Dovrefjell

After an hour and a half of uphill walking, I don't know whether I was soaked from the outside or the inside.

Was it the rain that began just as I closed the car door? Or was it sweating from carrying the twenty kilograms of photography gear, tent, sleeping bag, food, cooking gear, and other necessary gear I packed into the Shimoda Action X70 HD seventy liter backpack for a three-day mini expedition to Dovrefjell in Norway.

My main purpose was to photograph musk oxen during the trip, but it also provided the perfect opportunity to test the Shimoda Action X70 HD in the field.

It was an exhaustive project involving heavy wildlife photography gear and camping equipment, so a large backpack able to accommodate the entire load without killing me in the process, or worse, damaging my camera and lens, was a necessity.

From Laerdal with its spectacular stave church, our journey takes us on to the northwest.

The beautiful valley slowly gives way to an unspoiled high plateau to the Dovrefjell.

Musk oxen graze peacefully against the backdrop of the Snøhetta.

At 2,286 meters, it is one of Europe's highest peaks.

The first attempt to reintroduce the musk ox to the Dovrefjell National Park in 1927 failed.

The next attempt 20 years later has proven to be a success.

Currently, more than 80 animals live here.

The musk ox, related to the goat family, ranges within an area of only a few kilometers even when food is scarce.