In the north end of Østerdalen lies Tynset, 493 m above sea level. This is so high that you cannot expect matured grain every year. Agriculture is therefore dominated by cattle and sheep, with forests in addition. The name comes from the river Tunna = ‘the one that swirls‘. Of the municipality’s 5,500 inhabitants, more than half live in the Tynset village.
A number of beautiful rivers flow through Tynset municipality, so Tobatheornottobathe was hopeful for some waterfall bathing possibilities here. And yes, from highway 3 there is a good view of the beautiful Magnillfossen. But who was Magnill? Or was it a Magne that originated the name ‘Magnill waterfall‘? Comments are gratefully received. However, the first attempt at Magnillfossen ended with a visit to Tunnfossen instead.
On a general basis, we at Tobatheornottobathe would like to thank Tynset Municipality so much for taking the trouble to list bathing places on their website. If only all Norwegian municipalities did the same! BUT – there was the small practical inconvenience that we didn’t understand how to get to Magnillfossen, despite the waterfall being on the list. The description was extremely simplified, and we didn’t get any help from the natives either, when we asked. We conclude that waterfall trips are not common here. It is described that you should drive past the waterfall on your way to Trondheim, and then turn right. But then you pass Tunnfossen first – and it was not mentioned even though it is both large and beautiful (but not really accessible for bathing, unfortunately).
Our next attempt at Magnillfossen was therefore in the opposite direction of the description. We arrived high up in the valley. Here there’s a nice cultural landscape with horses – and cranes. We parked above the waterfall and began the descent along a field. Pretty soon we ended up in a magical, old pine forest – much to Idun’s frustration. In this warm, south-facing hillside, the whole ground was alive – with ants. They crawled up over the sandals – and bit. Every attempt to brush them off ended up with even more crawling up the legs, you shouldn’t make any stop here! It wasn’t long before the waterfall trip was interrupted, and we made a new attempt below the waterfall.
The third attempt was better. We parked at ‘Midteng’ below the waterfall, there is a bridge over the Tunna. But Idun was still a little stressed. This time not so much by ants, but by necrophilic flies, intensely concerned with the scab on Idun’s ancle after a bicycle fall a couple of weeks earlier.
From Midtenget it is about one kilometer to Magnillfossen. The path is obviously not much in use, but it worked well, and we had a varied walk by meadow, river and forest.
Magnillfossen is a beautiful waterfall with a deep pool. Here you can jump in when there is high water flow, and the pool functions as a fabulous counter-current pool. Highly recommended!
After a swim in Magnilla, it’s a good idea to visit Tynset. Here you can climb the world’s (unofficially) biggest ‘spark‘ (kicksled/kicker). The kicksled is placed in front of the municipality building ‘Brunosten‘ (the Brown cheese), in 2010 winner of the award ‘Norway’s ugliest town hall‘. The first magnum kicksled (4 times larger than a normal one) came into place in connection with ‘Sparkens dag‘ (Kicksled’s Day) at Tynset in 1994. Both Sandefjord and Farsund have since constructed larger kicksleds, but today’s kicksled at Tynset (6 times larger than normal) is said to be the world’s largest (2023).
As always, it’s not just about climbing, there has to be music too.
As always, a kick bath in Tynset is just right!
