The Klarälven River – a historic log driving river
Vildmark i Värmland knows its history—and takes pride in its roots. The Klarälven River was Sweden’s last log driving river; in 1991, the final timber floated downstream.
But the tradition lives on. Even today, we use the same techniques when setting out the log booms. Our guests build their own rafts using nothing but logs and rope. Then, just as now, it’s the gentle current of the Klarälven that carries them slowly south.
The river created the conditions…
The Klarälven River surges out of Norway into Värmland, then slows into a gentle flow, winding in broad meanders all the way to Karlstad, where it empties into Lake Vänern. For centuries, its steady current carried timber from the northern forests to sawmills and pulp mills in the south.
Each log was marked with its owner’s symbol and set adrift on the river. In Forshaga, two sorting stations gathered the timber, where it was separated by owner and then towed in long bundles by boat towards Karlstad. At its peak in the 1950s, more than 1,800 people worked in log driving along the Klarälven.
In 1991, this era came to an end. Since then, all timber has been transported by road and rail.
…and still does today
Although log driving on the Klarälven River is now part of history, logs are still carried by its waters. Since 1980—initially alongside the final years of traditional log driving—people from all over the world have been coming to northern Värmland each summer to build their own timber rafts on the Klarälven.
To construct a sturdy raft, you’ll need around 60 logs of varying sizes and approximately 200 metres of rope. We help you combine these elements into a unique vessel. Then the Klarälven’s steady current carries you slowly south, all the way to your destination, where the raft is taken apart again—back into its individual logs and ropes.
Want to learn more about the history of log driving and the Klarälven River?
We think it’s important to know one’s origins and one’s own history. We have therefore compiled information about the log driving on Klarälven, which is the basis for the creation and development of Vildmark in Värmland. Without the Klarälven with its impressive meandering curves and its calm flow, a log rafting trip would be unthinkable.
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