Cesar's Guide to Nordvärmlandsleden: Ransby to Höljes

 

Introduction

Nordvärmlandsleden is a roughly 55km hiking trail that follows the Klarälven river valley in northern Värmland county.  The trail technically has a southern terminus in the village of Branäs, but this guide and trip report will cover the trail from the village of Ransby (just across the river from Branäs) to the northern terminus in the village of Höljes.  This section is a continuation of my alternate Swedish E1 trail called The Troll Trail/Trolleden.  Click here for more information on this trail system.

Here is the official website for this trail in English, but there is not much to it.  Nordvärmlandsleden is generally well marked and maintained, and has some nice views as it traverses up and down the peaks and ridges of the long and beautiful valley. It even goes up to Värmland’s highest point, the small mountain (or big hill) called Granberget, 700m above sea level. There is also a really cool lookout tower built on its peak.

The Troll Trail in a Nutshell Full Guide

An Abridged Guide to The Troll Trail:

An Alternate Trail to the Swedish E1 Long Distance Hiking Trail

Version 3.0

By Cesar Valdez

Note: If you prefer to download a PDF file of this guide, you can do so here.

Foreword

This is a condensed but full guide to The Troll Trail, a long distance hiking trail that I created. The longer, unabridged guide--which includes additional details on the various areas/sections, hundreds of photographs, and trip reports of my personal experiences hiking the trail--can be found on my blog (click here). The goal of this shortened guide is to provide just the most essential information to help hikers plan and hike this trail. What I recommend if you are seriously considering hiking this trail is to read the longer guides and trip reports on my blog while you’re at home preparing, and then on the way to the trail and/or while you’re actually out hiking the trail you can switch over to this shortened guide.

Or if you’re restless and just want to get out there and hike, say you’re an experienced backpacker, etc.--I get it. This guide should be enough on its own and you can read the whole thing in less than an hour, then revisit it on trail as needed. Make sure to download all the custom maps that I created for the connection routes, and have fun being on autopilot most of the time hiking the longer marked trails.