Kaldoaivi Wilderness area

I love places that are quiet and people-free. That is the reason why our family’s favorite places are the wilderness areas in Lapland. I don’t always trust my skills to use the compass and for that reason I like to stay near by the marked paths. Wilderness areas however don’t have the same kind of path networks that national parks have, but some of them have some marked routes.

 

One of the paths is the Pulmankijärvi-Sevettijärvi hiking path that runs through the Kaldoaivi wilderness area. I have not hiked the whole route but we have made few amazing trips in the north end of it in Pulmankijärvi. In the summer of 2015 we spend 3 days there in great weather and without seeing any humans. For our family it is not only about the walked miles or finishing the whole route, but more about the time we spend together outdoors away from the normal busy life.

Even thought the routes are marked, it is good to remember that the paths aren’t always similar to the ones in the national parks. For example you need to have boots that keep the water out, when you go across the wetland areas when are no duckboards to walk on.

Kaldoaivi wilderness area is 2924 km² and it’s the biggest wilderness area in Finland. So actually I and my family have only seen one little corner of it but I’m pretty sure that we will return there again and again. The area abuts to the Norwegian border and the path runs side by side to the border for a while. The route goes in really open place (mostly 200-300 meters above sea level) and the views are amazing even if you walk only for one day and then return. We walked one day with all our stuff and when we found a good place for the tent we stayed the night there.

On the following day we left our tent on the same spot, just taking some cooking supplies to our pack bag and made one day hike forward the route returning to our campsite at the evening. We were happy to see lots of birds that only nest in the most northern fells of Lapland. Our dog didn’t really share our happiness since she wasn’t too keen on the birds, especially long-tailed jaeger irritated her. Normally she walks in the front of us but that time I had to start walking in front of her on some places because the brave jaeger kept flying around her and attacking.

At the moment it is raining really hard, the spring is on the way and the snow is melting.  Even though I love winter, I cannot wait for the summer so I can arrange similar trips and collect more amazing memories.