking Association is a Norwegian association which maintains mountain trails and cabins in Norway. The association was founded on 21 January 1868 with the scope "to help and develop tourism in this country". Today the goal is to work for simple, secure and environmentally

Natural environment

The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....

 friendly outdoor activities. DNT has currently more than 200,000 individual members. It also has several "honorary members", prominent people who has shown a keen interest in Norwegian nature and given the country publicity as a tourist destination, among them Kofi Annan

Kofi Annan

Kofi Atta Annan is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the UN from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006...

 and Katie Melua

Katie Melua

Ketevan "Katie" Melua is a British-Georgian singer, songwriter and musician. She moved to Northern Ireland at the age of eight and then to England at fourteen. Melua is signed to the small Dramatico record label, under the management of composer Mike Batt, and made her musical debut in 2003...

. The secretary-general of the association is Kristin Krohn Devold

Kristin Krohn Devold

Kristin Krohn Devold is a former Minister of Defence of Norway who was forced to resign as a result of promoting Atle Torbjørn Karlsvik to head Norway's Joint chiefs of staff in 2005....

, former Minister of Defence.

The mountains of Norway have always been utilised by the Norwegian people since the first Norwegians followed the reindeer

Reindeer

The reindeer , also known as the caribou in North America, is a deer from the Arctic and Subarctic, including both resident and migratory populations. While overall widespread and numerous, some of its subspecies are rare and one has already gone extinct.Reindeer vary considerably in color and size...

 when the ice cap retracted ten thousand years ago.

DNT's first hut was Krokan by the Rjukan

Rjukan

Rjukan is a town and the administrative center of Tinn municipality in Telemark . It is situated in Vestfjorddalen, between Møsvatn and Tinnsjå, and got its name after Rjukanfossen west of the town. The Tinn municipality council granted township status for Rjukan in 1996. The town has 3 386...

 waterfall. The waterfall was later harnessed for hydropower production and the hut was sold. Today it is re-opened, situated by the main road from Tinn

Tinn

Tinn is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Øst-Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Rjukan....

 to Vinje

Vinje

Vinje is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Vest-Telemark. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Åmot.-Name:...

. Together with local organisations all over Norway, it operates more than 400 cabin

Cottage

__toc__In modern usage, a cottage is usually a modest, often cozy dwelling, typically in a rural or semi-rural location. However there are cottage-style dwellings in cities, and in places such as Canada the term exists with no connotations of size at all...

s in Norwegian mountains and forest areas.

Olav Thon

Olav Thon

Olav Thon is a Norwegian real estate developer and listed by Forbes List of Billionaires as the 368th richest person in the world in 2008. His 2005 reported income was NOK 1.2B , the highest in Norway. He lives just outside Oslo, in Sollihøgda, Hole municipality. Thon is a Christian...

, a Norwegian real-estate investor and hobby trekker, has so far donated to the association. The money has been spent to build new and refurbish existing cabins.

Using the huts

41 of the huts are staffed. The rest are self-service, some with provisions and some without. The self-service huts are occasionally locked, and to use them it is necessary to get a key from the DNT for a NOK 100 deposit (if the key is returned, so is the money). Every self-service hut contains a stack of debit/credit card forms for payment. This form must be filled out at the conclusion of a stay and dropped into the payment box.

Most self-service huts have solar panels, and therefore electricity, but no running water, so they are usually located very close to a river from which buckets may be filled. Before leaving a self-service hut, it is considered good etiquette to carry in firewood, do the dishes, clean the floor and (if necessary)lock the door behind you.

External links

• Official website
• Yr.no weather forecasts for DNT huts
• Maps with DNT huts