Route 9 - Skuleskogens Nationalpark
Trail Information
Distance: 6.9km
Difficulty: Demanding
Transport: None
Accommodation & Shopping
Salsviksholmen Campsite
There is no water at this campsite, but there is a table and drop toilet. No fire-pit, but enough stones to safely make a fire if you can, though you will need to be lucky with wood, or bring your own. I pitched my tent on the beach, a decent distance past where the tide may come up and had the campsite to myself, with the sole exception of a group of Arabic lads who turned up at about 8pm having just got to the park with no equipment, just to walk about. They asked me to take their photo by the water and then headed off.
The campsite was a lovely place to stop, quite picturesque, though it got quite chilly once the sun moved lower and the wind came in off the water.
II briefly wished I had brought my tripod, despite the additional weight as there were no artificial lights around and the stars would have been incredible. However, there was no sunset, or even darkness as I was far enough north that the sun never quite set. A suggestion for other hikers, remember to bring a sleep-mask so you wont have to wrap a t-shirt around your head to sleep.
The shade of the evening before disappeared at about six in the morning and I”d not leaned the trick of leaving the top zips of the doors to the tent slightly open to improve airflow, and so I was up early due to overheating.
The Experience
Day 1
About one kilometre past the North Entrance is one of the few locations you are able to camp in the National Park. The right of roaming does not apply here. There was, but all accounts, a nicer place to camp another four kilometres further on, but by this point I’d been walking about 14 hours and was exhausted.
Day 2
The trail from the early campsite is tough, rough terrain and a lot of steep up and down hill walking, but the scenery is fantastic and more than worth the effort.
There are dozens of side trails through the national park to explore, and if you had time on your hike, you could spend days exploring the area without leaving. I had a tighter schedule and so headed directly through the park towards the canyon, called Slåttdalsskrevan.
The scenery through the park is remarkable. Mixing lakes surrounded by tall trees, strange planes of small round stones and tall hills. There are a number of places with the small round rocks brouht across during the ice age and forming a challenging walking surface, some run all the way to the banks of a lake.
One of the famous views is where two large lakes join and there is a cabin for overnight guests. The views make it popular for hikers, so expect company in the area.
Unlike many other parts of the high coast I trekked, there were many more people around during the day, whilst going through the national park, so don’t expect seclusion on the main trails, but you won’t have too much company. I must admit to envying their light day packs with my rucksack weighing me down, and it reinforced my idea for drone delivery of camping equipment straight to your location.
Climbing up towards the canyon you are hiking up tall steep exposed slopes, but suddenly the canyon is in front of you, a vast cleft in the mountain. Its a remarkable sight, and the air is markedly cooler and wetter than outside. The walls are sharp and tall, with a single tree reaching for the sun in the center of the trail. Stones litter the floor, having fallen from the walls over time and your footfalls echo strangely and loudly as you cross the gap. At the far end a set of steps brings you up to the top of the canyon and a chance to walk back along the heights and hear the echoing steps of others walking through, and you get a real sense of depth. It took a few hours of hard hiking to reach the canyon from where I started, a mere three kilometres away.
From here, the trail is mostly woodland through to the south entrance. Regular springs are found along the trail to fill your water, and tall rocks offer a reasonable approximation of a bench. There are a lot of wood plank walkways on the way back, as well as the supplies for repairing them, though all were in a good state during my walk.