This sounds sort of sinister upon first glance, but I guess if it were really sinister they wouldn't warn you about it. It has nothing to do with bombs--it is simply an automatic toll station.

This is caribou country in the high country on either side of the high altitudes where E6 crosses the Arctic Circle. We saw caribou about 5 times. During on e of our caribou encounters, they were quite skittish, stopping and watching me closely as I opened the car door. They began running away when I tried to move closer.

It was cold (-10 Celsius) and and bright, but at least this time there was a place to pull off of E6 and take a photo of us squinting into the brightness with the Arctic Circle Center in the background. The low temperature contributed to a lot of ice on E6 in this area, so we proceeded cautiously and slowly. This really is not a place where you want to slide off the road and get stuck in the snow. The Arctic Circle Center doesn't open til May 1 and a large truck/snowblower was in the process of clearing about 8 feet of snow around the building when we were there. On the way north about a week and a half earlier, it had been warmer, never sinking below 2 degrees celsius, and the main traffic hazard was hydroplaning in deep puddles of water on the road surface between the snowbanks on either side of E6.  On the way north, there was no place to pull over anywhere near the Arctic Circle Center to take a photo.

Moskenes to Bodo Google Map

Thursday morning we checked out of our hostel at Å.  It was a very nice place to stay for a few days. It was great to be able to prepare our own meals in the kitchen, and our room-- with two single beds and a sitting area around a table overlooking the ocean, or more specifically, Vestfjorden--was very nice.   It was also great to meet and be around the other people at the hostel. We arrived at the hostel at the same time as a group of young people from the Netherlands who were accompanied by one Norwegian. While we were at the hostel, there were other guests from Japan, Hong Kong, Russia, Turkey, Italy, Germany, and Sweden. Staying at a hostel is inexpensive, whether one chooses the least expensive option of a shared dormitory room or a slightly more expensive private room like we had.  This hostel also rented out private cabins with private baths. In addition to the bed or room being cheap, the ability to cook one's own meals saves greatly on food costs. Food is expensive in th

The drive back to Å from Røren was nice, too. This is Reine, which is apparently the most photographed spot in Norway.