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The trail to Øyafossen starts at the free parking area near Kleivaland in Vormedalen, Hjelmeland, and follows a marked path through one of Ryfylke's most remarkable landscapes. The 20-metre waterfall pours down into a gorge near Øvre Tysdalsvatnet, but the walk to reach it is the real attraction. The trail passes through a succession of abandoned mountain farms: Kløv, Ritland, and Helgaland, the highest at 333 metres altitude, documenting centuries of marginal agriculture that was gradually abandoned as modern life made such remote farming unviable. At the end of the valley, the DNT lodge at Trodla-Tysdal, the most remote farm still in use in Hjelmeland, offers 17 beds with views over a wide river plain surrounded by mountains reaching 900 metres.
The trail passes directly through one of Norway's geological sensations: the Ritland impact crater. This 2.7-kilometre-wide, 350-metre-deep crater was created 500 to 600 million years ago when a meteorite roughly 100 to 150 metres across struck what was then a shallow sea. The crater was first identified as a possible impact site by geologist Fridtjof Riis in 2000 and confirmed by University of Oslo scientists in 2009. A shelter with interpretive displays overlooks the crater, and fossils can be found in the surrounding rock. The area lies within the Vormedalsheia Protected Landscape, expanded eastward in 2019.
From Trodla-Tysdal, hikers can continue to Tengedalsvatnet, follow the Hans Nilsen Hauge road named after the famous 19th-century lay preacher, or take a boat shuttle across the lake to Valheim in Årdal.
The trail passes directly through one of Norway's geological sensations: the Ritland impact crater. This 2.7-kilometre-wide, 350-metre-deep crater was created 500 to 600 million years ago when a meteorite roughly 100 to 150 metres across struck what was then a shallow sea. The crater was first identified as a possible impact site by geologist Fridtjof Riis in 2000 and confirmed by University of Oslo scientists in 2009. A shelter with interpretive displays overlooks the crater, and fossils can be found in the surrounding rock. The area lies within the Vormedalsheia Protected Landscape, expanded eastward in 2019.
From Trodla-Tysdal, hikers can continue to Tengedalsvatnet, follow the Hans Nilsen Hauge road named after the famous 19th-century lay preacher, or take a boat shuttle across the lake to Valheim in Årdal.
