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Hiking and cross-country ski trail signs at Evensetermyra

The old Hadeland road goes through Lillomarka

Lillomarka is a part of Oslo marka, lying to the North East of Oslo, in both Oslo and Nittedal municipalities.

Location

Lillomarka is bordered by Maridalen in the West, Nittedal and Gjelleråsen with Gjelleråsmarka in the east, the built up areas of the suburbs Bjerke and Grorud in the south and the Gjøvik rail line and Movatn in the north. West and north-west of Lillomarka, on the other side of Maridalen lies Nordmarka.

History

Lillomarka is rich in history. It contains the old Gothalfske mines (Gothalfske appears to be derived from the German for “Good slag heap”), Alnsjø lake one of Oslo’s sources of drinking water and Breisjø lake. Master thief Ole Høiland’s hiding place from the 1830s is also here. The Norwegian Trekking Association (DNT) organise regular trips to Ole Høiland’s cave in Lillomarka. Until 1960 a number of people lived more or less illegally in temporary cabins in Lillomarka, until The City of Oslo had the cabins incinerated.

Several of the lakes in Lillomarka were used for harvesting ice, the ice dam at Årvoll and Vesletjern (Lilletjern) at Ammerud, were both important sources of ice for the people of Oslo. Vesletjern was used until 1945, whereas ice was harvested from the ice-dam at Årvoll until as late as 1967-68. Today, Vesletjern is a public lake for bathing.

In recent years Lillomarka has become a popular area for outdoor pursuits and physical recreation. The sports lodge at Linderudkollen is the site of a poular training facility for ski jumping.

Lodges in Lillomarka

Lillomarka has four sports lodges that are open for refreshments most of the year. These are Lilloseter, Linderudkollen, Sinober and Trollvannstua. The Norwegian Trekking Association has Fjellvang Lodge in Lillomarka, which can be rented for the night by the associations members. Additionally, located north of Kjulstern and south of Sinober, the privately run Sørskogen lodge also serves refreshments. At Steinbruvann Grorud sports club has a club- and ski waxing house, where you will also find a kiosk that opens at irregular hours and serves coffee and waffles and other refreshments.

Outdoor pursuits in Lillomarka

Lillomarka’s location makes it extrememly accessible and it has become a very important setting for outdoor pursuits for the people who live around this forest, not least for the prople of Nittedal. Lillomarka is considered by the The Association for the Promotion of Skiing (Skiforeningen) as a good alternative to Nordmarka, especially during winter. The sports lodges make natural objectives for trips in Lillomarka. However, the forest has many idyllic ponds and lakes that are suitable for camping trips. Fishing is also allowed throughout the forest in all ponds and lakes except for the drinking water reservoirs Alunsjø and Breidsjø.

Bathing

Between Ammerud and Grorud is the lake Steinbruvann, a popular bathing place, with a small bathing dam below it. The bathing dam was established when Steinbruvann was a drinking water reservoir and itself closed for bathing. At Ammerud, by Apalløkka school is Vesletjern public lake, that is aslo a bathing lake. Near Grefsenkollen is Trollvann bathing lake, not far from Trollvann lodge.

For education

Schools and kindergartens use Lillomarka constantly both for short and longer trips in nature both summer and winter. The sports studies course at Bjerke upper secondary college utilise the forest for condition training (hiking, jogging and running), orienteering courses and outdoor pursuits courses.

The Military college at Linderud has made and maintains good jogging and running paths. They have marked the paths every 1 and 5 kilometres.

Orienteering

“Lillodilten” is the name of the orienteering course for walkers, set up by Lillomarka Orienteering Teamn. Lillodilten consists of many posts of varying difficulty that are “permanent” during the warmer six months of the year. The easiest route is called Mini-O-dilten with posts close to Grorud and Ammerud. The more difficult maps have posts located far apart with some quite far north in the forest.

Winter pursuits

In the winter Lillomarka has a good selection of prepared ski trails, several of which are lit. Oslo city is responsible for most of the trails in Lillomarka.