Vedalsfossen

Vedalsfossen is easily seen from the road leading through Hjølmadalen near Eidfjord. From Highway 7 in Øvre Eidfjord follow the signs pointing to Hjølmadalen (the street is Hagavegen). The falls will be visible on the right, across the valley, after about 4 1/2km. There is very little room to park in the area, as the Hjølmadalen road is a single lane route. Be wary of vehicles traveling downhill when viewing the falls.Vedalsfossen is one of the major waterfalls found in the Eidfjord area but despite its prominent stature it is also one of the more difficult waterfalls to view. The Vedølo is a large tributary to the Veig River in Hjølmadalen, and as it enters the valley it slides down a narrow chute parallel to the edge of a huge cliff, and due to the non-uniformity of the edge of the cliff the stream manages to split into two side-by-side streams as it leaps over the edge, plunging into a huge amphitheater basin below. The total drop of the falls is approximately 205 meters (670 feet), with the vertical portion of the falls accounting for about 190 meters (625 feet) of the total. Below the falls the stream then steeply cascades down to the valley floor for another 400 meters amid truck-sized boulders. Unfortunately due to the fact that the falls occur at the extreme side of its alcove, the alcove itself obscures the bottom half of the falls from view from almost all easily accessed viewpoints. Not only does this make it a difficult waterfall to view, but it makes the size of the waterfall very hard to comprehend as well. The height of Vedalsfossen had frequently been cited at 660 meters (2,165 feet) in the past. This is no longer a commonly associated figure, but it appears to have been inspired by measuring the total drop of the stream from the plateau to the valley floor, possibly originating from surveys by the hydroelectric industry.