GUDBRANDSDAL  , a

district in the midlands of southern Norway, comprising the upper course of the river Lougen or Laagen from Lillehammer at the head of Lake Mjosen to its source in Lake Lesjekogen and tributary valleys . Lillehammer, the centre of a rich timber district, is 114 M . N. of Christiania by rail . The railway continues through the well-wooded and cultivated valley to Otta (70 m.) . Several tracks run westward into the wild district of the Jotunheim . From Otto good driving routes run across the watershed and descend the western slope, where the scenery is incomparably finer than in Gudbrandsdal itself—(a) past Sorum, with the 13th-century churches of Vaagen and Lom (a fine specimen of the Stavekirke or timber-built church), Aanstad and Polfos, with beautiful falls of the Otta river, to Grotlid, whence roads diverge to Stryn on the Nordfjord, and to Marok on the Geirangerfjord; (b) past Domaas (with branch road north to Storen near Trondhjem, skirting the Dovrefjeld), over the watershed formed by Lesjekogen Lake, which drains in both directions, and down through the magnificent Romsdal .