Valursfossen

I think the pleasant memories of the reward for such a unique and naturesque experience at around 8pm made us not think too much about how difficult (relatively speaking) this hike was for us. You see, we had to hike about an hour each way through an obstacle course of muddy moors, rocky scrambles requiring the use of all of our limbs, and hunting for sparsely located painted red Ts (courtesy of the Norwegian Hiking Organization DNT or Den Norske Turistforeningen also translated as The Norwegian Tourist Group). I even overlooked the fact that I had forgotten to bring my hiking socks and ended wearing some newly bought Norwegian dress socks (bought at the Fossli Hotel back at Vøringsfossen) inside my hiking boots (which were totally necessary for this hike).

We started off by hiking from the car park at the very end of the road (it turned out that we didn't take the trailhead that we were supposed to) and followed a trail leading towards Hardangervidda National Park. However, about 10 minutes or so from the car park, we had to take an unsigned spur to our right, which briefly traversed more low bush and rocks before joining up at a major intersection where we saw a collection of a few mountain houses (I think this area was called Veanuten) and we saw this reassuring sign that said, "Valursfossen."

From that point, we took the proper trail past the remainder of the houses and followed an ascending, rather muddy and sometimes steep trail through more quiet moors all the while trying to follow the faint trails and the red Ts wherever we could. Somewhere in this stretch, we noticed a short spur leading to a rock outcrop with a commanding view of Hjølmodalen and the Eidfjord way in the distance.

The further we went on the hike, the more the trail became more primitive and muddy. There were a few moments where we weren't sure if we were going the right way or not, but we persisted. For almost the next thirty minutes, the scenery was basically a mix of low-lying vegetation, alpine tarns, and mud with some scattered gnarled trees and granite. It definitely had the feel that we were in the high country and that this area had been heavily influenced by the winter snow (though I'm sure we weren't that high in elevation compared to other parts of the world).

Eventually, we started to hear the muffled roar of Valursfossen, and as it got louder, we eventually started to glimpse some of its top beyond another wide open grassy moor area as the trail made its final brief descent to the unofficial overlook at the end of the trail. Once at the end, that was when we were able to see the main tier plunging some 60m (allegedly) before sloping another 202m into the shadows of the gorge below. There was also another powerful but smaller waterfall further upstream, but it can only be partially seen from this vantage point.

Directions: From Eidfjord, we had to drive some 7km on Rv7 towards the township of Øvre Eidfjord (Upper Eidfjord). From there, a local county road leaves Rv7 and heads south into Hjølmodalen. The road quickly became unsealed and narrow single-laned road shared with sheep. At about 5km, look for a pullout to see Vedalsfossen across the valley to your right.

Continuing further along the road for another 4km (climbing up switchbacks alongside cascading Berastoldafossen), there was a car park near a bridge for Valursfossen. Here was where we were supposed to leave the car and hike over the bridge towards the major intersection mentioned in the trail description above.

However, being the newbies that we were, we continued about another 2km to the road's end at the top of the plateau. There was another car park here, and that was where we began our hike.

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The car park where we ended up starting the hike

The very first of the three main car parks had this crazy wire bridge over the rushing stream leading to the top of Berastoldafossen. Now who'd be crazy enough to actually try to cross the river here?!?

Sign somewhere near the trail bridging the trail we took from the 3rd car park and that main intersection area with houses

Julie about to enter a rocky scramble

Julie moving ahead past a red T

Lots of red Ts spraypainted here assuring us that we were supposed to make this scramble

Some parts of the trail were steep enough that we had to get on all fours to do the scramble

We had finally made it to some open moors

Julie having a well-earned seat while staring at Valursfossen

Checking out some of the upper waterfalls

Closer look at what looked like a converging pair of upper waterfalls

All good things must come to an end so we started to head back

Julie crossing the bridge near the 3rd car park where we started

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TRIP REPORTS

• June 25, 2005

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NEARBY WATERFALLS

• Vøringsfossen
• Vedalsfossen
• Other Hjølmodalen Waterfalls

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