Linndalsfossen
Amotan, More og Romsdal County, Norway
Europe >> Norway >> More og Romsdal County >> Amotan, Sunndal Municipality
About Linndalsfossen
Hiking Distance: 3km round trip
Suggested Time: 90-120 minutes
Waterfall Longitude: 9.08592
Linndalsfossen (I've also seen it referred to as Lindalsfallet, Linndalsfallet as well as Lindalsfossen) was the last of the three waterfalls that I saw from the Jenstad Farm.
Nestled below the Jenstad Farm sat Åmotan, which was a special place in my mind because it was where four thundering rivers (three of which had major waterfalls) all converged.
Linndalsfossen or Lindalsfallet
Such a concentration of giant waterfalls in one place seemed to be geologically special.
Just to give you an idea of the unusual forces at play here, according to the signs (and some of the local literature), the combination of ice dams, rapid elevation changes, and glacially-carved U-shaped valleys resulted in these rivers running in the opposite direction of their current flow today!
In any case, unlike the first two waterfalls (Svøufossen and Reppdalsfossen), I had to earn a view of this mammoth 140m waterfall (possibly up to 280m if you count the drop over its entire run) by doing a fairly involved hike.
So it was for this reason that it was also the hardest of the three Åmotan waterfalls to reach.
Linndalsfossen as seen on my first visit back in early July 2005
But even with that said, I thought the hike didn't take nearly as long as the signs had led me to believe (which suggested it was 2 hours return when I first did it back in 2005).
I ended up taking about half that time on the first visit (with trail running) as well as 90 minutes on the second visit (with on-and-off rain).
So I wasn't sure if the signs were overly conservative or if I was going really fast (though the latter reason was not that likely).
Perhaps the average pace would be something more on the order of 90 minutes give or take, which would be in line with the pace of my second visit.
The Linndalsfossen Hike
Looking down the unpaved road towards Reppdalsfossen as I was crossing it to continue towards Lindalsfossen
For this hike, I started from the first car park (see directions below), where I paid and displayed before setting off.
However, instead of walking towards Reppdalsfossen and Svøufossen, I went up the hill right behind the signboard and automatic payment machine towards Gammelsætra (a hytta or mountain cabin high up along the Linndøla River).
The initial part of the climb went up amongst some tall grass surrounded by tall trees with a few opportunities to glimpse the Reppdalsfallet along the way.
After about 150m, the trail intersected with an unpaved toll road that ultimately led up to Gammelsætra, but the trail continued right next to the self-help toll boom.
The self-help toll boom ensuring that you pay the toll to continue driving up to the Gammelsætra cabin, but the trail to Lindalsfallet continued just to the right of this boom
The hike continued its steady climb as it intersected a lesser used road (another 150m after the toll boom) before starting to undulate into a forested area alongside an electric fence (which definitely wasn't there back in 2005).
For the next 1km or so, the path became increasingly narrower and steeper (even overgrown in spots) along the way.
During this stretch, the undulating trail gave into even more persistently steep climbing, which would make up perhaps the most difficult part of this hike.
Along this difficult stretch, there were some openings in the surrounding foliage that allowed me some distant views towards the uppermost tiers of Svøufallet in the distance.
The Lindalsfallet Trail continuing its steep climb while the footpath itself continued to be narrow and ledge-hugging
The whole way, I saw those familiar spraypainted red Ts as reassuring trail markers courtesy of Den Norske Turistforeningen or DNT.
Eventually, as the steep climb eventually leveled out, I started to hear the roar of a waterfall, which hastened my paces even more.
And after about 1.5km from the trailhead (according to my GPS logs), I'd ultimately reach an open part of an outcrop perched high above a steep ravine with a direct view towards Lindalsfallet.
From this overlook, I had to be very careful not to get too close to the edge of the outcrop because it was a long way down and there was nothing to stop me from getting too close other than my sense of judgment.
When the Linndalsfossen trail opened up, I got this distant view of Linndøla converging towards the base of Svøufossen with Svisdalen further upstream from the falls
Although on my first visit here in 2005 I didn't entertain going any closer to the falls or continuing on to Gammelsætra, on the return visit in 2019, I did explore a little further to two more outcrops with views of Linndalsfossen.
Given its rippling appearance, Lindalsfallet kind of reminded me of how Illilouette Fall in Yosemite would look like had it been possible to view directly.
Enough of the Linndøla's steep drop made contact with the underlying cliff face to make the falls spread and fan out giving it somewhat of a "plush" appearance.
Another waterfall that might have similar shared visual characteristics could be Feather Falls in Plumas National Forest in California.
View of Lindalsfossen from one of the higher lookouts for a slightly different angle before I turned back
Anyways, from what I could tell, there was no way I could get down into the canyon safely from the outcrop I was at so this was my turnaround point.
It appeared that the trail kept going uphill towards the brink of the falls or closer to the Gammelsætra cabin, but I can't say more about them since I didn't go any further.
When I had my fill of the impressive waterfall, I at least got to look forward to the all downhill on the way back to the trailhead, but I still had to watch for the narrowness and the odd roots or rocks conspiring to turn my ankles.
You may wonder why I've been using the names Linndalsfossen, Lindalsfossen, Linndalsfallet, and Lindalsfallet interchangeably on this page (as well as the Svøufossen and Reppdalsfossen page).
Some of the old signage to continue the hike towards Lindalsfossen as seen back on our first visit in early July 2005
It turns out that the Norgeskart map still spells the name of the falls and the river with two n's like Linndalsfossen or Linndalsfallet.
That was the convention that I went with when I first did this write-up back in 2005, and I've stuck with it ever since.
Meanwhile, I've noticed recently that there had been more of a move to go with the suffix -fallet instead of -fossen in these parts. The same was true for both Svøufallet and Reppdalsfallet.
I'd imagine that has something to do with perhaps the Swedish-Norwegian cultural mix the closer to the north you go in Norway.
If you look closely at the signs in this photo, you'll see that they now refer to Lindalsfossen as Lindalsfallet as of our second visit in July 2019
Finally, the utilization of the single n in the name Lindalsfossen or Lindalsfallet had been used by the landowners at the Jenstad Farm even since back on our first visit in 2005.
I'd imagine that's the more common usage of the name of these falls, but whatever the case, just realize that they all refer to the same thing.
Linndalsfossen resides in the Sunndal Municipality between Sunndalsøra and Oppdal in Møre og Romsdal County, Norway. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, visit their website or Facebook page.
Detailed driving directions are given in our Svøufossen and Reppdalsfossen page.
The first car park (mentioned in that other page) was where the Linndalsfossen trail began.
At the first car park at the Jenstad Farm, where the Lindalsfossen Trail started on that narrow path behind the signs to the left of this picture
It was about 150m before the second car park. A self-help 30kr toll was charged for parking (as of 2019; though it was 20kr when we were first here in 2005 just to give you an idea of the rate of inflation).
For further context, Sunndalsøra was 68km (1 hour drive) west of Oppdal, 128km (2 hours drive) east of Åndalsnes, 187km (over 2.5 hours drive) southwest of Trondheim, 466km (6 hours drive) north of Oslo, and 578km (over 8.5 hours drive with ferry crossings) northeast of Bergen.
Multiple sweeps showcasing Linndalsfossen from different viewpoints
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Linndalsfossen was the last waterfall we visited on our first trip to Norway in 2005 before arriving in the beautiful yet compact city of Trondheim. Shown here is the towering Nidaros Cathedral (Nidarosdomen)
On our second visit to Norway, we had visited Trondheim prior to visiting Åmotan, which included this square called Torget though it was under lots of construction on that visit. I could have sworn on the first visit here in 2005, this used to be a roundabout
Even though it was quite a bit of a drive to get to Åmotan from Røros, the UNESCO World Heritage mining town had plenty to see and experience like the Olav's Mine (Olavsgruva) with its copper deposits
In addition to the Olavsgruva, there were other charming and historical aspects to Røros that were worth experiencing, and we could totally see how this mining town became a UNESCO World Heritage site
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