Lilla Skeppundstjärnen

The pike from the lake spirit

The lakes have a story worth knowing before you arrive. In a Värmland folk tradition collected from local tellers, the Skeppund water was said to be haunted by a sjörå—a 'lake warden' or water spirit who could be generous to those who treated the water with respect. In one tale, an old couple out mowing hay had poled their boat around the reedy edges of the lake all day, but the wife insisted on rowing straight over open water one last time, trusting that if the sjörå meant them a gift she would give it anyway. That evening they netted a pike of a full pound, a blessing she remembered clearly even at ninety-five years old.

This is folklore, not a fact about the place, but it captures exactly why the Skeppund lakes feel the way they do: small, still, bound by trees, and quietly regarded by the people who lived around them. Read as atmosphere, the legend suits a visit that is about slow appreciation rather than sightseeing.

What to notice

There is no ticketed sight and nothing built up here, so the appeal is the landscape itself. Come for the close, dark mirror of a woodland tarn ringed by spruce; for the contrast between firm ground and the soft, open bog that surrounds it; and for the company of its larger sibling Stora Skeppundstjärnen a short walk away, where the water runs a little deeper. These are excellent places for quiet nature-watching and unhurried walking—birds, dragonflies over the reedy margins in summer, and the deep stillness that small forest lakes keep.↗

If you like a sense of scale, the twin lakes make a satisfying short loop of low-forest water country in the middle of Hagfors' vast patchwork of woods—a municipality that counts hundreds of lakes across its land.

Visiting the Skeppund lakes

Treat this as a natural destination rather than a managed attraction: there is no visitor centre, no listed opening hours and no advertised facilities, and access is through forest and wet ground rather than formal promenades. Plan for underfoot that is damp and uneven, and, in the height of Swedish summer, for the mosquitoes that any bog-rimmed lake invites.

Summer is the season when these lakes make most sense—the light lasts long, the water warms, and the bogs and reedy edges come alive. Reach is easiest by car, as is true of nearly all of inland Värmland's small waters, with Hagfors as the nearest service town for fuel, food and a place to stay.

A word if you hope to fish: in Värmland, fishing rights on small inland lakes like this belong to the surrounding landowners and are usually managed by a local fishing-water association that sells day licences. There is no established public fishing scheme documented for Lilla Skeppundstjärnen specifically, so do not assume you may cast a line here—check rights and permission before you go, as is required for most lakes away from the great open waters. The same caution applies to approaching or crossing the shoreline: respect private ground.