Buråsen trail head by Åsly.
| Buråsen from Åsly Buråsen |
| Estimated net time | 1 hour | ||
| Difficulty | No difficulties except for navigation to find the summit. There are no paths above the old farm at Plommen. | ||
| Drinking water | No stable access to running water. | ||
| GSM coverage | Coverage throughout the route (July 2011). | ||
| Parking | Room for several cars at trail head. | ||
| Start height | 45 metres | ||
| Vertical metres | 145 metres for the roundtrip. | ||
| Trip distance | 3.0 km | ||
| GPS-file | X | ||
| Map |
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| Route photo |
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Assume you approach Sarpsborg from north, on the road E6. Exit right when signed for "Sarpsborg N", "Grålum" and "Skiptvet". When you hit the round about after the retardation zone turn left, and then drive straight through the round about after you have crossed above E6. Drive another 250 metres and turn left onto road 114, signed for "Skiptvet". Drive 3.0 km along this road and turn right towards "Jelsnes". Then follow this road 6.1 km and park on the right hand side of the road at the bottom of a small hill.
Start walking by following the main road back from where you arrived. Pass the house on your right hand side, and proceed another 130 metres. Here you will find an old forest road going off to the right, and an old garage after less than 100 metres. Continue past the garage, through the gate a little after, and proceed on the forest road towards the old buildings at Plommen. Before you get to the buildings at Plommen you should turn a little right (north) through a field of grass, and then into the forest. From here head more or less directly north all the way to the summit, which is marked by a pile of stones. You are likely to meet a couple of cliff bands along your way, but they can easily be by-passed.
Descend by reversing your ascent route.
While planning hiking activities for this summer I also had a closer look at southern Østfold, where we would be spending the first few days in order to help mum move from my childhood house to something smaller. This planning session produced a surprising result for me; I had always known that Sarpsborg was surrounded by water on all sides, but had never thought of it actually being located on an island. And that this island has a name; Tunøya. Based on this finding I found the island high point, and concluded that this top (Buråsen) indeed had primary factor >100 metres, and hence definitely deserved a visit.
My first full day in Sarpsborg was devoted 100% to moving home for mum, except a short run around the 5km track at night, so this Tuesday I was determined to visit Buråsen. By looking at the maps I concluded I would find an old forest road taking me into the forest, up to the old farm Plommen, and from there I would need to navigate as best as I could. My planning went a bit further than on many previous occasions so I logged the summit coordinates on my GPS, in order to avoid running around in the forest like a beheaded chicken.
To my delight the forest above Plommen wasn't as dense as I had expected, and
finding an acceptable route was pretty straight forward. Only when it started to
rain did I wish for a bit more trees, but the rain soon stopped, approximately
at the same time as I found the pile of stones marking Buråsen summit. This made
me quite happy, since I had expected to define a suitable summit myself, but
just like for Slavasshøgda, the Østfold high point which I visited 366 days
earlier, the summit had a kind of marker. Other similarities with my
Slavasshøgda visit was that I had rain, that I found chantarelle along the
forest road, and that the summit provided no views except of hundreds of trees.
But still a nice hike.
Photos 12.07.2011