Hiking in Urho Kekkonen National Park

13 Sep. 2006 Urho Kekkonen National Park



Finnish Lapland is pretty flat. There are not many trees in Urho Kekkonen National Park, because it is located beyond the trreeline. So, you might feel like being in the middle of nowhere, standing in yellowish bushes and grass with 360 degrees wide view.

My friend and I took 6km hiking path. The map we got showed that path like a little red circle. It was not detailed. We followed poles along the path. The path was through the woods first, but soon we came out to the plain. It was in the late afternoon, so we didn’t see any other hikers. There was a reindeer fence in the path, so we got over it to go further. Walking for about 1 and half hours, we became unsure if we were in the right direction.

“I feel like we are still going further, rather than getting closer to our accommodation, don’t you think?”
We were on the track, though, we were not sure on WHICH track. There were many courses in this area including overnight courses. If we were following to one of these long courses, we would be completely lost. So we decided to get the path back to the entrance, just in case we had taken the wrong one.

When we walked back on the track, someone came towards us in the fast pace. He looked like as if he was familiar with this area.
“Excuse us, are we on this 6 km course? We are not sure if we came the right way”, I asked him showing the course map.
“Well, I believe so, but actually I am not so sure either.” that guy answered.
Oh well, then, we should take the safer way. He said he would go further to see what happens, so we went on the opposite ways.

When we got back to the fence, we saw something over it. Is it…
A reindeer!

It looked a young boy with growing antlers. He wasn’t scared at all even he saw us. On the contrary, he was staring at us curiously.
Then other reindeer appeared. A flock of them.

My friend expected to see reindeer. Her wish came true. Good for her, and also me!

We kept on walking pretty excited, then we saw somebody coming towards us in the fast pace. Eh? He looks pretty familiar. Is that the same guy we have just seen?
“Hi again! That was the right way. I got back to the hotel sometime after I saw you two. I was wondering if you guys were OK, so I am coming here again”
Do you hear that? He is coming for us! It is so kind of him!
He said he came to Kiilopaa ,from Jyvaskyla, twice every year; in this time to hike, and in winter for cross country skiing. We walked back chatting.
“I haven’t seen any berries here. Is the season finished? I wanted to pick up some berries”
“No, no. They should be here still. Well, let me find them…See, here they are.”
I actually had looked for berries in bushes, but they were on the ground. That was why we didn’t notice.
“Here you are.”
He picked up some eatable berries for us. They were refreshingly sour.