Øvre Dividal National Park

Dividalen is a long, narrow forest valley running south from Målselv towards Sweden, and the national park starts where the farms stop. Down by the Divi river you walk in old pine forest, with some trees up to 500 years old. Higher up the birch thins out into open fells with rounded tops, rising to Kistefjell at 1.632 m, and in the east lies Havgavuopmi, a big wetland with huge old birches where hunting is banned to protect the water birds. The park was protected in 1971 and covers 770 km². Wolverines breed here every year, bear and lynx pass through, and the Arctic fox has its dens up high. Look for Lapland rosebay, a tiny purple rhododendron that grows here in some of the largest stands in Norway.

Local knowledge: at Frihetsli, the top farm in the valley, the Stenvold family told the story of Filaks, their dog. One frosty night in March 1913 a wolf came right up to the farm. Filaks went after it, and the next day the tracks showed a fight by the river, then two trails heading off together over Skakteråsen. Weeks later the father, driving hay home on the river ice, saw Filaks and the wolf side by side. The dog came running and jumped straight up onto the hay load. That autumn two loggers met a she-wolf with seven pups, most of them oddly patched with white, and the Swedish Sami had no doubt who the father was. The Sami have used this valley for a long time: researchers found that their reindeer herding shaped the pine forest from the early 1600s, and every July around 30 families from Lainiovuoma still come to Cievccasjávri to mark the calves.

Visiting: drive up the valley from Målselv on Dividalsveien, about one and a half hours from Bardufoss. The pin is the car park at Skaktermoen by the Skakterelva river, with a short nature and culture trail that suits children. A path climbs Skakteråsen from here, 2,6 km and about an hour one way, to a fire pit above the tree line with a view towards Sweden. Further in, the Nordkalottruta trail crosses the park past the DNT huts Dividalshytta, Vuomahytta and Dærtahytta, but the high fells are remote with long distances between huts, so only go if you are used to the mountains. Keep your distance from reindeer, and don't cut trees for firewood, not even the dry pines. More on the park's official page.