Otta is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

Innlandet Innlandet is a county in Norway. It was created on 1 January 2020 with the merger of the old counties of Oppland and Hedmark (the municipalities of Jevnaker and Lunner were transferred to the neighboring county of Viken on the same date). The ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The river flows through the

Ottadalen Ottadalen ( en, Otta Valley) is a valley in the municipalities of Skjåk, Lom, Vågå, and Sel in Innlandet county, Norway. The valley is one of the side valleys that branch off of the large Gudbrandsdalen valley. It lies on the northern edge ...

valley which includes the municipalities of

Skjåk Skjåk is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Bismo. Most of the municipal residents live in the Billingsdalen a ...

, Lom,

Vågå Vågå () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Vågåmo. Other village areas in Vågå include Lalm and Besshe ...

, and

Sel Sel is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Otta. The municipality also includes several notable villages including ...

. The watershed of the Otta drains an area of beginning in the

Breheimen Breheimen is a mountain range in the Innlandet and Vestland counties in Norway. The area lies west of the Jotunheimen mountain range. The mountain range lies to the northwest of the Sognefjellsvegen road, north of the Sognefjorden, south of the ...

mountains and emptying into the large river

Gudbrandsdalslågen The Gudbrandsdalslågen (or simply ''Lågen'') is a river which flows through the Gudbrandsdal valley in Innlandet county, Norway. The long river runs through a large valley in Eastern Norway before emptying into Mjøsa, the largest lake in Nor ...

. The Otta River is known for rafting. The rafting season begins in mid-May and lasts until the end of September. The

Norwegian National Road 15 Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

runs along the river for almost its entire course.

Course

The river technically begins at the lake

Djupvatnet Djupvatnet is a lake in extreme southeastern Stranda Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The lake lies at above sea level. The lake is part of the headwaters of the Otta river system which flows southeast into the lake Breiddals ...

Stranda Municipality Stranda is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Stranda. Stranda consists of three smaller villages and one larger central village ...

which is in

Vestland Vestland is a county in Norway established on 1 January 2020. The county is located in Western Norway and it is centred around the city of Bergen, Norway's second largest city. The administrative centre of the county is the city of Bergen, where t ...

county, about west of the border with

Skjåk Municipality Skjåk is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Bi ...

county. The river flows through the

Billingsdalen Billingsdal or Billingsdalen is a river valley in the municipality of Skjåk in Innlandet county, Norway. The valley is the inner part of the larger Ottadalen valley which is the valley through which the river Otta flows. It is considered a later ...

valley heading to the east, including through several lakes including the Breiddalsvatnet, Skim, and

Vågåvatn Vågåvatn or Vågåvatnet is a lake located in Lom and Vågå municipalities in Innlandet county, Norway. The lake is part of the river Otta, which begins in Skjåk municipality, flows into lake Vågåvatn. It then exits the Vågåvatn at Vå ...

. After the Vågåvatn lake at

Vågåmo Vågåmo is the administrative centre of Vågå Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The village is located along the Otta River, at the eastern end of the lake Vågåvatn in the Ottadalen valley. The Norwegian National Road 15 passes th ...

, it enters the

valley and heads to the southeast to the town of Otta in

Sel Municipality Sel is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Otta. The municipality also includes several notable villages including ...

. At Otta, the river joins the large river

Name

The name of the river is probably derived from the

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

verb ''ótta'' which means to "scare" or "terrify". The water of the river comes from

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...

s, and the flooding of the river can be strong and fierce.

Media gallery

OttariverII.jpg, Otta River. Otta Laagen Ottaby.JPG, Aerial view of the Otta River. Otta river in front of Otta.jpg, In front of Otta.

References

Sel Vågå Lom, Norway Skjåk Rivers of Innlandet {{Norway-river-stub

Course

Name

Media gallery

See also

References