Driva

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Driva
Mouth	Sunndalsøra, Sunndalsfjord
Basin countries	Norway

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 the municipality of Oppdal. In Oppdal is turns westward down Sunndalen walley to the Sunndalsfjord at Sunndalsøra in the municipality of Sunndal.

The descent through the Drivdal valley to Oppdal cascades swiftly down a confined course. At Magalaupet (approx. 10 km south of Oppdal) it is so narrow that it is possible to jump across - if you are a good jumper! If you miss the landing or jump to short, the resulting bath in the river is almost certainly fatal. The 80 kilometers from Magalaupet (approx 500 m asl)down Sunndalen from Oppdal there are no major waterfalls

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 Driva hydroelectric station at Fale in Sunndal. The largest lake in the reservoir system is Gjevillvatnet which is 20 km in length and about 1 km in breadth.

Before the last ice age Driva drained northwards from Oppdal and joined the Orkla river. The uppermost part of the river in Sunndalen with the tributaries from Gjevilvatnet, Dindalen and Storlidalen then drained eastwards to Oppdal and joined the older Driva there. These three tributaries flows eastwards even today, until they meet the westwardsflowing Driva.

[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, another was Drivstua.

[edit] Angling

The Driva was formerly an excellent salmon river, but the parasite Gyrodactylus salaris has decimated the salmon stock. It is an excellent sea trout river, usually no 1 (or at least 2) in Norway, ranked from total catch. Salmon an sea trout migrates up to Magalaupet (approx 80 km) and at optimal water discharge probably even further. Especially for sea trout this is an unusually long migration, although the majority of trout in Driva do not wander so far.