Østmarka is a forested area to the east of

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

and part of the congregation of woodland areas known as Oslomarka. The area is situated within the municipalities Oslo,

Lørenskog is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus Counties of Norway, county, Norway. A suburb of Oslo, it is part of the Oslo urban area and the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Romerike. The administrative centre of the municipa ...

Rælingen Rælingen is a village and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Romerike. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village ...

, Ski and

Enebakk Enebakk is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Follo, Norway, Follo Districts of Norway, traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of K ...

. Østmarka is delimited to the west by populated areas of Oslo, to the north of communities of Skårer,

and

and to the east by the lake

Øyeren Øyeren is a lake in the Glomma River watershed, southeast of the city of Lillestrøm (town), Lillestrøm. It is located within the municipalities of Enebakk, Lillestrøm, and Rælingen in Akershus county and Indre Østfold municipality in Østfol ...

, to the south-east lies Enebakk and to the south-west Sørmarka, another forested area. The change from Østmarka to Sørmarka takes place at the lake Langen. Østmarka is marked by its location on top of basement rock (more than 1 billion years old) containing easy-to-see folds that make up valleys and hills in the north-south direction. For this reason the terrain has a lot of hills, no matter where one goes. Along the upper marine border (about 210 meters) the ice of the last ice age has left large amounts of gravel and sand. Sand, Sandbakken ("Sandy Hill"), Sandbekken ("Sandy Creek") and Grusbakken ("Gravel Hill") are all on about the same elevation. The sand mines at Ødegården have been left there by the ice. Beach snails have been found at Lutvann at an elevation of 200 meters.

Nature reserve

Østmarka nature reserve has an area of 18 square kilometers. It received its status in 1990 and was expanded in 2002. The purpose of the protection is the conservation of a substantial, relatively untouched

coniferous forest Conifers () are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All e ...

along with plant and animal life typical for this part of Oslomarka, and which has particular scientific and educational significance. The bulk of the reserve is located in Rausjømarka and is owned by the municipalities Oslo, Lørenskog and Rælingen.

Farms, cabins and restaurants in Østmarka

*Mariholtet * Østmarkskapellet *Rustadsaga * Skullerudstua * Sandbakken * Vangen * Losby * Larsbråten * Skjelbreia

Highest peaks

(•) signifies that the trigonometric point is not situated on the peak's highest point.

Largest lakes

Plank Road

During the period when small sawmills were being increasingly used throughout the forests of Oslomarka and the timber export became a substantial industry - from ca 1750 and well into the 19th century - this engendered a big need for transportation. In Østmarka alone there were over 2,000 drivers and 4-5000 horses occupied with moving planks between Øyeren and Kristiania (today Oslo). It was too long to drive from Enebakk via

and Strømsveien to get to Kristiania. This is why the Plank Road was built. The Plank Road starts at Eikeberg and Børter in Enebakk - it crosses the ice on Børtervann and moves up to Rausjø and turns up towards Vangen and Skjelbreia, further over Eriksvann, Søndre Skytten, Elvåga, across to Nøklevann, Rustadsaga, Østensjøvannet and down to the city. The Plank Road is today open and tagged as a ski track.

References

Other sources

*''Østmarka fra A til Å'', by Even Saugstad, .

External links

*
Presentation of Østmarka in the Marka database
from Skiforeningen {{DEFAULTSORT:Ostmarka Geography of Oslo Geography of Akershus Forests and woodlands of Norway Marka, Oslo Plank road