Høvlafossen

From the junction of Routes 62 and 660 in the town of Nesset, follow Route 660 south for almost 17km to the small town of Eresfjord and turn left onto Route 192, which is signed for Eikesdalen and Mardalsfossen. Follow Route 192 for 6km then bear left onto Route 191, still watching for signs for Eikesdalen and Mardalsfossen. Follow Route 191 for another 29.3km and look for the falls on the right (south) side of the valley immediately above a pasture where grazing cows are likely to be seen.Though neighboring Tverrgrovfossen is a marginally taller waterfall, Høvlafossen is substantially more significant in both volume and girth. The stream feeding this waterfall heads in a pair of small glaciers that empty into two modest lakes high up on the plateau above the valley. With the substantial volume afforded by these sources in the ready, the creek flumes about 550 meters (1,800 feet) down the side of Eikesdalen, sliding down a long, bumpy ramp of bedrock for the majority of its descent but near the bottom splitting into several channels and veiling out nearly vertically over a much broader extent. Unfortunately thanks to the more significant volume of water present in its stream Høvlafossen has been regulated as a part of the Aura hydroelectric system. The stream is largely diverted into the drainage of Breimegå to the east at the lower of the two lakes which feed into the falls, and while this means that there may be periods of the year when the falls run dry thanks to the diversion, there is also ample drainage area which is unaffected by the diversion so that during the spring and early summer months when the winter snowpack is melting there will still be ample water flowing down the falls. What this may also mean is that when the diversion of Høvla is at its maximum capacity, it will be increasing the volume of water entering into Breimegå in the next valley over, which in turn could push that stream’s diversion past capacity and allow Breimegåfossen (see link below) to flow more consistently.