Turgåer med ryggsekk går langs en tursti i Saltfjellet ved solnedgang en fin høstdag Kristoffer Møllevik / Visit Helgeland

Saltfjellet-Svartisen National Park is a vast protected wilderness area that was established in 1989. Located at the northernmost part of Helgeland, this is where you cross the Arctic Circle and find Norway’s second-largest glacier, Svartisen, which covers one-fifth of the national park.

Unique nature and culture

Saltfjellet-Svartisen National Park offers a variety of unique natural landscapes. From fjords and jagged peaks in the west to the spectacular plateau in the east, with an enormous glacier spread like a blanket over the mountains, dividing these contrasting environments. The park is also home to a remarkable collection of Sami cultural heritage sites.

The Saltfjellet-Svartisen area is considered the oldest and most significant region for Sami cultural heritage south of Finnmark. Archaeological traces of Sami settlement have been found, including “stallo” foundations dating back to the Middle Ages. Today’s reindeer herding traditions trace back to the 15th and 16th centuries, and there are many cultural relics from this period, such as tent sites, shelters, storage chambers, traditional cabins, Sami sacrificial stones, animal traps, and more.

  • You are free to walk or ski anywhere, provided you don’t disturb wildlife. Stick to the trails as much as possible to reduce wear on the terrain.
  • You can ride a regular bike (not an e-bike) on trails, roads, and tracks.
  • E-bikes are allowed on roads and tracks but not on trails. Tracks are made by tractors or ATVs, which local grazing industries are allowed to use to some extent. These tracks are only found at the edges of the national park.
  • Note that there may be areas with travel restrictions at certain times.
  • You can bring your dog on hikes, but during the leash law period, it must be on a leash. The leash period may vary based on local regulations, so check this before you go if you are unsure. All year round, make sure your dog does not disturb wildlife such as reindeer or arctic foxes.
  • You can camp almost anywhere under the right to roam (“allemannsretten”). Maintain a distance of at least 150 meters from houses and cabins, and don’t stay in the same place for more than two days.
  • You can light a campfire all year, but only where there’s no clear fire risk, and in a way that leaves no marks on the terrain. Use existing fire pits, or bring a twig burner or fire bucket. Only burn fallen branches or wood you bring with you.
  • You are not allowed to chop or cut down living or dead trees. Standing dead trees (snags) are especially valuable for wildlife and biodiversity and may be centuries old.
  • You must not build cairns in the national park, or disturb existing ones. Established cairns serve as important navigational aids, and new ones can harm nature and the visitor experience.
  • You can hunt and fish as long as you have the proper hunting and/or fishing licenses and follow the applicable regulations. Pay attention to rules for disinfecting fishing gear to prevent spreading parasites between waters.
  • Flying drones in the national park is not allowed. This also applies to all other motorized traffic, except for e-bikes with their specific regulations.
  • Take in the natural sounds and avoid unnecessary noise. This helps protect the sensitive wildlife and ensures a pleasant experience for other visitors. Equipment such as chainsaws and motorized ice augers are not permitted in the national park.
  • Make sure to bring clothing, equipment, and the skills needed for mountain conditions. The weather can change rapidly, and you can’t rely on having mobile coverage to check weather updates. You may encounter thick fog, strong winds, cold rain, or snow with little warning, even in summer. The national park is also minimally developed; you may come across rivers without bridges, glaciers, scree, and other terrain that requires the right skills and experience to pass safely.
  • Be aware that it may take a long time to get help if something happens. Plan your trip carefully, considering both the weather and conditions, as well as the fitness and abilities of the entire group. Follow the Norwegian mountain safety code (fjellvettreglene) and pack clothing and gear according to the recommendations of the Norwegian Trekking Association (DNT)
T-merket DNT-løype og turgåer i Saltfjellet en finværsdag om høsten Kristoffer Møllevik / Visit Helgeland

Cairns and trail markers

When hiking in the mountains and national parks of Helgeland, it’s important to remember that these areas are largely undeveloped. Often, you’ll be following simple trails, sometimes with boardwalks, and at other times the route is marked by red paint or cairns to help guide you safely through wind, rain, and fog.

If you encounter a cairn along the trail or on a mountain peak, please leave it as it is. Don’t add more stones to it, and avoid building new cairns nearby. The flora and fauna in the mountains are extremely fragile, and even small disturbances can lead to significant damage.

By practicing a leave-no-trace approach and allowing stones, plants, and animals to remain undisturbed, you help us preserve this delicate nature so that future visitors can enjoy it in its unspoiled form—just as we are fortunate to do now.

Cairns that aren’t intended as waymarkers, or aren’t historic cultural relics, are referred to as “wild cairns.” These are cairns that other hikers and visitors have erected merely for fun or to mark their presence. While it may seem harmless, here are five simple reasons why you shouldn’t build them:

Wild cairns mislead hikers
Cairns serve as crucial navigational aids on mountaintops and along trails, and can be vital for guiding hikers safely in poor weather. New cairns can confuse and mislead others, leading them off the path and increasing wear on the terrain.

When we travel without leaving a trace, we make mountain journeys safer.

Wild cairns harm plant and animal life
Where one person builds a small cairn, others often follow suit. As more stones are removed from the ground and piled up, the surrounding plants die, leaving only sand.

Even small stones on the ground in the mountains provide shade, retain moisture, and shelter plants and grass crucial for the local wildlife. Creatures such as mice and lemmings, arctic foxes, birds of prey, and grazing animals like reindeer and sheep all rely on this.

Travelling without a trace helps preserve and support the fragile plant and animal life we cherish in the mountains.

Wild cairns disrupt the natural experience
One of the joys of trekking in Norway’s mountains is the vast, undisturbed natural landscapes. They offer a sense of being part of something greater, where many find space for reflection, thought, mastery of new skills and personal growth.

Wild cairns disrupt this experience. The presence of numerous small and large cairns along the path constantly reminds us that others were here before us, as if to shout, “Hey, I was here first, and this is my mark to prove it!”

By leaving no trace, we allow those who follow to experience nature on their own terms, undisturbed and free.

Wild cairns could destroy cultural heritage
Throughout our mountains, you might find cultural relics dating back hundreds or even thousands of years. These might be old cairns used by shepherds and hunters, ancient Sami campfire sites, or even fences and windbreaks from the Stone Age!

But to an untrained eye, these might not be obvious. What you think is a collapsed cairn could actually be a thousand-year-old, irreplaceable cultural relic. Rather than moving stones to build a new cairn, we should pause and enjoy discovering such a witness of another age, respecting that we walk in the footsteps of those who came before us, from Stone Age hunters and Vikings to cartographers and telegraph builders.

By passing gently and leaving the stones undisturbed, we preserve and share this experience with future generations.

Share the experience with the future
By enjoying these magnificent natural landscapes without leaving our own traces, and by not disturbing the traces already there, we preserve them for the future. This way, our grandchildren, and their grandchildren can still pick cloudberries, smell the heather, watch mountain foxes and reindeer in undisturbed nature.

Thank you for helping us preserve this fragile environment.

Hiking destinations and attractions

The old telegraph route

The national park offers many marked hiking trails, including the old telegraph route between Rana and Saltdal, established in the 1860s to connect northern and southern Norway via telegraph line. Today, it serves as a 61-kilometer historical hiking route with several cabins along the way. Starting at the E6, near the historic Bredek area, the route follows the path of 1,000 telegraph pole foundations where the line once ran, passing stone huts used during the 1860s construction. The telegraph route allows you to cross both Saltfjellet and the Arctic Circle on foot.

Austerdalsbreen in the east

In contrast to Saltfjellet’s open landscape, there are trails leading towards the massive Svartisen glacier, which dominates the mountains west of Saltfjellet. On the east side of the glacier, north of Mo i Rana, an old trail takes you to Austerdalsbreen, one of Svartisen’s many glacier arms. The easiest way to get there is by driving to Svartisvatnet, taking a boat across the lake, and hiking the trail up to the glacier on the other side.

Engabreen in the west

On the west side, near the coast at Engabreen, there is also a well-marked trail to Svartisen. This hike starts with a ferry ride across Holandsfjorden and leads up to the lowest point of Svartisen at Engabreen.

Read more about the Svartisen glacier – Austerdalsisen and Engabreen

The hikes below are written in Norwegian, but they contain maps and easy translatable key info.

 

Cabins and old mountain farms

In the national park, you can find several cabins and mountain farms available for accommodation, either through DNT’s unmanned tourist cabins or open cabins managed by Statskog. Visit DNT.no or UT.no for a full overview of all options.

On the southern side of the national park, you’ll find a collection of historic mountain farms that are more accessible but well worth exploring. Granneset, Inner-Bredek, and Stormdalsgården are unique 19th-century mountain farms, all within a day’s hike from the main road. The area offers a hike through untouched nature, cascading waterfalls, and suspension bridges over fast-flowing rivers. The “Bredek Loop” and the hike to Stormdalsgården are both stunning trails that lead you into the national park, passing these old mountain farms. The Bredek Loop is an 8 km circular route that passes the historic Bredek farm and the majestic Bredekfossen waterfall. Stormdalsgården lies deeper into the valley, with an 8 km detour from the Bredek Loop. The hike to Stormdalsgården has been selected as one of Norway’s hidden natural treasures!

A hiking adventure: Two mountain farms – Bredek and Granneset
Turgåer i Namnlausdalen i Saltfjellet med utsikt til Semskfjellet Kristoffer Møllevik / Visit Helgeland

Entry points

There are many entry points to this vast area. For Saltfjellet, the Telegraph Route at Bjellånes serves as a trailhead that follows the path through the entire national park. The Telegraph Route can also be accessed from several trails off the E6 further north, where an extensive network of trails crosses the Telegraph Route or leads directly to the tourist cabins.

For the Svartisen section of the national park, there are fewer developed entry points, with two main access points at Holandsfjorden in the west and Svartisdalen valley in the east.

Click on the links to view the entry points in Google Maps.

Accommodation, food, and experiences around Saltfjellet

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