Forest exploration and pancakes at Styggforsen
Styggforsen is a waterfall and a nature reserve in Dalarna County. The fall is 36 meters high and the surrounding nature is home to interesting geology, beautiful views and exciting plants. The area is also rich with history, lore and stories of old.
“The rock walls at Styggforsen Nature Reserve clearly show the result of the meteorite strike that hit the Siljan area 377 million years ago. Here, layers of slate, limestone and sandstone are dramatically on the rise due to the impact. The layers were formed as sediments in a sea that covered parts of Scandinavia just over 400 million years ago.”
Visit Dalarna’s Website
How to get here
The nature reserve is located 12 kilometers north of Rättvik, follow road 301 to Boda. Once you arrive there’s quite a big parking lot right by the entrance so the area is very easily accessible.
In total there is a 750 m long walking trail around the area, with several barbecue areas and shelters. We went here on a Friday morning and strolled around for a bit examining the cool geology, reading signs, looking and plants and admiring the landscape. There were many interesting stories about the people that used to live and work here, as well as about the mystical forces of the fall and the gnomes / trolls living in the caves. They had truly done a great job with all the signs, and all the information was available in both Swedish and English!
We had our friend Evi from The Mangevie, accompanied by her daughters, as our private guides which was a lot of fun. They knew a lot of the stories by now and told us about them combined with their own from previous experiences in the area. It’s neat that we get to visit a place and read about days long gone while adding to the stories of a place with our own adventures.
After wandering around exploring for a while it was nearing lunch time and so we made our way to one of the shelters. We had brought an outdoor pan from Dalum and while Evy prepped the food I made a fire. Dan had prepared some firewood and then he taught the girls how to use a fire steel while we cooked.
We kept it simple with hot dogs, condiments and buns. But then we splurged on desert with pancakes and blueberries! Dalum sells these ready to go pancake kits and it’s so smart for the outdoors! You get a dry mix where all you need to add is water, and with it you also get a small bottle of blueberry (or cloud berry or spruce) syrup. Yum! We brought extra berries because, well… Can you have too many blueberries? I don’t think so!
≫ It’s important to note that you are only allowed to have a fire at the designated areas in the reserve ≪
This was such a lovely outing and we had a great time. I love when it’s simple and easy going; You definitely do not need to travel far or do epic things to have a good time in the great outdoors. A big shoutout to Evi and the girls for bringing us here, and to Mil for being cute and eating our leftovers!
