24 August 2020, by Oana Badiu
Gorsa Bridge was my favourite sight in Lyngen Alps! It has an incredible waterfall pouring over the 153 metres deep canyon and when you get on the bridge the first time you get the weird feeling in your stomach due to the classic Norwegian vertical drop down below into a very narrow canyon!
Unlike other places in Norway, it's quite safe to stare freely into the abyss from the safety of the bridge, without your brain constantly reminding you that one false move could have fatal consequences. Hell, you can even jump from it on Saturdays! That's right, if you are an adrenaline junkie you can do bungee jumping from Gorsa Bridge on Saturdays. There are some pretty cool videos about it on YouTube.
You can visit Gorsa Bridge between June and September/October, after the spring floods and before winter comes. If the weather is not on your side and it's foggy and rainy, you can still go to check out Gorsa Bridge, as you'll still have a pretty good view of the waterfall and the canyon below. It's also easily accessible on a rainy day.
Gorsa Bridge is located in the Kåfjord valley in Lyngen Alps, close to Birtavarre village. The valley was filled with mining activities back in the days and while here, you can visit the Ankerlia open air museum, which is a ruin of an old mine. There are other hikes in the area that lead to mines and great viewpoints, such as the moderate path to the Monte Carlo mine or the more demanding path to Moskkugáisi mines.
There are mainly 2 ways of getting to Gorsa Bridge:
This longer, medium level hiking trail of 8.3 km takes you through the Ankerlia open air museum and starts from the Ankerlia parking lot.
There is a parking spot 1.8 km away from Gorsa Bridge, however the drive there is a bit painful, but doable with a normal car. After Ankerlia parking place the paved road ends and a gravel, poorly maintained private road starts that goes all the way to the Gorsa Bridge Trail Head parking place.
Trail is an easy walk to the bridge, with nice nature and nice views over the valley below. If you want a bit longer and still easy hike you can park before the bridge, like we did. After that you can follow the road or take the shortcuts which are more fun.
At some point you'll reach a picnic area when you get closer to Gorsa Bridge.
Then the trail starts to descent a little and just before Gorsa Bridge there are a series of smaller waterfalls.
This trail is not that popular with tourists and at least we had the bridge all to ourselves for a while. It's quite an amazing sight to see the Gorzifossen waterfall drop almost vertically into the canyon below! The picture below is taken with a 16 mm lens, in order to fit it all in. I really think that the pictures don't do justice to this spectacular sight and it's difficult to assess the height by just looking at them.
Gorsa bridge is one of the hidden gems in Northern Norway and it's definitely worth the visit!
We stayed for 2 nights in a very modern cottage at Løkvollstranda camping As and for 6 nights in Svensby, at Solheim Fritidsgård. Both very nice places! You can find more places to stay on the map below.
