[26-3] Tent tour in Grytdalen [26-4]
[26-5] Weekend in Krystskog [26-6]
[26-7] Grytdalen lies between Orkanger and Snillfjord. [26-8] Here you can wander around a spring weekend and enjoy animal and bird life, or hear a stag bellow of an early autumn morning. [26-9] You should take a tent; there's neither huts nor cabins available. [26-10] A large area is preserved as a nature reserve. [26-11] Here there are many choices. [26-12] We recommend a through tour through the area. [26-13] It's advisable to plan the tour after the snow has melted or in late summer / autumn. [26-14] Then you avoid periods with lots of black flies. [26-15]
[26-16] If you arrive by car, you can park at Songli or along Fjellkjøsvatnet (toll road). [26-17] You can also take a bus to Gjølme and hike in via Fjellkjøsvatnet. [26-18] A fine through tour is to take a bus to Snillfjord Friday afternoon and end up at Gjølme near Orkanger. [26-19] Alight at Djupdals-tjønna and follow the trail up to Koksteinen. [26-20] A hike over Koksteinen gives you at the same time a fine view of Grytdalen. [26-21]
[26-22] You can put up a tent anywhere. [26-23] Melandsøya is a much used campsite and can be a good starting point for hikes in the valley. [26-24] We recommend this area as a campsite the first two nights. [26-25] to here, it's about 5 km from Songli and Fjellkjøsvatnet. [26-26] On Saturday, we recommend a round tour in the valley. [26-27] There are many choices. [26-28] You can begin down along Grytdalselva to Åsetra. [26-29] Just below it you'll come across the Kjerringspranget waterfall. [26-30] From here, you can follow the trail up to Svarttjørna and onward through Bjørndalen through rolling, fascinating terrain, before you again go down to Melandsøya. [26-31] The trails in the area can be hard to find, so you should take with and know how to use map and compass. [26-32]
[26-33] The homeward tour to Orkanger is advisable over Bjørndalen and to the north and east of Fjellkjøsvatnet. [26-34] The tour over the ridge to Orkanger is advisable along the trail via Våmyra and down to Tunga and Gjølme. [26-35] Here you likely may follow the tracks of King Sverre's men of the 12th century. [26-36] To Gjølme it's about 14 km. [26-37] From Orkanger it's easy to take a bus, both to Trondheim and to other destinations. [26-38]
[26-39] Maps: [26-40] 1: 50,000 Orkanger and Snillfjord. [26-41]
[26-42] Trond Gilde [26-43]
[26-44] Grytdalen, the nature reserve, and Songli [26-45]
[26-46] Grytdalen is a lush valley with marshes and mixed forest, surrounded by bare mountains. [26-47] In 1978 the area was protected as a special landscape area. [26-48] From 1992 on, as part of coniferous forest protection, the protected area was extended and made a natural reserve. [26-49] This is a stricter level of protection. [26-50] The goal of protection is to preserve a typical coniferous forest area in this part of Trøndelag. [26-51] According to the protection regulations, all animal and plant life is protected. [26-52] Damaging dead bushes and trees is prohibited, but you can collect dry branches to make a fire in the season that bonfires are permitted. [26-53]
[26-54] In the past, there were several farms in Grytdalen. [26-55] The oldest of them is Bjørndalen, which lies on the old thoroughfare between Orkanger and Snillfjord and which is mentioned in Sverre's Saga. [26-56] The farm lies high and free between Fjellkjøsvatnet and Grytdalen and is the only place in the valley where the original buildings stand where they were built. [26-57]
[26-58] Outlying fields in the lush Grytdalen have been diligently used both for summer dairy farming and for haymaking. [26-59] But that came to an end when Christian Thams at the end of the 19thcentury bought up the properties in the valley to use the area for hunting and fishing. [26-60] Some of the old haylofts have been collected and rebuilt as hunting lodges (Hjortdalsbytta and Svarttjønnhytta). [26-61] Thams built a "hunting palace" at Songli, where among others, Kaiser Wilhelm was a guest. [26-62] After World War II, the State took over the Songli properties with Grytdalen.