Jul 31
Copper and antlers
Today’s hike was to the Ösjöstugan cabin and then over to the peaks of Ösjövålen and Osjökläppen. It’s a long-ish hike so I wanted to make it a bit easier by taking the ski lift up from Ramundberget up to the plateau, which meant that it was fairly level hiking to the Ösjön cabins. After that, the trail goes up and when I got to the pass, I had Ösjökläppen on my left and Ösjövålen on the right. Both are low peaks so I didn’t have to put much effort on reaching them from the pass, as you can see from the picture (both peaks are there and the pass in the middle, and you can just barely see the cabins as well, the trail is pointing the way).
Ösjökläppen turned out to be interesting. There was this barren streak going down the mountain, just about the only plant growing in the streak was the alpine catchfly (Lychnis alpina). 
But then, there were loads of them. Never seen anything like it. A bit higher up I came across some rock piles and holes that were filled with water now. And then it hit me – copper. The alpine catchfly loves copper, which means that there is a very high concentration of copper here. No other plants survive. But outside this barren streak, it was life as normal.
If the plant life was normal, I found it very strange how many fallen reindeer antlers I was seeing. You’d think that there are antlers everywhere in the mountains, but it’s not at all like that. It’s quite rare that you see any and on this hike, I found 11 and they were all on these two mountains, within a distance of about 1.5-2 km. That’s probably more fallen antlers than I have ever seen before, all put together!
On the way back I stopped at the Ösjöstugan cabin. I had read about a natural well close to the cabin and I must say it’s the most special well I’ve ever seen. I’ve seen natural wells before, but I haven’t actually seen how the water flows up. But here, the water was just bubbling up (without creating any bubbles but I don’t know how to otherwise describe it) and the water was absolutely clear. I drank it and it didn’t taste like anything. I mean, there was really no taste in the water! Pure as it gets.
All that remained was the hike back to the car. When I was going down the hill to Ramundberget and my car, I was glad I had taken the lift up. The hike was over 16 km and although I wasn’t tired as such, I was still hoping that the evening would be cloudy so I didn’t have to drag myself out to shoot the light. It’s almost time for sunset now as I’m typing this… and it looks like rain!
4 comments
Nu börjar det bli intressant! Säkert koppargruvor du stött på som försåg Ljusnedals bruk med kopparmalm. Har du tips på övernattning i Ramundberget som även tar hundar?
Jag tänkte på dig när jag insåg att det måste vara kopparmalm det handlar om.
Jag har inte övernattat i Ramundberget eller Bruksvallarna och det beror till stor del att de har bara dyra stugor och hotellrum. Men om du har ingenting emot att åka tre mil extra så kan jag varmt rekommendera Mittådalens Fjällgård. Ett väldigt trevligt vandrarhem (som hör inte till STF), tar emot gäster med husdjur (ägaren har själv en snäll liten hund) och dessutom är det billigare än nån annanstans!
Tack för tipset på boende. Inga Viscaria Alpina i krokarna, eller är det samma blomma kanske?
Japp Lychnis alpina och Viscaria alpina är samma blomma. De har bara inte bestämt vad det ska heta.
Fjällnejlika hursomhelst! 