Since skiing is obviously not an option these days, I went sightseeing instead and drove to the Hylströmmen waterfall, part of the Voxnan river. The information sign at the parking lot proudly proclaimed that Hylströmmen is 23 metres high and that makes it the highest waterfall in the Southern Norrland. I have to find how ”Southern Norrland” is defined and while I’m at it, I also need to find out how ”waterfall” is defined… I would almost rather call Hylströmmen rapids than waterfall because it’s really just a series of small falls. But then again, I think we had this discussion in Canada as well. Are we counting single drop or total vertical height?

Whichever, I did enjoy my time there. I spent almost 3 hours walking up and down the rapids (sorry, falls), and was able to explore both sides, thanks to the suspension bridge across at the top of the rapids (falls). The whole area is very nice, the river is surrounded by open pine forest with moss and lichen covered rocks. The river flows in an easterly direction here so you could catch the morning light on the sparkling water in the summer. Someone had done just that, there was a photo competition for Hälsingland where the 2nd prize went to a sunrise image from Hylströmmen. The place is considered classic Hälsingland scenery and is a protected nature reserve.

The weather was nice today, sunshine and a couple of degrees below freezing. The low lying winter sun doesn’t reach the rapids so the cliffs surrounding the water were frosty and icy, which made the going quite slippery – I had to get low and literally glide down at some places.

I will definitely be coming back to Hylströmmen some other time. There is plenty of potential for photography and I would enjoy the place even without a camera – now how often do I say that?