Hjelle

Hjelle is located at the upper end of Oppstrynsvatnet, a lake that stretches 10 km or so in this narrow glacially formed valley. I think the Norwegians would recognize this as a fjord, even though the water is not marine.

I noticed this beach from our hotel and after dinner, I wandered down the road to check it out. The beach lies on the shoreward edge of narrow forested foreland that I suspect records the gradual accretion of this beach. Behind this, the mountains rise quickly. The beach is oriented into the major axis of the lake and I imagine that it acts as a swash-aligned pocket beach, slowly accumulating sediment.

AERIAL VIEW (this narrow beach is completely lost in the shadows in the Google imagery)

There were many small berms, recording a series of water levels and wave conditions. Lakes often have complex outlets - natural and engineered - and I have no idea what controls the elevation of this one. I suspect that wave setup when the wind is blowing can also affect lake levels, but again, I'm not sure how much of an effect it might have here.

This sediment color and texture on this beach was quite different than another small beach just to the north (photo below), which is nearer the mouth of one of the rivers that drains into the lake, and I suspect the reddish sediment has different origins. Whereas the beach below is likely derived from stream sediment, the coarser sand and gravel on the beach in the earlier photos may be more locally derived, probably from the steep uplands behind the beach.

The beach in the earlier photos is below the trees in the distance - not far away, but perhaps a different beach system.