Driva

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The Driva river runs through Sør-Trøndelag and Møre og Romsdal counties in Norway. The headwaters lie in the Dovrefjell mountains in the south, from whence it flows northward, downward through Drivdal valley in Oppdal municipality. In Oppdal is flows westward down to the Sunndalsfjord at Sunndalsøra in Sunndal municipality.

The descent through the Drivdal valley to Oppdal cascades swiftly down a confined course. At Magalaup it is so narrow that it is possible to jump across.

Many of the tributaries on the west side of the Oppdal valley are dry; the waters in reservoirs formed from the many mountain lakes in that region flow in pipes through the mountain to Fale hydroelectric station in Sunndal. The largest lake in the reservoir system is Gjevillvatnet which is 20 km in length and about 1 km in breadth.

[edit] History

Pilgrims followed the Driva on their way to the St. Olav shrine in Trondheim during the Middle Ages. As a result of the heavy stream of pilgrims who followed the Pilgrim´s Route prior to the Reformation, king Øystein erected mountain stations where the pilgrims could find food and shelter. Kongsvoll, located on the Driva River, was one of these stations.

The Driva was formerly an excellent salmon river, but the parasite Gyrodactylus salaris has decimated the salmon stock.