Sørfjorden - Paurohytta: no trail ?

[Robtrek]

Who knows this trail - does it exist? On Norgeskart the route is shown as Sørfjorden - Baurifjellet - Skogdalen - Paurohytta. And in Paurohytta there is a large wall map also showing this trail, both as a red summer route and a blue ski route.

I hiked there but could not find any trail. Old markings for snowmobiles do exist for the first 4 km (from Sadjemjávrre / Brynvatnet to lake 745). After that, I saw no markings. And the route shown on Norgeskart is not a real track but just a fictional straight line drawing which leads across impassable gorges and vertical rock barriers. The terrain is easy from the pass down to Skogvatnet and Paurohytta, but first one must go up the pass and that was quite difficult with 4 vertical rock barriers and some rather unpleasant climbing, a bit risky if you're hiking alone.

So what about this trail shown so prominently on the map? If it exists, where in reality is the routing from lake 745 up to the mountain pass?

I hiked along this route as part of a 5 week autonomous trek Rago - western Padjelanta - Hellmofjorden - Grunnfjorden - Mannfjorden - Sørfjorden - Nordkalottleden to Skjomdalen, and the pass between Sørfjorden and Paurohytta seemed to me, unexpectedly, the most difficult part of it all. Any information or background on this trail is welcome!

[+ost]

DNT - the tourist association- says about this trail that it is an unmarked trail. For you and me that could mean anything from a well used path to nothing. 

[Robtrek]

For sure, most of the region along these fjords is off-trail anyway. So I was wondering why this particular route would be shown on the map. I first suspected that this was maybe a traditional route of the reindeer herders, but when I actually stood on the ground it seemed to me that even for reindeer, the topographic relief there is not that trivial to navigate.

In short, if many years ago somebody decided to put this dotted line on the map I suspect there was a reason for it and people at that time were likely regularly moving along that route - but once on the ground I just couldn't figure out where the routing up that pass would reasonably run to avoid the climbing sections. By climbing I mean rather unpleasant stuff with a high risk of injury in case of a fall, not just "using your hands to ascend some steep rocks".

[+ost]

Most digital maps in Norway were scanned from original papermaps late in the 1990-s. Many trails have just been blindly copied over, there is no governmental office that oversees hikingtrails. This trail might for example have existed some 50 years ago. 

 

[Robtrek]

A friend told me that the DNT-book Til fots i Norge from the year 2000 lists Paurohytta-Sørfjorden as route #1515, however without giving any detail on where to cross the pass. The book just says that there are trail markings on the section between Paurohytta and Skogvatnet (which is the easiest stretch, where trail markings aren't really needed at all). So yes, might be a case of copying old and unverified information to new maps, and since few people seem to hike there, nobody really cares to update the map.

Endret 6. september 2023 av Robtrek

[Kjell Iver]

I have not been in this excact area myselve, but as you might know the hut has a mention of the route Link .  Translated wit google: It is also possible to take an unmarked summer route to Pauro from Sørfjorden in Tysfjord. From the power plant, one goes on the road almost up to Brynvatnet Sadjemjávrre. From here you can go east on the north side of Githtsejiegnja to Paurohytta. The route is largely unmarked, but there is some old marking from Skogvatnet to the cabin. The boat route between Kjøpsvik and Sørfjorden is trafficked on certain days of the week by Nordkraft, which has a power plant in Sørfjorden.

This route is maintained by Narvik og omegn turistforening and is marked with NAR19 - if you google that you'll find info about the trail in alltrails. They are responsible.

It is a system for maintaince of these traildatabases - you could find info here https://www.kartverket.no/api-og-data/friluftsliv

It is some of those old trails that are really difficult to find - some are not possible to hike at all, in my area but some time it is because you did not find the right trail/direction. Hope that was to some help - it is a nice part of the country not so many people hike..

[Robtrek]

Good info! I wrote to DNT Narvik with my question.

The NAR19 in alltrails is just the same fictional drawing as the trail on Norgeskart or UT Papirkart. Unfortunately, if you follow that line, you'll end up stuck at the mountain pass between gorges and rock barriers, just as I did.

[Kjell Iver]

It is kind of interresting all this, because most of the written information about each trail is really hard to find now. Earlier DNT had a planner with all the old routes - could be find via way-back machine and add (http://www.turistforeningen.no/turplanlegger)

The links are dead - but might be someone better than me who could find them.

In my area some of these routes was very sketchy and more likely added because one person hiked it once and this was before gps also, so they are written and plotted by hand. If the routes are reported to Kartverket they will be removed. https://www.kartverket.no/om-kartverket/kontakt-oss Many of the none useable routes in Lomsdal Visten (further south) was removed when it was becoming a national park.

 

[Robtrek]

Meanwhile, to my surprise I found a comment by @OttoStover that he wrote more than 10 years ago in our German outdoor forum and that basically answers my question. He hiked across the mountain pass between Sørfjorden and Paurohytta and he confirmed that in reality, the route runs far away from the trail drawing on the map. If you look at the screenshots from my navigational app at the beginning of this discussion, the ascent to Baurifjellet, according to Otto, would be closer to height 851 and 862, which is about 1 km north of the trail drawing and of my own route. The map shows a small emergency shelter between 851 and 862, and Otto's route at that time touched this shelter (I don't know if the shelter still exists).

So the trail drawing on the map, unfortunately, seems to lead people away from a safe route and into rather risky terrain instead.

[+ost]

Found the hut (using satelite image on Norgeskart)!

[Kjell Iver]

Robtrek skrev (9 timer siden):

So the trail drawing on the map, unfortunately, seems to lead people away from a safe route and into rather risky terrain instead.

Seems like it. I recently saw some pictures and a trip report from somebody else.. here.. On day 3 day return - just took it through google translate. Same problem as you had..

Sitat

Today we were to go down to Sørfjorden and take the shuttle boat from there. We had called and said we were going to join, and started in good time from Paurohytta to be sure of reaching the boat. At the start, a well-marked path along the north side of the water Båvrojavrre, which eventually disappeared completely, but relatively good terrain to walk on until Skogvatnet, with the exception of a river that had to be forded. WE continued up towards Baurifjellet and down the other side, and here the challenges began, because here there was very untidy terrain with many steep slopes that lay across the direction of our march, so there were many detours to find possible ways down and around. Took a very long time to get to Brynvatnet. There was a trail marked on the map in the area here, but we didn't see anything about it and it didn't make sense to follow the route it was marked on using GPS because it wasn't passable everywhere there. Struggled to find a place to cross the river from the Gihtsejiegna glacier when it was a big and strong current after mild weather, so we followed it down for a good distance before we found the perfect place where it went down into a deep gorge that could be jumped over nicely. Here we also met a couple who were walking the length of Norway and who had gone the opposite way and pointed out the way forward, because we were as good as on the mark led with plastic sticks even though it was not where it was marked on the map. Easier terrain to follow over the cross river neck, but the wind picked up well here. Some plastic sticks here and there that we followed, and some bushing the last bit down to the construction road. A car came and offered a ride when we got down to the road, but Jan and I chose to decline the offer and walk the last kilometers down, the others struggled a bit with sore knees and happily accepted the ride. Walked quickly down the winding construction road and got down to the quay in good time before the boat departure. Here, parts were made for the wind turbines that they are setting up on the mountain here, and I was very surprised at how large the dimensions are. A half-hour boat trip to Kjøpsvik that can be paid with tip (NOK 200). Jan, Lena, Ole Henrik and Nina were with us from Paurohytta to Sørfjorden.

 

[Anders_G]

We did this back in 2018. The trail was not easy to find but we  managed in a way. You can read about it in Norwegian here https://www.utentur.com/2018/08/29/dag-116-lunsj-med-anleggsarbeiderne-i-sorfjorden/

At the bortom is also a Map with the gpx file attached. 

[Robtrek]

Exactly my experience as well! Thanks for sharing this report.

"Likevel klarte vi å finne en enkel rute over Tverrhalsen og helt frem til umerka vann 745. Her startet problemene. Vi fulgte «stien» på gpsen, men den var ubrukelig. Vi så rett inn i en klippeformasjon og i følge gpsen gikk stien rett over 10 meter høye vertikale vegger. Etter en del klatring, frustrasjon og bannskap hadde vi klart å forsere denne delen av ruta også, men det var ikke takket være hverken kart eller gps."

[Robtrek]

I received some new information from a fellow trekker regarding the correct trail from Sørfjorden to Paurohytta. Below image shows my bad route (left) and the confirmed correct trail (right). The correct trail is marked by stone cairns up to the pass and there are no technical difficulties. After the pass on the descent to Paurohytta there are no more stone cairns, but there the trekking is easy anyway.

 

[Kvennavika]

I've only skimmed the thread and don't have anything specific to add, but I'd like to take this opportunity to encourage everyone who can to correct or add the right trails in OpenStreetMap when they find mistakes there or on the official maps from Kartverket. OpenStreetMap is often a better source for accurate trails, particularly in populated areas.

[Kjell Iver]

It is possible to report errors on trails directly to kartverket. 

https://hjelp.ut.no/hc/no/articles/14785302982930-Sånn-melder-du-inn-endringer-av-stier-hytter-o-l-til-Kartverket