The EPICness of small things: The Islom!

I've been out and about on day walks and a couple of overnight trips, that being intimidated by their lack of epicness I've not written about.
Hell to that!
I had a wonderful moment last week on a very popular walk from Sognsvann, past Svartkulp (which I subsequently heard was where the nekked people are at), the little hill of Høgåsen (sublime mosses and ferns on the North side of the hill), past Store Åklungen, up to Ullevålsæter (good coffee and cakes), down on the blue trail next to the forest road (grusvei), past Lille Åklungen, following Pinabekken and back to Sognsvann where public transport whisks you back into the city within 20 minutes. 12.6 km roughly, give or take my usual wandering off trail...

Probably one of the most popular areas to walk (and other, naked activities) in Oslo

But on this apparently mundane walk I had a magic moment where going up past Store Åklungen I saw something I've been aching to see for years now, the Loon, Great Northern Diver, Islom, or Gavia immer!

I'm so excited about it that I'm sharing a really bad photo of it here:

Fuzzy Islom = super happy!

I think it must be a juvenile or still in its partial winter plumage (the ice melted maybe a month ago?) so it'll be exciting to see the summer chequerboard. From reading Thoreau's mentions to hearing their call in On Golden Pond, this has been an almost mythical creature for me.

And it called! I'd love to hear the tremelo or wail, but the hoot will do nicely :)

I'm not a birder or anything like, but to come across something special to me such as this, makes this experience EPIC in my eyes. To each their own. This is mine.

Masses to see in such a small space!

The towering perspective of the trees above me is hard to show in a photo

I love the carpeting toupees of moss supporting bilberries on the rocks

The view from the pylons crossing Pinabekken. 20 meters later and the views are enclosed again

Scene from On Golden Pond (Buzz off!)