Alta is the biggest town in Finnmark, the northernmost county of Norway, and it lies at the head of a fjord far inside the Arctic Circle, on the same latitude as northern Alaska and the Siberian coast. East of town, the valley called Transferdalen cuts into the plateau, a place of birch and willow on its lower slopes and bare, rounded fell above, with a river in the bottom and Sámi names on the maps. The peak whose name appears on the ride titles, Luvdiidcohkka, is one of those Sámi names, and the Sámi, whose reindeer herds still move across this land, are the people who have known it longest.
The best-known thing in Alta is the rock art. Along the fjord at Hjemmeluft, thousands of carvings were made by hunter-gatherers between about 6000 and 2000 BC, showing reindeer, elk, boats, bears and people dancing, and UNESCO listed them in 1985. They were cut into the glaciated rock at what was then the seashore, and the land has risen since, so that they now lie above the water. The Alta Museum tells the story well, and there is a boardwalk that wanders past the panels in the open air. The town's other landmark is the Northern Lights Cathedral, a spiral of titanium opened in 2013.
Riding in Finnmark is something you should plan for. The E6 runs north to the Nordkapp and south along a huge empty coast, and the E45 heads inland toward Kautokeino across the high plain of the Finnmarksvidda, with a long, wide, lonely road. The road surface is generally good, but frost heaves and loose gravel can appear, and reindeer on the road are a real hazard, especially in summer and autumn. Never assume they will move. Weather turns quickly, and the wind off the fjord is cold even in July.
The midnight sun lasts from late May to late July, and the light on a summer night is golden and endless, though the mosquitoes in the birch woods are fierce. September and October bring auroras, and the autumn colours on the dwarf birch turn the fells red.
Fuel is in Alta, a town of about twelve thousand people, and it is wise to fill up and carry water and a snack before heading inland, where the next pump may be a long way off.