By Mariann Saether

Photos: Carl Norberg

Sitting just south of the Arctic Circle, the remote Vistenfjorden is a secret well-kept even from Norwegian sea kayakers. This is about to change.

A tale from the north

“Look”! My paddling partner Thomas Holm-Carlsen points to the sky with a big grin on his face. Above us an eagle is soaring, tightly followed by a seagull who is fiercely attacking the much bigger bird. The sea-eagle, or white-tailed eagle as it is also called, is the fourth largest eagle in the world and in northern Europe, it is the biggest bird predator there is.

We fall into a common paddling rhythm as we watch the battle unfold in the sky. I wonder silently if this is true courage – to attack the much bigger contender with no hesitation – or if it is pure stupidity. But who am I to decide? I leave the question unanswered and as we cross the fjord from north to south the birds disappear leaving us wondering about the outcome, though we soon forget about David and Goliath – we are about to enter a special place.

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring´d with the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.
Tennyson

Norway is world-famous for its sea kayaking, and especially the county of Nordland, which attracts paddlers from all over the world. There are the obvious tourist spots like Lofoten and Geiranger, but many also navigate the coastline between the town of Brønnøysund to Bodø, from north to south, or south to north. Doing so most kayakers pass the fjord of Visten without even giving it a thought.

Situated north of Brønnøysund, but south of the sea kayaking mecca of Nesna, it is a 22-kilometre long fjord. It stretches into the wilderness of the main land, creating a spectacular gateway to the national park of Lomsdal-Visten. This park is among the youngest in Norway, only created in 2009 and perhaps the least visited. There are hardly any trails, rapidly changing weather patterns and rugged terrain – but also coastal rainforest, a rich cultural history, immense wildlife and utterly untouched nature. In other words: paradise.

A HIDDEN FJORD

We parked our cars in the small town of Visthus and put the sea kayaks anxiously on the emerald waters of Vistenfjord. It is in fact rated as the cleanest in northern Europe and we were going to spend two days paddling it from ocean to inland. Our goal was to explore a corner of Norway not much visited and allowing for some small adventures along the way. Anticipation built up as we left the main fjord and paddled into Langkilvågen, which is a small fjord arm cutting stubbornly into the land.

Leaving the main fjord, the fjord sides are tall and dark, creating a tight passage for us to paddle through before opening up into a small oasis of green. A river flows down from the mountain next to a little beach, with lush forest just behind. This is a place for camping, surrounded by serene beauty and tranquility. I close my eyes and breathe – not thinking much about anything, simply being.

As we retrace our course back out to the main fjord, we chat about the lush scenery surrounding this arctic fjord. Thomas, who holds a degree in environmental science, tells me that this particular fjord is inhabited by a wide range of woodpeckers – due to the vast amounts of old, untouched forests here. As a matter of fact, some of the trees are not supposed to grow this far north. As stubborn as nature is though, pockets of micro climate allow for certain tree-types such as elm to flourish in select places – such as Vistenfjorden. Also found here is boreal rain forest – something which makes me feel lucky that we are paddling in glorious sunshine – a boreal rain forest requires up to 1200 mm of rain a year – and more than 200 rainy days!

TIDAL CURRENT

We have spent the good portion of the day paddling the outer reaches of the fjord, discovering small abandoned farms and houses along the way. The birdlife is rich, and we keep scanning the forests – are they boreal rain forests, or elm and hazel? As we approach the end of the first day, the first obstacle appears. The Strait of Aussundet is a narrow passage in the fjord – a reminder of the glacier that once shaped the region, which also left a moraine that makes the ocean shallow right here.

This is where the tidal current pushes through at high speed -and we had of course not thought much about whether we would pass through during ebb or tide. This we soon regretted. As we were paddling hard forward to pass the strait, the tide was on its way out. It took us close to an hour to push forward a few hundred metres, and as we finally reached the northern bend in the fjord that marked the passage into the inner areas of Visten we were breathing heavily. But we made it – and our reward? A spectacular view of one of the biggest peaks in the area called Vistmannen, which translates as The man of Visten, sitting at 1066 metres above sea level. This place is simply filled with magic, and there is no surprise that the region has been inhabited for millennia. No kidding.

However, the history in the Vistenfjord is diverse, something which manifests itself in the small bay of Sommersetvika. We stopped for a little stroll up the hill, to check out the site for a small farm, which has now totally vanished. No buildings are standing, but it is possible to make out the tiny pastures used for their sheep – and one could only wonder how it had been to live here, in this sheltered little nook of the world.

What makes it more spectacular is the finding of a cave up on the hillside – with cave paintings dating back thousands of years. They are small and seem insignificant, even hard to identify, but they are there. The cave is called Reshålå – which means Witchcraft cave – and shows that the locals indeed have been aware of this special place for a long time. In addition, the samis (Laplanders) have been walking these regions for hundreds of years, herding their reindeer between the mountain and sea.

Being a nomadic culture, they did not leave behind many traces in forms of buildings, but rock shelters are still to be found, along with some artefacts. Perhaps the clearest evidence of their use of the land is the numerous sami names on lakes, rivers and places throughout the Vistenfjord. It is no overstatement to say that I went to bed that night feeling slightly overwhelmed – the nature, the history – the place itself made an impact on me that I had not anticipated – and the trip was far from over.

A TIDAL RIVER

On our second day we were up for a grand adventure, and one that I had much been looking forward to. You see, in the inner part of Visten, the sea pushes inland into an area called Strauman, or ‘The currents’. It creates a tidal river, which pushes upstream at certain times of the day and then flows back out other times. When the ebb is dominating, there are rapids in this tidal river that can get navigated, but it is also why it is smart to swap the sea kayak for a sturdier river kayak, which can be done at the farms of Aursletta or Bønnå.

Strauman

Strauman is a protected area that was created in 2009, which together with the Lomsdal-Visten National Park, is meant to ensure a unique piece of nature from source to sea – an area where the tidal currents are special and where fresh water species and sea species mix in the lake of Lakselvvatnet.

It consists of a ten-metre layer of fresh water on top of sea water – creating an unusual habitat that resembles a melting pot of modern times. This area is also newly opened again for fishing and both sea trout and salmon are frequently caught as more and more fishermen find their way into the inner Visten.

treacherous ice

As we make our way across the lake, I study the abandoned farms here. There are many stories of accidents and drownings in the winter – there were and still are no roads. Thus the locals used the treacherous ice to walk out to the main fjord, and sometimes they paid the highest price as the tidal currents created an ice cap that was not always solid.

The farms are surrounded by deep forests and fishing and wildlife was rich, making it possible to create a life in this remote corner of the world. Today it is hard to understand the hardships of such a life – but it is easier to see why one would come to love this brutal natural beauty – the scenery is raw and powerful. We decided to try our luck up one of the rivers that flow into the lake, and see how far we could go. As it turned out – not too far.

The river Sæterelva tumbles down from the mountains in the inner regions of Lomsdal-Visten, but in its final stages it meanders its way down to the lake Lakselvvatnet, only occasionally being disturbed by large waterfalls. The waterfall Mølnhusforsen is one of those, and the last one in the river bed before it meets the ocean. We can hear it from afar as we paddle up the crystal clear river. Big pines surround the river bed, and there are numerous signs of beaver all along the water.

In a way it more seems like a river taken from the Canadian wilderness, not in arctic Norway. Chatting our way upstream, we fall silent as we spot the waterfall. It is a great giant of cascading water and mist, roaring with power in this desolate, yet lush valley bed. We linger there for a while, soaking up the raw nature and pulling from its energy. Some places are pure magic. And as we turned our kayaks back downstream, to find our way back to civilization, we agreed that the Vistenfjord is simply that: Magical beyond means.

Information

Where: in the county of Nordland in Northern Norway, just north of Brønnøysund.

Access to the region: the domestic airport of Sandnessjøen, with connections to international airports of Bodø, Trondheim and Oslo is about one hour away.

Access to the fjord: one can use a speedboat (daily departures) from nearby towns of Tjøtta and Visthus to avoid paddling the entire fjord to Inner Visten.

Time to go: June – August. September can be spectacular, but the weather is usually rougher.

Kayak rental/accommodation: www.vistenfjord.no or www.bonaa.no

Fishing licence: www.inatur.no

Lomsdal-Visten Nasjonal Park: www.lomsdalvisten.no