Tresticklan Nationalpark

The 2,897 hectare Tresticklan national park is the largest uninterrupted area of untouched nature in southern Sweden. There are sign-posted walking tracks throughout the area. One interesting path is Halleleden, which takes you to an overnight hut on the Norwegian border. In days gone by, there was even a trade link to Halden. The round trail Tresticklanleden leads you up to Orshöjden, which at 276 metres above sea level is the highest point in the area. Comprehensive maps are available, as well as information about the culture and history of the area.

Walking in the Tresticklan national park is a unique natural experience. The paths traverse a landscape that is quite unusual and forest that has more or less been left alone for over a hundred years. The landscape is characterized by the heavily cracked bedrock. Huge cracks intersect the primary rock plate, running parallel from north to south. There are bogs and pools within the cracks, and between them run long, virtually bare, ridges of rock. Tresticklan is a typical fissure valley landscape, a geology that is quite common in Götaland, but outside Sweden is found only in small areas in Norway and Finland.

The pine forest is sparse and the trees themselves low and spindly, despite the fact that most are 120 to 170 years old.

During the 1830s, a huge fire raged in the area and much of the forest in the national park has grown since then. But pines are adapted to survive fires and individual trees have been found here that are older than 250 years. Traces of the fire can still be found under the moss in some places.

Birdlife in the area is diverse: there are great wood grouse, black grouse and hazel hens, as well as larger woodpeckers, tree pipit, goldcrest, nightjar and other bird species. In fact, most types of wildlife can be found in the Tresticklan national park. If you're lucky you may even see the wolf that frequents the area from time to time.

Growing on stone slabs you’ll find reindeer moss and other types of lichen, and where there’s a little more soil there's plenty of heather and wild berry bushes. Look for bog myrtle and other plants in the hollows, and for bell-heather and sundew in mossy areas.

West of Orshöjden there are several water-filled rock holes. These are remains from the Olstjärn mine where iron ore was mined during the 1700s. There are other small mines in the area too. A mineral called pegmatite was mined as well as iron ore, the pegmatite provided quartz for glassmaking.

No more than two settlements have been found in the Tresticklan area. Crofts were usually much more widespread than this throughout Dalsland, but in the barren Tresticklan area there was hardly any soil to cultivate. A farm known as Oltjärnsbråtarne was located at the Orshöjden scarp. It was abandoned in 1904, and only the doorstep of the cottage remains today.

Walking in Tresticklan has become very popular and around 10,000 people visit the area each year. Tresticklan borders the Lundsneset nature reserve in Norway, which means that you can continue your walk in this reserve with its 2,000 hectares of uninterrupted forest.

Walking tours in Tresticklan with local guides are arranged during the year, a good way to find much more out about the area than you would otherwise. The guides know the history of the district and have many interesting stories to tell about the people who’ve lived in the area and events that have taken place.