Vålådalen Nature Reserve

Forest and mountains – nature and culture

The Vålådalen Nature Reserve has everything a mountain region should offer. Old mountain forests with magical meres and bogs bulging with cloudberries to the east. Mountain birch forest with bluethroat singing and chanterelle fields. The exciting and wildly rich crossover to bare mountain region. And finally, the more alpine environments of the southern mountains at Lunndörrfjäll and Anarisfjäll and to the north-west at Bunnerfjäll.

In an area the size of Öland, there is much to discover. The most visited things worth seeing are the mystical cone-shaped gravel balls called the Pyramids, and the nearby Issjödalen (Ice Lake valley). Smooth and shiny meres with their special emerald-green water. The church stone with its magnificent view of the forest area, perhaps in the company of a golden eagle that likes the high pines here. On a warm summer day, take a cooling dip by the sandy beach at Nulltjärn or in the calm backwater of Vålån. The vast expanses and high peaks further west around STF Gåsen also attract.

The environments are tied together by a network of trails and paths that the Sami people and settlers hiked at the turn of the century. Traces in the forms of pastures, house foundations, burn-beating land and hayfields reminds us of former times. The reserve has five STF mountain huts, all selling provision and two have wood heated saunas that increase the enjoyment here even more. Even amongst the highest mountains is this a gentle and easily walked area, often with flower-rich meadows in the valley.

Two natural starting points are found here – Vålådalen and Storulvån Mountain Stations, which offer both an appreciated rest and food from local producers.

Link to map