About Fettjeafallet
Fettjeafallet (or more accurately Fettjeåfallet) was one of the taller waterfalls that was said to have a drop of 70m over two main drops on the Fettjeån river.
With this excursion, it was pretty much all about the river itself and the waterfall at the end.
As you can see from the photo above, this was one of the taller and nicer waterfalls that I’ve encountered in Sweden.
It felt also a little off the typical tourist path (at least compared to Hällingsåfallet.
While I was able to get nice contextual views from afar, I did take the time to scramble closer and up a little bit of the steep slopes to get up to one of the plunge pools at the base of one of the taller drops.
For the most part, I had pretty much the entire trail to myself with the exception of one couple who were fishing near the falls.
Perhaps the relative lack of people had more to do with my late afternoon or early evening hike (while most people would be having an early dinner), but it was relaxing to say the least.
Hiking to and experiencing Fettjeåfallet
I had to earn my visit with a fairly gentle 4km round trip walk (2km in each direction), but the trail became progressively more rugged after the half-way point.
From the fairly spacious car park at the trailhead (see directions below), the trail went past a shelter where I encountered a sign in Swedish saying something about the need for trail improvements.
The trail then followed a fairly wide and conventional dirt path with some rocks strewn here and there (so watch out for twisted ankles).
The hiking started off dry, but then it started to converge to and parallel the tannin-laced Fettjeån, which was quite calm for most of the first kilometer of the hike.
After passing a sign saying at the one kilometer point (i.e. the half-way point of the hike), the trail then started to degenerate more into tree roots though it was still straightforward to follow.
A little further beyond the signed half-way point, the trail then crossed the Fettjeån over a wooden bridge.
On the other side of the bridge, the trail degenerated even more into a smattering of boards and mostly rocks.
It was in this stretch of the trail that I noticed some intermediate cascades as well as short informal spurs to get a closer look at them or even perhaps take a dip.
The trail continued to climb around these intermediate waterfalls over a combination of slopes and rocks, and with careful steps (i.e. not being in a rush), I found them to not be particularly difficult obstacles.
The fairly rough conditions were still manageable as I crossed a second bridge over the Fettjeån before the trail started to skirt volcanic boulder slopes.
Eventually at nearly 2km from the trailhead, I reached a shelter while also getting a decent contextual look at Fettjeåfallet from a distance.
The “trail” actually continued past the shelter, which eventually climbed a series of loose rocks ultimately getting me up to the very base of the lower of the two main drops.
This was my turnaround point as any further progress at this point required an uncomfortable level of steep scrambling on loose rocks.
After returning to the car park and trailhead, my trip notes suggested that I took about 1 hour and 45 minutes to complete the 4km hike as well as enjoy the scenery both along the way and at the falls.
Trail Repairs due for Fettjeåfallet
Even though the signs in the area were in Swedish, I was able to make out (based on my limited Norwegian) that the rough parts of the trail were planned to be repaired around September 2019 (I was there in July 2019).
I think there were SEK figures mentioned on the sign so I presume that they were soliciting donations or crowd sourcing to raise the necessary funds to complete the trail repairs.
In any case, perhaps by the time you read this, the trail conditions (especially in the last kilometer) will have been improved to the point that perhaps the excursion might take even less time than it took me.
Authorities
Fettjeåfallet was in the municipality of Berg near Klövsjö in the county of Jämtland, Sweden. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, you may want to try the local municipality website.
Since I made my drive to Fettjeåfallet from Östersund, I’ll describe the driving directions from there.
The most straightforward and fastest way to get to the falls was to get to the E14 south as soon as possible.
Once on the E14 heading south, I drove for about (more or less 12km) to the junction with the E45.
I then took the E45 south for about 61km to the signed exit for Klövsjö, which followed the Road 316 just south of the town of Åsama.
I then followed the Road 316 for about 19km to a signed turnoff for Fettjeåfallet.
From there, I drove the nearly 6km to the car park for the falls on the left.
Overall, this drive took me around just under 90 minutes.
For geographic context, Östersund was about 96km (roughly 75 minutes drive) north of Klövsjö, about 101km (about 90 minutes drive) south of Strömsund, 263km (about 3.5 hours drive) east of Trondheim, Norway, and 557km (well over 6 hours drive) northwest of Stockholm.
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Sweep starting from a shed before panning over to the falls and the surrounding cliffs
Checking out the falls from the base of the lower main drop before scrambling lower to reveal the higher tier above it
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