A tarn in the forest heartland

Öratjärnen sits in Los socken, the parish around the village of Los, where the landscape is a near-unbroken quilt of boreal forest, bog and glacial rock. The lake's own catchment is around 84 percent woodland and 10 percent wetland, so you reach it through trees rather than open farmland, and the shoreline — some 2.5 kilometres around — is little touched by development.↗

In Swedish a *tjärn* is a small forest lake, and *öra* ('ear') gives this one its name; don't let the diminutive word mislead you, as Öratjärnen is deeper than most tarns of its size. At a maximum depth of about 15 metres and a mid-lake average near four metres, it holds clear, cold, oxygen-rich water of the kind vendace (*sik*) thrive in — a species the lake is known for as much as the more common perch and pike.↗↗

The water belongs to the Ljusnan main river basin, leaving the lake down the little stream Västerhocklan before that feeds the river Voxnan and, eventually, the coast some 180 kilometres away. It is a small link in a vast forest-water chain that defines the whole of this part of Sweden.↗

Why people come: fishing and quiet

The reason this lake carries a name on the map at all is the fishing. Documented species include pike, perch and vendace, giving an angler a satisfying spread — a drifting line or weighted lure for the deep-lying vendace, a jig or drop-shot for the perch, and the weed edges for pike. Across the wider Los-Hamra waters that local volunteers manage, the same cast recurs: perch, pike, trout, arctic char, vendace, whitefish and stocked rainbow.↗↗

A note before you cast off: Sweden's *allemansrätten* right of public access does not extend to fishing in lakes, so a permit is needed here. For this corner of Hälsingland, the Los-Hamra fishing association sells day and annual cards online via iFiske, and locally at Tempo and Lotta-Boden in the village of Los — a convenient reason to combine a morning on the water with a visit to the village.↗↗

When the freeze is reliable, the lake becomes an ice-fishing venue in the classic Hälsingland manner: drill a hole, drop a small jig or a maggot-baited hook, and wait out the cold in near-total quiet. Local clubs warn that thin or snow-insulated ice can be deceptive early in the season, so checking conditions and carrying ice picks is part of the winter ritual.

Around Los and the wider countryside

Los is a good base to put a trip to Öratjärnen in context. The village is famous as the home of the *Thenius orges*, the accordion-driven dance music developed in the 19th century by the Thenius brothers — a sound still heard at local gatherings and a signature of the whole region. Nearby stand the richly painted Hälsing farms that earned UNESCO World Heritage status in 2012; the Fågelsjö *gammelgård*, about 31 km away, is among the grandest, a preserved homestead reaching back to the forest-Finn settlements.↗

History of a different kind lies right in the village at the Loos cobalt mine, which became world-famous in 1751 when the scientist Axel Fredrik Cronstedt isolated the element nickel here for the first time; guided tours take you down wooden stairways into an 18th-century underground. For open-country walking, the long Hälsingeleden trail ends at Los, and the hamlet of Sophiendal — once a blue-dye works and glassworks tied to the cobalt find — lies a short forest-road detour off the path.↗

The surrounding wilds are also protected and celebrated: Hamra National Park, with its centuries-old pines and untouched bogs, lies about 30 km to the west, and the wider area belongs to the UNESCO Voxnadalen Biosphere Reserve, threaded by the river that gives this landscape its character. It is a region built for slow, self-reliant travel on foot, ski or snowshoe.

Practical notes

Reaching the lake is on your own responsibility: it is an unmanaged forest tarn rather than a developed site, so there is no visitor centre, café or staffed access to count on. Bring boots or water shoes if you intend to work the softer, wetter shorelines typical of these bog-fed tarns, and plan around a permit, a simple set of tackle, and the assumption that you may well have the water to yourself.↗

If you keep your catch, note Sweden's general food advice: perch and pike from ordinary inland lakes can contain mercury, so those who are pregnant, breastfeeding or planning a pregnancy are urged to eat such fish no more than a few times a year, and others no more than about once a week — older, larger pike carry more.↗