Rätan - Orsa

The night in Rätan was easy, and we were able to recharge our batteries and the car’s. But in the morning we are glad to be able to check out and drive straight off towards Orsa. We have planned quite a bit along the way. It is about 120 kilometres by road to the first stop, almost all of it on the E45.

Through the bog in Hamra National Park

The first stop is Hamra National Park. The access road turns off the E45 eastwards at Fågelsjö. As always, we are the only ones on the long gravel road that leads there. Once there, however, everything is very modern and well signposted.

The park lies in Orsa Finnmark, a forest region in the north-east of the province of Dalarna that was settled by Finnish immigrants in the 17th century. The park itself, however, belongs to the municipality of Ljusdal in Gävleborgs län. Hamra is one of the nine national parks that Sweden created in 1909 as the first country in Europe to do so. Back then it covered only 28 hectares of forest, and since its extension in 2011 it has covered 1,383 hectares. Around 90 per cent of the trees are pines, many of them over 300 years old.

There are several hiking routes leading into the national park. Two loops start right at the main entrance: The Lilla Myrslingan runs 2.5 kilometres across the open bog, the Urskogsslingan 3 kilometres through the old-growth forest. The park is characterised by bog landscapes. Accordingly there are lots of mosquitoes, and carnivorous plants are supposed to grow here too. Unfortunately we don’t see any of those, but we see plenty of mosquitoes. According to the national park’s leaflet, the round-leaved sundew grows here, rundsileshår in Swedish. With its small red leaf rosettes it catches insects and digests them, which is how it manages to grow on the nutrient-poor bog.

We hike along two different trails and get a nice insight into this special landscape. According to Länsstyrelsen Gävleborg, the county administrative board, the bog is a large connected area of fens, streams, small tarns, quaking mats and islets with pines. Narrow two-plank boardwalks cross the wettest parts. Off the marked trails you have to be careful: On a quaking mat the vegetation lies on the water like a lid, and you can fall through. The map and GPX of the two loops from the main entrance are on the page for the hike in Hamra National Park.

Down to the Helvetesfallet

We pick up our lunch at a very remote ICA in the middle of nowhere. Then it’s back onto a very long (11 km) gravel road to the Helvetesfallet. Here a path leads down through dense birch forest to a reddish-brown gorge. A powerful waterfall flows through it. A suspension bridge leads to the other side of the gorge. Nicolas takes photos down into the gorge from a rocky ledge with a railing.

At the Helvetesfallet the river Ämån squeezes through a narrow passage. When the inland ice of the last ice age melted, a raging meltwater river cut deep into the rock here, according to Länsstyrelsen Dalarna. The walls of the gorge are about 30 metres high. The fall is at its most powerful in spring, when the meltwater pours down. The Ämån used to be an important timber-floating route. The log drivers blasted the riverbed so that the timber could get through more easily, and at the bottom of the fall you can still see the remains of a so-called skibord. This floor of logs laid side by side stopped the timber from getting stuck.

A few things have changed here since our visit. In autumn 2022 the municipality of Orsa made the steep path safer and built a staircase. According to Mora Tidning of 6 October 2025, the municipality closed the suspension bridge after an inspection found rust on metal parts. It is to be replaced. According to Visit Dalarna it remains closed indefinitely (as of October 2026). The map and GPX of the short path are on the page for the hike to the Helvetesfallet.

A lake view near Orsa

After this short visit we continue to our Airbnb near Orsa for today. When we arrive, the host is already waiting for us and waves. We can park the car in the carport and the host shows us our accommodation. It looks very nice and cosy. Once again we have a wonderful view of the lake from the living room and bedroom.

We go shopping, this time at an ICA Maxi, which again offers everything we need and much more. Then we cook fajitas and salad! In the evening we enjoy the beautiful sunset over the lake and edit our photos of the day. Early the next morning we head to the Orsa Rovdjurspark.