Skuleskogen Nationalpark – High Coast, Sweden
A foggy hike up to the red and windy rocks of Slåttdalsberget and down into the majestic walls of Slåttdalsskrevan.
The High Coast – aka. Höha Kusten – is an amazing landscape in the middle of sweden’s west coast. Proud green mountains rise up from the many fjord-like water formations which have worked their way far into the Swedish mainland from the Bottniska viken. The Gulf of Bothnia (German: Bottnischer Meerbusen) is the northernmost part of the Baltic Sea and is is situated between Finland's west coast (Ostrobothnia) and Sweden's east coast (Westrobothnia and North Bothnia).
The combination of deep green forest, high mountains and a beautiful sandy and snake like coastline gives this place a very own character: Soft waves crush almost silently into many peaceful bays where the gigantic spruces and pine trees arise from the wet sands.
Up to Slåttdalsberget
If you walk from the southern parking area of Skuleskogen to Slåttdalsskrevan you can either walk straight through the woods or take a track along the bay. The bay track is a little longer, but defenitely worth the detour. From there the way to Slåttdalsskrevan follows some rocky tracks through the forest and sometimes over wooden footbridges that guide you through some swampy wet lands. The forest is covered in perfectly round rocks, that look like dinosaur eggs. They appear especially on the higher plateaus and hillsides. We learned from a sign of the national park, that these "eggs" were shaped thousands of years ago, when the waves of our ancient oceans – wich were at a much higher sea level – moved some big rocks. You can say: The surge and the waves created sand way up in the mountains of the High Coast. But once the sea level dropped, that "unfinished sand" was left up there in the form of big round egg-like stones. We liked this story a lot.
Half way to Slåttdalsskrevan you can take a little detour once more and leave the forest to follow the mountain crest of Slåttdalsberget. Therefore, you follow some natural stairs within the beautiful rock formations, that lead you above the tree line. Usually, you get rewarded with an amazing view over the unique landscapes of the Swedish High Coast up there, but in our case, we were covered in clouds and a lot of fog. It took us a moment, but after a while we did discover a lot of beauty in that grey soup, that hung like a big curtain around us. It made the hike a little more mysterious, than it actually was. The very view trees up there stood blurry in the distance – almost like people – and the wet ground seemed to be made of red rock.
Down to Slåttdalsskrevan
Once we've reached the point to leave the crest and walk/climb down again towards the dark gorges of Slåttdalsskrevan, the wind couldn't reach us any more and created a magical silence. While the rough walls of valley were closing in on us the aromatic smell of the dark and wet forest returned.
And there it finally was: The famous Slåttdalsskrevan. Once again on that day the fog made the place rather better than worse. That grey mass of clouds was gently floating above the straight up giant walls and was dropping slowly in, like a fading water fall.
We stood, we enjoyed, we ate some Hönö and hiked back to the van for a cup of hot coffee and some afternoon work.
See you along the road!
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