Where: 3.2 km northwest of Köping, Västmanland
When: All year round
Activities: Hiking, gorge, rock formations, views
What a pleasant surprise this beautiful Näs Nature Reserve is! It's the kind of place that leaves you with a big smile on your face as you drive home. Näs offers unique nature, adventure, and breathtaking views. Our challenge gets a bit bigger as we visit Näs Nature Reserve in winter...
THE ROUTE TO NÄS NATURRESERVAT
Näs is about an hour's drive from Västerås. The final part of the journey takes you through the rugged Swedish countryside, where you half expect to see a moose on the road at any moment. Exciting! There are two parking lots, and we stop at the first one. It's close to the path leading to the gorge, called Trånggatan (Narrow street), near the main road.
While much of the snow has already melted in many places, large sections of this path are still covered in a thick layer of snow. This makes the hike a bit more challenging than expected. Snowshoes would be handy here, but we're glad to have spikes on our boots. We pass small streams gently flowing with clear meltwater as we slowly hike up towards the rock formation.
CLIMB TO TRÅNGGATAN
Once there, we begin the exciting and slippery climb to Trånggatan along the moss-covered trees and rocks. Awesome! Västmanland keeps surprising us. When reaching the gorge, we're slightly disappointed to find it half-filled with solid ice, making passage impossible. Luckily, there's a path around the gorge, so we continue on that route. We immediately make plans to come back here in the spring. Trånggatan looks exciting and seriously narrow.
MOSS, SPRUCE BARK BEETLES AND WOODPECKERS
You can tell that Näs is an old forest by all the dead trees and hollow tree trunks. The dead wood is full of bugs that attract other animals. Moss also loves dead wood, so there's a lot of wood covered in a fluffy layer of moss, and you'll find many unique types of moss here. In the few areas without snow, the ground is covered with wood chips. Spruce bark beetles are active in this nature reserve, damaging the trees, which are then stripped of their bark by woodpeckers searching for larvae.
COFFEE WITH A VIEW AT NÄS NATURRESERVAT
The path around the gorge doesn't disappoint. It's a beautiful and somewhat challenging climb. Along the way, we find traces of moose. It continues to amaze us what these large animals are capable of. When reaching the moss-covered plateau at the top, we're treated to a great view over the forest. The perfect spot to relax with a cup of coffee.
Apparently, when there's no snow, you can see traces of past coal mining here. And in the western part, there is said to be a spectacular mountain slope with caves and gorges where luminescent moss grows. As dusk begins to fall, we decide to save that adventure for another day, but we will definitely be back.
HELPFUL LINKS
Information from the province website (in Swedish):
Detailed map with all the trails and sights:
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