This spruce may be thousands of years old! Photo: Marcus Elmerstad.

Ancient spruces

In large parts of Gränslandet you can walk for hours without seeing a spruce. The soil is too poor and the climate too dry. But they turn up here and there, in the more nutrient-rich valleys and on slopes in the Gutulia, Långfjället and Städjan mountains. Here you find areas of lush, tall spruce forest. Some inaccessible spruce stands have almost completely escaped axes and saws. In Gutulia, 30 metre tall spruces are not uncommon, and the so called Storgrana (giant spruce) is particularly famous.

Near the tree limit are isolated shrub-like spruces that have been shaped by the wind. Regard them with respect. These spruces can be thousands of years old. From the same root, different trunks can succeed each other over the centuries, but it’s actually still the same spruce!