Stikkilen at Røros.

July 16, 2021

Text: Martin Fossen

Photo: Vibeke C. Strømmen & Martin Fossen

The decision fell on Stikkilen

Due to tendonitis in Vibeke's arm and the fact that we have been on holiday in Kragerø for 2 weeks, there has been limited paddling lately, but now we were in Røros and the weather was nice. We considered several alternatives such as Feragselva, Håelva and Rismosjøen. The choice fell on one for us unpaddeld lake as we wanted a little more "adventure". Today's lake became Stikkilen, a few kilometers east of Røros.

Blue circle: Stikkilen

Arrival and launch site

We drove from Rugldalen and took "Riksvei" 31 towards Brekken, past Hittersjøen. The next larger lake is Stikkilen, which lies between the mentioned Hittersjøen and Djupsjøen and is connected by  rivers not possible to paddle. Stikkilen is also located close to the entrance to Olavsgruva. There are probably several possible places to put out a kayak / canoe and to park on the road along Stikkilen and also by the bridge at the east end, Steffabrua which crosses the Steffaelva. We chose, after checking with Norgeskart and Norgeibilder.no to cross the Steffabrua, take the first right and park and launch the kayaks at  the boathouseon your right hand side. There was space for the car to be parked in this small pocket. 

Blue dot: Launch site.

BBlue line: The route we paddeled

Yellow dot: Our lunch site

A small wetland paradise

The eastern end of Stikkilen has shallow water, a lot of reeds and some nice small islets. Here it is nice to spend some time and paddle calmly along the shore. As it is shallow, and relatively muddy, Stikkilien is not the prettiest lake when you look down. It improves a bit inside Stikkilvika where it is more rocky but there is still some vegetation on the rocks which gives the bottom a brownish color. If you look up and focus above the water surface it is a very nice view. However, Stikkilen is a little gem with the mentioned islets, reeds and birch forest. There were a lot of birds there, who were less happy with our presence.

Nice landscape with willows, birch, lichen, rocks and reeds.

Steffa-bridge and Steffa-river outled. Not possible to paddle (normally)

Attack from above

The aforementioned birds literally attacked us in defense of their territory and probably bird cubs. We tried as best we could and paddled far from land, and especially the islets and when we were done with the east end of the lake, it suddenly became safer to be a kayaker. Until then, we almost had to duck for diving seagulls who made a terrible noise around us. To exaggerate, we felt like a ship being subjected to dive bombers during World War II or something ...

Inside Stikkilvika there was peace and quiet and no birds attacking us.

The dam at Brorvollen and further paddling opportunities

At Brorvollen, at the west end, is a dam that prevents further paddling, unless you carry the boats around. The river below, Strømme-elva, which flows into Hittersjøen is probably usually not possible to paddle, but it is possible to consider this when driving along Riksvei 31. It is actually a pity that the rapids / rivers between Djupsjøen, Stikkilien and Hittersjøen are not calm enough as it had been a very nice stretch to paddle in its entirety. We have not yet checked out the stretch from Storhittersjøen to Grunnsjøen and on to Djupsjøen but from Norgeibilder.no it looks like there may be some rapids that you should examine before they paddle.

Have a nice trip!