Etelä-Konnevesi national park

My sister suggested that our next post should be from one of our winter trips but today I just can’t write about cold and add snowy pictures. The reason is that even thought I love winter, today is one of those days that the wind is so freezing that it goes all the way to your bones and makes you shiver, no matter how much clothes you wear. So I promise that next post will be about this season again, but now I´m writing about a national park we visited for the first time ever last year. It´s called Etelä-Konnevesi and it is located in Konnevesi and Rautalampi, a little bit north from Jyväskylä in center Finland.

Our first sighr to lake Konnevesi

It was in the beginning of autumn and my son’s school had just started. We took a soft landing to school routines after the holiday and made a weekend trip with our camper van. It is around two-hour drive to Konnevesi from our home, but since we could not leave in the morning, we arrived there late in saturday evening just to park our car and sleep. Weather forecast had promised a thunder-storm for the night and it came, but luckily it stayed on the other side of the lake nearby.  In the morning the weather was breezy and sunny as it is so often after a storm.  We decided to walk a 4.6 km long path in the park, which consists mostly of water and islands, so I think this part was the most forested area they is in this national park. Etelä-Konnevesi is one of our newest national parks and it is founded in 2014. It is quite small national park with area of only 15 square kilometer.

 

We started the walk from the parking lot in place called Kalaja. It was a circle route, if we don’t count the first couple hundred meters of the track. The part in the beginning, which we had to take both ways, went through area that proved really clearly that it’s a new place since wood had been harvested from there not very long ago. The circle route went around a lake which had really dept and rocky shores. This part of the area had been a recreational camping area for a long time so the forest was old and untouched unlike in the beginning. At the starting point of the circle track there was a hut and a fireplace beside the lake and it was already really crowded although it was just morning. We were afraid the whole place would be filled with people but our worry was unnecessary. When we started to walk around the lake we noticed that most of the people just stayed by the fireplaces and didn’t bother to walk the path.

 

The lake looked beautifully untamed with clear water and surrounding forests. A black-troated diver was swimming in the lake and didn’t seem to care about people. I guess it was used of people by its’ homelake. Path was quite worn and full of roots so it was slow to walk. It also run up and down so it was also a good exercise for the morning.

 

Tarasofs cottage

The forest at national park

Forest at national park

Common Aspen

Lichen,sign of clean air

In the old part of the forest there was a little old cottage, not used for a long time and the guideposts told that it had belonged to a Finnish Karelian man Felixs Tarasoff who had used the forest just for his own needs and there had not been clearcuts. He had saved old trees like the big aspens that grove there and he was the main reason the forest was in such natural state.

 

Kalajanvuori clifts

Up we go

Common Aspen with lichen

When we reached the other side of the lake, the path rise to the high rocks that had really nice view to the surroundings. The hill was called a Kalajanvuori and it had been a sightseeing place since 1800. From the highest point you can see the lake Konnevesi in the west side and the lake Hankavesi in the northeast.

 

Clifts at Kalajanvuori

Kalajanvuori

Kalajanvuori clifts

Up there at Kalajanvuori

Kalajanvuori path

The national park was a nice day trip and had some pretty sights. Hopefully they do some repairs for the paths because the nature can´t handle all those people without wearing.

 

Hankavesi

Konnevesi

 

New Year, time for new promises?

Happy New Year everyone! Many people make New Year’s resolutions and promise to do this and that in upcoming year. I´ve never been a big fan of that, since I like to do things on the spur of the moment. I do, however, make lists about what I would like to do, but no promises. I try to be a very honest person and even a light promise like a New Year’s resolution can really bother me if I´m not able to do it. I know it’s crazy, but that is the way I am. So lets stick to the wish to do list! Most of these things are about travelling so I decided to write my list here.

Kaldoaivi wilderness area

Kaldoaivi wilderness area

1. Visit and write more about the places that are located in my home town
2. Spend more nights outdoors than I was able to last year
3. Visit the new Moomin museum in Tampere
4. See the Pandas in Ähtäri zoo
5. Practise more on my orienteering skills, to be able to hike on different locations
6. Visit some national parks in Finland where I haven’t been before
7. To be less antisocial and get out with my friends more, maybe even lure them outdoors with me
8. Move, hike, run, ski and have more all shorts of fun with my family, we only live once!!!!!

Ylläs

Maria

My family

Hiking with family on Saariselkä

Hiking gear.. It takes a lot of room in a tiny house like ours.  I was just packing that stuff away for the winter, every year it’s the same trouble of finding place for everything. We really are not “material” hikers, we don’t need everything to be brand new and latest model or we don’t need to have every new invention. Every year we try to update our gear a little bit, if necessary. Next on the list is definitely a new tent. Our old one has seen its best days and it is also getting a little small for tree adult size persons and an adult size dog. (ideas for a light but affordable tent are wellcome!) But it has served us well. Few summers ago we went hiking to Saariselkä in Urho Kekkonen National park with my son and my parents. Our gear was a little bit this and that since my parents don´t hike a lot, so we tried to find something suitable for everyone from our stuff and from their old camping things.

We had to think about the route selection carefully since every one of us has a different amount of experience when it comes to hiking. We chose a route where we could spend just one night and didn’t have to walk too much for our older company. But enough to have a good hiking experience. When we travel with my folks we always spend a lot of time outdoors but this was the first time we went for a walk this long with them. Our total walking distance was about 28 kilometers, which was good amount for our group.

Saariselkä, beginning of the path

Saariselkä

Saariselkä

Saariselkä

We started the walk few kilometres before the Kiilopää fellcenter. (I will also add few pictures that are taken from another trip there; I think I was too excited to get going on this trip to photograph everything). The start of the path went on a forest area, easy to walk, until the path turned to the fells. The walking was harder but also the view got better. We passed an old reindeer round-up fence and headed to the Raututunturi fell. Our chosen route run mostly on the top of the fells, if not counting the up and downs changing the fell tops. In few places we also found some snow even though it was July already. Saariselkä area rises above the surroundings so the views on the fells are really beautiful. You can see far around the Urho Kekkonen national park when the sky is clear as we had on both days of our hike. The path was marked very well, and easily to be seen on the ground. The nature up there is really fragile and the paths make clear mark on the ground. The area is also really popular for spending time outdoors.

The path

Still some snow

Me, my mom and dad

Our first break at the fells

Our destination for that night was a camping site called Rautulampi , it was about in the middle of our route. Rautu means a certain type of salmonfish and lampi is a bond. The path went down from the fells in a valley and the camping site was on the bottom. As was a little bond and a stream where to get water. Really pretty site. The site was well equipped and had toilets and a day hut. Unfortunately the places weren’t really peaceful. A group of adult scouts, about 20 people plus few other campers had already built their tents. But it was the only place to camp nearby. The UKK National park is divided in a common hiking area and wildernes area. In the wilderness area you can camp where ever you want but in common area that we where in you have  to use the markt places.

Campsite at Rautulampi

We manage to find a good spot from the edge of the area for our tents. We  were at the site quite late, since our leaving in the morning went a little bit long. So we cooked our dinner and went to sleep. It felt really spacious when it was just me and my son in the tent. Normally we had to make room for my husband and our dog. I’m a really light sleeper and occasionally I woke up to snoring, probably from the next tent.. Where ever we go with my dad we always wake up to the same sound, him making coffee! Total coffee addict. I don’t normally eat breakfast but on hikes I have to make an exception, otherwise you just don’t have the power to walk. After all the morning routines we were leaving the site around the same time as the big group was but luckily they went to another route. When I go anywhere to walk or hike, I like to do it on my own or at least just with my own group. I’m kind of loner in that way.

Campsite,Rautulampi

Trail near Kiilopää

Trail

Trail on Kiilopää

The way back followed the valley bottom quite long way. Until we were already pretty close to Kiilopää it started climbing back up again to cross over the fells to get there. We crossed the path with few family of willow grouses and few hikers but mostly it was just us. When we arrived to Kiilopää, my mom and my son were already quite exhausted, so they sat down with our backpacks while me and my dad continued few kilometres back to our car by the road that leads to Kiilopää. I think everyone was really happy about how well the trip went and especially to the great weather we had.  And the feeling that you get from the hiking, even if we didn’t stay so long or walked so many kilometers, is pretty great. It is something you have to experience, I can´t describe it. We have walked around the closest paths of  UKK but the surroundings there are so beautiful I could go there over and over again. Someday I hope I can really hike in the wilderness areas there, the fell of Sokosti is on my dreams.

If you would like to win a bar of Finnish chocolate, go to our Facebook page, like the page and the post and you might get one soon! We are giving away ‘A small piece of Finland’ (that really is the name of the bar at the moment), to celebrate 100 years of independence of Finland. But be fast, winner will be picked up of course on the independence day, 6th of December 2017!

Pallas in October

Winter came early this year, here in the south also. We had 15 cm of snow and -10 degrees celsius for a while. And I loved it!! But that was just a preview, now all the white is washed away by the rain and temperature has risen to plus 7. In the north the snow that comes this time, mostly stays.  In October we visited the Pallas national park again, like we did last year (you can find that story earlier in the blog). Last year Pallas was nearly only place on our autumn holiday visit that had snow. This year there was snow in other locations too but even more on the Pallas fells. Me, my father and my son packed snacks for a coffee break up there and put way too much clothes on, as usual. We walked a different path than last year, not so popular one this time.  It was 7 kilometres long circle route to top of fell …. and back.

start point of the route

Pallas

Pallas

The sun was shining but a little breeze made the air feel colder than it was. But the wind hit our track only close to the parking lot but no more on the hill. This path was lot less used than the one that goes to the highest top of Pallas that we reached last year. So if  there had not been two other hikers walking through the route before us, we would have had even more harder climb. At the best points the snow was on knee hight and the footsteps of early hikers came in use climbing up. In the beginning of the path there is a reindeer round-up site where the reindeer keepers bring the reindeer together and mark the new calfs as well as select the ones that they sell for meat. It´s a pretty cold job in the winter times on the fells.

Snow

Pallas

Reindeer round-up site

The path after us

The top

We walked up really calmly, the age differnce of our group was quite big so my son mostly was the one that waited for others. The hill tops of the fells were on and off  fog covered. At one point we even wondered should we turn pack because the fog was so thick, but it soon cleared up. We kept our break at the point where the path turns back to the nature center and goes to the highest place of the route. My dad doesn’t go anywhere without a thermos of coffee, so I thought that maybe I will try it a little bit too. It was getting cold after the sweaty hike up and I taught it would warm me up. But one thing is for sure, I will never be a coffee drinker!

The path

Our break place

As I wrote, after our break the path turned to the top and we had to climb some more. There the snow had come down with the wind so in some parts of the track there was lots of snow and in some none. The wind had made beautiful structures from snow. And the wind had pressed the snow so well together it already carried a person. At least my son anyway, me and my dad sunk down through the snow every now and then.

At the top the landscapes were hiding in the cloud of fog that just past us and we were a bit sad to notice, during out hike back down, that the top was clear again.  But we were already too far to return. And ahead of us we saw much more beautiful sight, more and more reindeer on the fells looking for food or taking a rest. I have visited Lapland many many times and even lived there for few months but I never get tired of watching the reindeer. Especially this time of year when their winter coat is new and pretty. They let us walk from quite close and I snapped a lot more pictures that I actually needed. If I had printed all the pictures I have ever taken from reindeer I would have a big collection, mostly not so well taken shots.

 

I was little behind the others after stopping to take photos so I had to catch them, which is not always easy when my son walks in the front.. when the path gets more even, you can see the Pallas hotel nicely. We had left our car on the parking place of the hotel which was closed at the moment, they only keep it open on a real turist season.

The last part of the path goes on a little road they named the Orava avenue, orava meaning a squirrel. By the side of the little walking road there are little statues, made by Swedish artist Mats Wikström. They are really funny looking in the middle of the nature. Closer to the nature center, in different places, there is also nature art from four other artists.

I really liked the path we chose, we were the only ones there. The snow had come two days before we visited there and only the two other persons (by the footprints)had walk it through. And probably many would not walk it after us until the next spring because the markings were already starting to disappear in the snow. The other path had a lot of walkers,judging by the cars on the parking lot since not many people goes to longer routes that time of year. We also visited the nature center in Pallas and I got some nice postcards for my postcrossing hobby.

 

 

 

Hossa National Park

Last week was really winter-like in all Finland. Temperature stayed mostly in minus degrees and there was snow on the ground about 15 cm where we live. But a week before most of Finland was still very autumn like, as it should have been since it was the autumn holiday from schools. We spent the week in the northern Finland with my son and my dad but on our way there we visited our new national park in Hossa, Suomussalmi. The national park was founded this year to honour our 100 years old nation. We have been there once before with my family about 5 years ago but then the area was just a camping area. We had limited time for our visit this time since we were heading towards Lapland. So we decided to walk the path that goes to the rock paintings, which are probably the most well know feature of Hossa.

 

First we stopped at the nature center which has been renovated since our last visit. There is a coffee place, a shop and information about the national park. Many of the nature centers in Finland have an exhibition about the nationalpark area, animals and nature, but in Hossa they atleast yet don’t.

 

The path that we decided to take was further away from the nature center so we had to drive there by car and I have to say that the directions weren’t that good. Only few signs without any knowledge about the kilometres. But we found the starting point and parked our car with several others in place called Lihapyörre. The day was kind of grey but not rainy. We took some packed lunch with us to the 7 kilometer long walk and got started. First the path went into a forest area and run there for quite long way so we were glad that the path was a circle since it would be kind of boring to come back the same way. The rock paintings or Värikallio (the coloured rock) as they call it are on a shore of a little lake. The path got more interesting when we got closer to the lake. The spruces had lots of beard moss which is always a good sign for clean air and it looked really pretty too. The paintings are located on a cliff by the lake so you nearly always confront the place from up, it was nice to see the sight of the rock paintings already from the other side of the lake. Of course we could not see the paintings, but the location which is it easy to recognize from the new metallic bridge that leads there.

 

Just before the paintings, there is a fireplace area with tables in a shelter so it’s a nice point for a break even if it would be raining. We also ate our snacks there but we where so curious about the paintings that we walked there first, since anyway you have to walk same way back from the cliff. Location is really beautiful and worth the visit. What comes to the paintings you can clearly see two people and a moose but the rest is mostly just red spots.

 

When we continued our trip after eating, the path took us to a really nice place on top of a rock looking down to a similar lake that the Värikallio had. Rest of the path run again through a forest. At the end, just near the parking lot, there is a little river and lean-to shelter ( laavu ) with sightseeing platform to the river, a place one can also reach on a wheelchair.

 

Even thought it was not a real turist season we saw quite a lot of  people, comparing to our last visit there 5 years ago ( also on autumn holiday week). The title of a national park had really increased the travellers. Last time there was one other family walking beside us. The interest to the new national can be also seen in the paths, some of them were really worn out. They had already repaired some parts of the path we walked but not all.

As a summary there are some really interesting sites in Hossa (although we saw it only from that 7km path this time ) but I don’t think it’s going to make to my favorite national park list since the nature is kind of same around the park. Anyway it is always great to get more protected areas to our country and more places for people to enjoy the nature.

Midsummer Day trip part 1

One of the favorite holidays for Finnish people is Midsummer Day, or Juhannus as we call it, celebrated around the last weekend of June. Normally we have a barbecue with our family, go to sauna and maybe see a Midsummer Eve bonfire. But this year we had just bought our own camper-van and that weekend was the first time we were able to test it. So when most of Finnish people head down to their cottages in the country side we thought that lets go to south, to the cities along the shores of the Gulf of Finland.

We started the trip on Thursday afternoon when my husband got home from work. We drove south heading to the Liesjärvi national park in Tammela. It felt like we were going to upstream since the traffic, caused by the midnight summer was heading to the other direction. We reached our destination so late that we just went to sleep right away.

In the morning we walked our dog on the paths of the national park and visited a heritage farm called Korteniemi. The farm was on really beautiful site by a lake and it was really idyllic with the cows, sheep and chicken.  The purpose of these farms is to show how people used to live before all the machines and other things like that which make our modern day lives much easier. So during the summer they organize different work shows like harvesting hay or grain or burn-clearing or tart burning.

After our short visit to the National park we drove to Helsinki. They say that Helsinki is really quiet during Midsummer Day but at least this year it wasn’t true. Every place was crowded with people. We wanted to go to Korkeasaari zoo but we had to wait a while before we got a place in the parking lot. Meanwhile we thought we saw other sightseeing places but it was the same everywhere, no parking space left. So after driving around for a while we got a parking spot at the zoo and got the tickets a little bit cheaper since the zoo was only open for two more hours.

Korkeasaari is an island where you have to walk around to see the animals. It is a beautiful place and it’s been a zoo since 1889. Its one of the oldest zoo’s in the world and one of the most popular sights of Helsinki. During the years the island however, has got a little small with all the new animals and now it is kind of a mess and you have to go back and fort to see everything. And since we had so little time, we had to do it kind of fast to see everything. But we have been there many times before so we did know where to go and had just enough time to see every animal. Normally we have a picnic lunch at one of the beach rocks; there are lots of nice places where you can also see the center of Helsinki from the sea. You can also come to Korkeasaari by ferry from the center in the summertime.The reason we wanted to come to Korkeasaari that day was the tiger cubs that were born last year and we saw them when they where small.  We wanted to see them again before they separate them from their mum. And they had got so big! At first it was hard to recognize them from the mom when they were just lying around and enjoying the sunny day. But finally from the head size you could still see which one was the mom.

After our zoo visit we continued our trip along the coast line to the east driving around in city of Porvoo and ending up to the national park of Valkmusa in Pyhtää. It’s a small wetland park founded in 1996. Again we saved the park tour for the morning and had good night sleep first. In the morning we walked a few kilometer long nature path, really the only path there is in this tiny park. The forests surrounding the wetland were really pretty since this time of year mostly white wetland flowers where all in blossom.

First summer trip to Lapland this year

This summer’s first trip to the north started on the first week of June. I, my son and my dad went there for a week with a camper van. Our first real stop was in Simo, in a place called Martimoaapa. It is a wetland reserve in Northern Bothnia region. The day had been sunny and warm and it was kind of late when we arrived there, but after sitting the whole day in a car we still decided to walk the few kilometer nature path that run through the wetland. Even thought we were still below the Arctic circle and didn’t technically have the midnight sun yet the sun was still high up and did only disappear for a moment.

Of course we didn’t get through the whole way without accidents, since when you release an eleven year old boy from a car after day of sitting, there’s a lot of repressed energy. On the half way he and grandpa started a little running race on the duckboards with a result that my son took a little side route in the wetland and got his shoes all wet. Well no problem, we had just reached the bird watching tower where he could take off the wet shoes and I gave him my socks. So the rest of the way he walked (read run) just on my socks on the duckboards.

Arctic Circle, Santa Claus ‘Village

Santa Claus Village

Santa Claus Village

Next day was a little rainy and foggy so we used it for driving with couple of stops in Rovaniemi to complete our food supply and to visit Santa’s village. There, you can see Santa of course, visit Santa’s official post office and use your money in many many gift shops. In Rovaniemi there were really no signs of green in the nature yet and still few piles of snow, which increased the more north we got. We end up to spending the following night next to Pallas fell. Sun had started to shine again in the evening but the view on the fells was mainly white. The parking lot we spend the night had still huge piles of snow left.

Next morning the sun was up, well it never really got down, and the plus degrees started to rise. And they didn’t go down on the rest of the trip. We left Pallas and stared driving towards Levi where we drove the car to the top of the fell. It really looked like you could still ski in there. After enjoying the view we headed north towards Inari. On the way we stopped few times just to have a brake in beautiful scenery. This was the first time I have ever seen Lake Inari frozen, well it wasn’t completely frozen, a little bit from the shore was open. We didn’t really stop there, just continued our journey now to south in Ivalo. On the way we saw the first little reindeer fawns with their mother and they were so tiny and cute. I have no picture of them because I didn’t want to go to disturb the little ones.

The must-have stop of the day was at Karhunpesäkivi in Myössäjärvi. We go there every year, well more than ones actually. It is a coffee place but there is also a little nature path (mostly stairs) to the bear den rock (Karhunpesäkivi). It’s a huge glacial erratic at the hill top with a cave underneath it in which you can crawl into. There is a small cave, just large enough for an adult to stand in it. If you walk a little more up there’s also a nice place to see the view. We drove to spend the night by the road that goes to Raja-Jooseppi. The road goes to the Russian border and there’s also a place to cross the border.

In the morning we had a nice walk in a small forestry road, we even found brain mushrooms (Gyromitra esculenta) a type of mushroom that grows in spring. Really poisoned but cooked right edible and delicious for some people. I have never been brave enough to taste it let alone try to cook my self.  We also had a funny incident there. Right next to our camping side was a little lake. During the night we spend there it lost its ice cover. In the morning my dad went to wash an old camping chair on the shore. After a minute he came back. He had fallen in the pond with the chair. A rock on the shore he had stepped had sunk and so did he. My father never swims let alone in ice cold water. Thankfully the temperature was already way over +20 Celsius degrees already so he warmed up quite fast. And got the chair cleaned. And the rest of us got a good laugh.

Our target that day was the skiing center on Saariselkä. On that day they had opened few slopes again for skiing and my son wanted to see if he would like to go. And there was definitely enough snow but it was really wet since the temperature was closer to +30 that day in the sun. The whole parking lot was like a little river and the snow looked really wet indeed. My son just watched other people skiing and said that he preferred skiing in the winter. But there were quite many people; one even had to queue to the elevators. We ended up renting a cottage in Saariselkä. We spent time walking around the skiing center enjoying the weather, climbed to the top of the fell Kaunispää to enjoy the evening sun and of course went to sauna after several days without it.

Next day we continued our trip to south. We stopped shortly after Saariselkä to Urho Kekkonen national park; in which part of the fells of Saariselkä also belong to. We decided to walk through a little nature path since there had not been much snow left after Saariselkä, so we could survive with summer gear. Well, we were really wrong. After walking a bit over one kilometre, the path started to go little up and there the melting waters were using the same ready-made path that we were walking on. My dad turned to a short-cut after few kilometres but I and my son wanted to go up this little fell and we did. The melting streams calmed down after walking to the steeper hill but then there was the snow. The fell is really small one, not really a fell since there are still few trees on the top. But still there was snow. But we got to the top quite easily by using other peoples footprints. My son got snow in his shoes but not enough to bother him. On the top there’s a little sightseeing tower. There’s a great view to the surrounding fells. But there our way stopped. The path went back down on the northern slope and there was more than half meter of snow left. Even my shoes wouldn’t keep the snow anymore. So we turned and had to walk back the same way, but the scenery was still worth the climb. Although kind of surreal. We were sweating in the heat wave but still surrounded by snow.

After our climbing trip we had to drive a longer while since our holiday was almost over. We drove through Sodankylä center, to village of Tanhua in Savukoski. On the way we stopped to eat nearby a little river just on the perfect moment. We were at the beginning of the river just by the lake that just started losing the ice cover. Pieces of ice started drifting to the river making a little dam by the bridge we were standing on. The ice was kind of soft but it still made different piles and nice spring-like sounds.

Our next sleeping place was in Salla on a beautiful esker, in a place that had nice walking path (skiing tracks in the winter) around it. We were planning to use two days for driving back down to southern Finland but we ended up driving all the way home from Salla during next day. I think the men had had enough of sweating in the car since that day was hot from the early morning. We drove on smaller quieter roads back home. But we had really fun week and we ate a lot of ice cream in that heat.

Skiing holiday in Enontekiö

I  waited the Easter week like crazy this year. That´s because our skiing holiday was planned for that week this year, a lot later than normally. All of us waited that week also for another reason, because of our way too warm winter! I live in the middle of western part of Finland and the whole winter snow has been coming and going, snowing and melting again. Not a lot of winter fun for us. So I, my husband,our son, my parents and our dog crowded to two cars full of stuff. We needed a lot of clothes because this time of year you never know about the weather, it can go from -20 °C to plus degrees in a day.

We rented a cottage from a little village called Kuttanen, which is a part of the municipality of Enontekiö. Enontekiö is one the largest municipalities in Finland by area. We had long way to drive (about 900 km) but it went fast while enjoying the view on the way in a very sunny day. When we found our way to the cottage were we had never been before, we were really nicely surprised about the great view right from the yard. The cottage was build on a hill top where you can see really far and it was also right next to a lake.  We also loved the fact that there was still more than one meter of snow. At the first night we saw beautiful northern lights right from our window.

The next day we found out also the best part of our new place. We went skiing on the ice of the lake and found a skiing track on the other side of it. It was maintained by the village and we practically had it on our personal use, since we didn’t see any other skiers on our trips, only reindeer that used it also.

On the next couple of days we also made some trips around. First one was a trip to town of Kilpisjärvi, located at the most far end of the western part of Finland, on a borderline of Sweden and Norway. The views there are amazing when the sky is clear, but we had kind of bad luck this time with the weather. It was snowing, so the biggest fells kept themselves hidden except the Saana, the fell that rises right from the village of Kilpisjärvi. It is 1029 meters high, really rocky and unique looking fell.

We visited the nature center of Malla Strict Nature Reserve to get some info about the skiing tracks. We decided to try the track that goes along the Saana fell. But we ended up with a really small trip. Since the weather was little bit on the plus side and even thought the track went quite deeply up, the snow got stuck on the skis and made skiing up hill even harder than it normally would be. The track is a so called wilderness track and in that weather you could hardly call it a track at all. It was very narrow and used as a two-way-track. And if you stepped outside the track you where at least 130 cm deep in snow. So after having spend half an hour on our skis we decided to turn back, that was enough climbing for us. My son loved the coming down part, since the whole way was downhill and even thought there were lot of fresh snow to slow us down a little bit we came down quite fast. Too fast for me anyway.

After all the excitement everyone, except me, had fallen on the way and my moms ski stick was in two pieces. When we got to the car, we felt we had deserved a coffee break in the Kilpisjärvi retkeilymaja. The first version of this historical hotel was opened in 1937. We tried to get to the supermarket but we didn’t find a parking spot which sounds crazy in a village with 100 inhabitants. But Kilpisjärvi is a popular place for the Norwegians to come to buy food and also to have a holiday since is right on the border and lot cheaper than on the Norwegian side.

 

Next day my son and husband went to Hetta, skiing center of Enontekiö for down hill skiing. They have this nice child friendly slope and the price is very reasonable compering to the bigger skiing centers. So I went for a drive with my mom and dad to the town of Muonio, the Pallas fell and back to Hetta. The roads were already without snow and dry, so I enjoyed driving around since there was not much traffic.  Pallas fell is part of  Pallas-Ylläs National Park and they have also some downhill-skiing slopes in the winter as well as free-skiing possibilities. That is not really our thing so we only visited the nature center, the hotel and enjoyed the view. The hotels old part is really unique, it is made from logs and it was originally built in 1948. There was a hotel before that also but it was burned in the war. These years may not sound really old for most people but at that time the road connections to Lapland where really limited and therefore harder to reach.

Next days we also visited the Swedish side in Karesuando which actually was our nearest shopping place for food, 25 kilometer drive from our cottage. They had really beautiful wooden church in Karesuando. My husband also made a trip to Ylläs skiing center by his snowmobile, he went driving around with it whenever he had the change since he could not drive at all at home this year.

 

On the yard of our cottage there was a little hut where we were able to make a fire and grill sausages and marshmallows. We also skied every single day (cross-country). My dad also got the change to do some downhill skiing since my son wanted company for another day in Hetta, some grandfather-grandson time. We also had snowshoes with us which we were able to use starting right from our cottage since everywhere around us were peaceful forests to walk in. We could see Siberian jays and snow buntings on our trips, birds we don’t meet around home.

 

All together we had a pretty successful holiday. My son fell in love with that cottage, or the site of it. Since he could just get out and slide with his sledge kind of thing everywhere in the forest. Our dog was as excited about the snow as our son was, she run from one snow hill to another and enjoyed the fact that she could see so far ahead from the hill. That even though she could only run on the road or on the tracks that snowmobiles had made to the forest without sinking to the meter deep snow.

The day we came back home was the Easter Saturday. On the Bothnia area, which covered half of our way back, they have this tradition of burning big bonfires on that day. It was fun to look for the fires, we saw at least 50 of  them, although the smell of smoke in the car all the time wasn’t so nice. It was really surreal feeling coming back from Lapland, where was still more than one meter of snow, to completely dry ground at home. Also in Enontekiö, located 200-300 km north from the Arctic Circle, the day was already longer than we have at home, the time of midnight sun is not so far away.

 

 

Skiing on Aakenus

This year I won’t be able to go skiing in Lapland before April so I thought I could write a little story about one the trips we made last year.  And with skiing I mean cross-country skiing not downhill.

Normally me and my family make a trip to Lapland during school skiing holiday in the beginning of March. Last year we went to skiing centre in Ylläs, Kolari. One day during our stay we made a trip to Aakenus fell. By us I mean me, my husband, son and my parents.

Aakenus is a part of Pallas-Ylläs National park and there are many skiing tracks in winter and hiking paths in summer time. We have been skiing there few times before but this time my son wanted to go all the way to the top. We left our car on the parking lot in Totovaara and started skiing from there.

The beginning of the track is easy and nice but as soon as you turn to the track that goes up to the fell the slope starts to rise steeply. For a while we climbed with our skis but when we saw from footprints that other people had also given up and taken their skis off and walked, me and my mom followed their example and walked also. Boys were more persistent and continued with their skis. Of course we walked on the side of the track so we wouldn’t make the track lumpy, although the snow in the track was so hard anyway that we hardly made any marks on it.

The afternoon was sunny and beautiful but climbing, even without the skis, was tough. Trees around the track looked amazing with all the snow on there branches. When we reached the tree line (after which trees don’t grow anymore) I started to wonder about the way back. We had to follow the same route back because it was already so late in the afternoon and we didn’t  have enough time to go round the whole circle before it will be dark. I’m not too good at downhill skiing and especially not with cross-country skis on a track that goes down really steep. I decided that was enough for me. I left my skis there and so did my mom. We walked little bit higher to see the beautiful views and then slowly walked back.

We didn’t have to wait for long after we reached our own skis when my husband, son and my father were skiing down the track. The way back went really fast even though the slope was still so steep we had to go like slalom from side to side on the track only few meters wide or otherwise the speed would have been too much. Fortunately the track was really quiet that day. Finally I made my way down and luckily without falling down but I still prefer easier tracks. My son wanted to go there again the next day, for him it was the best track ever. And the fact that my mom was a coward taking the skis off while he skied all the way down from the top made the track even more appealing for him.

Thinking about warmer weather

Not everyone loves these cold winter days (-26 degrees Celsius today) like we do, so lets make a trip to warmer autumn days.

August

Today -26 degrees Celsius

Last August my friend from Germany visited me in Finland and we spent five great days in Koli area in Northern Karelia. We rented a nice cottage from Loma Koli area which is about 10 kilometers from Koli national park.

First day we went hiking in the national park starting from the harbor of Koli. We walked up to the nature center, Ukko, and visited the highest points of Koli which give amazing view to Lake Pielinen. Koli is one of the 27 national landscapes in Finland. Those national landscapes are areas that were selected by the Ministry of Environment in 1992 to show places with cultural and environmental features that are part of Finnish identity.

Next day we made a car trip around the lake Pielinen visiting Nurmes church (the 5th biggest church in Finland), saw the house of Bomba and went to the second largest outdoor museum in Finland in Lieksa. The museum shows more than 70 buildings from different ages and from farmhouses to timber floating equipment.

During our short vacation we also went to a cruise on Lake Pielinen on hydrofoil vessel that was originally made in Soviet Union for military purpose. It was really fast. If you have long hair like me, remember to were a scarf or a hat. I didn’t…

We also visited a heritage farm in the national park and enjoyed some local food at the harbor restaurant. We were lucky to organize our trip during a perfect season to make a little trip every evening before sauna to the nearby forests to pick some blueberries. We had lots of vitamins in few days.

Before I had to say goodbye to my friend we made one last little trip to Patvinsuo national park in Lieksa, near the Russian borderline.  Patvinsuo consists mostly of wetlands, forests and few lakes. It is not very large national park but it is very wilderness-like. We walked on the beach by Lake Suomunjärvi and also a little path on wetland called Surkansuo. It was a really windy but sunny day and a great way to end our holiday. M.