Cabin-to-cabin i Femundsmarka

Malmveien is a 50 km hiking route from Røros to Langen gjestegård that highlights the cultural heritage of Femundsmarka. This is a brief travelogue from my hike in July 2025.

🇳🇴 Les om Malmveien og satsingen for historiske vandreruter.

Day 1: From Røros to Marenvollen

The weather was already 23°C (73°F) when I set out from Røros in the morning, way too warm for a long hike with a heavy pack. From my hotel, I walked past the church to the copper works museum on the Hyttelva River, past the slag heaps, and was soon among wildflowers in an open birch forest. Then I started climbing.

Just above the treeline, at Storstensåsen, I looked over my shoulder to see the terrain I had covered with the town below. The insects were plentiful so I didn't linger. At around 8 km I passed Skåkåsstenen, which is a huge granite boulder that was likely torn loose from Viglfjella, across the border in Sweden, during the last ice age and deposited here about 10,000 years ago.

At the fingerpost around the 14 km mark, there was a view of the path I would end up taking over Gråhøgda, and the highest point on the day's hike at 966 m. After just a few more kilometers, I finally arrived at the first cabin: Marenvollen. The thermometer at the cabin read 28°C (82°F). I had been on the trail for seven and a half hours and I was ready to stop for the night.

Elevation profile for day 1

Day 2: From Marenvollen to Fjølburøsta

It was another hot and sunny morning as I left Marenvollen. I would end up spending the day walking into the sun, mostly above the treeline. There would also be several river crossings, plenty of marshes and more insects. I never felt the need to wear my head net, but I was already sporting some ugly bug bites. Within the hour I turned around to survey my progress and noted Gråhøgda in the distance. It felt like a good start to the day.

The trail was well marked with cairns and reassuring red Ts, but ahead of me were a series of ascents and descents as I moved across small peaks and valleys. The hilltops were dotted with boulders that I assume, like Skåkåsstenen, were deposited there at the end of the last ice age.

What makes this route unique among other trails in Norway, are the information posts along the way. They have an ingenious design: you pull a tab on one side of the post and a sign pops out the other side with interesting facts about the vicinity. Many of these information posts highlight historical mining operations in the region, where more than 235 mine shafts have been mapped. (The route's name, Malmveien, translates as "the ore road".) In addition to copper, large deposits of chromite have been mined in the hills east of Røros. Chromite is found in serpentine rock, which is a prominent feature of Gjetsjøen.

The last four kilometers of the day were particularly marshy and the cotton grass (myrull) was abundant. A redeeming feature of the hot weather was that the marshes were not very soggy so my boots were relatively dry. After a total of six hours and forty minutes on the trail (including breaks), I arrived at Fjølburøsta, an old summer farm (seter) that dates back to the 1700s. The farmhouse where I slept was built in the mid-1800s. This picture, by Knut Wolden, better captures the scope of the farm than I managed during my brief visit.

Elevation profile for day 2

Day 3: From Fjølburøsta to Langen gjestegård

The landscape was dramatically different from Fjølburøsta. I was now surrounded by pine trees. The weather was still hot, but a soft, wide path made for easier walking.

While the mines were operating, the forest in this area was used for the production of charcoal to fuel the smelting furnaces back in Røros. A system of floating canals was built in the 1700s to drive timber from Femunden to Feragen, and operated until 1973. On my hike, the canal at Langtjønnbua was dry, but further down the trail at Lortholrenna I saw a couple floating their canoe between lakes.

Despite the relatively flat terrain and generally excellent paths, it was another seven-hour day on the trail. Part of the time went to chatting with a few people I saw on the trail, the first human contact I had since leaving Røros! But mostly I was just hot and tired. It was a relief to arrive at Langen gjestegård with plenty of time for a cooling shower before a home-cooked meal of perch (abbor), reindeer and condiments made from local berries.

Elevation profile for day 3