After a very nice first day exploring the area near Rovaniemi, in our second day we drove to the Southeast part of Lapland, to Oulanka National Park, close to the border with Russia.
This part of the country was traditionally Sami, until it became part of Finland around the 17th century. The National Park is a unique landscape, with boreal pine forest covering the park and rivers crossing it, forming beautiful gorges, sandy banks and rapids on its way. It’s also a wildlife haven, in warmer months it’s possible to see brown bears, lynxes and wolverines, as well as many rare bird species (we didn’t see any, of course, as in March the bears are still hibernating and the other animals are endangered and shy… specially in such a quiet place!!).
One of the main reasons why we decided to make this little detour on our trip from Rovaniemi to Inari was the rivers in this park. They have a lot of rapids, and this is one of the reasons why they don’t freeze during winter. That’s a very strange thing in a part of the world where all lakes and rivers freeze for months. The view is so different that it made the trip totally worth it!
Following the recommendations of our host that day, we divided the day in two hikes. The first one was close to the main visitor office in Oulanka National Park. We did a small hike to see the Kiutaköngäs falls. This route was considerably short, but between photos and the snow, it took us some time. We walked across the beautiful pine forest and along some small frozen lakes until we reached the little red canyon where the Kiutaköngäs falls are located. Again, we were almost alone in the forest. There was no sight of life, except for a few footprints of foxes and reindeer on the fresh snow. And the same deep silence accompanied us during the whole hike. It was so deep that we could hear the water flowing from afar before we could actually see the river and the waterfall. When we finally reached it, we enjoyed exploring the surroundings of the river. Seeing the water moving and the noise was quite a contrast with the quietness and silence we experienced the day before.
From Oulanka National Park, we drove to Juuma, where we were going to spend the night at a house at the shore of Juumajärvi, a frozen lake. There we did part of the Pieni Karhunkierros, literally the small Bear trail (there’s a longer Karhunkierros trail, 80km long, but we though it was way too long for us and probably a better option for the warmer months in Lapland). I loved this trail. The path follows the river, which runs in a small gorge and forms a lot of rapids and small beaches. Of course, we couldn’t see the beaches, but I loved the deep blue river contrasting with the snow, and the sound of the rapids and small waterfalls. We crossed hanging bridges and saw cute little cabins in our way… And when we where ending the trail, a sound surprised us. Kuukkeli!! Siberian jays! Some of these rare and beautiful birds appeared above us and started singing… Such a beautiful moment after all that silence during two days!! And after two very cloudy days, the sky started to clear a bit and we could enjoy a bit of color in the sky at sunset before it started to snow again…
Here are some photos I took that day. I hope you like them!
Road to Oulanka. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 70mm f/5 1/1250sec. ISO400
Boreal forest. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 70mm f/11 1/160sec. ISO400
Kiutaköngäs . Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 24mm f/11 1/250sec. ISO200
Kiutaköngäs . Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 24mm f/11 1/125sec. ISO200
Oulanka National Park. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 70mm f/10 1/100sec. ISO100
Red cabin. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 44mm f/10 1/80sec. ISO100
Hanging bridge in Pieni Karhunkierros. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 45mm f/10 1/160sec. ISO100
Cabin by the river. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 24mm f/10 1/160sec. ISO100
Blue river. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 24mm f/22 1/10sec. ISO100
Tranquility. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 24mm f/11 1/400sec. ISO100
Blue rapids. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 400mm f/5.6 1/400sec. ISO200
The blue river. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 24mm f/11 1/200sec. ISO100
The refuge. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 50mm f/11 1/200sec. ISO100
Sunset in Pieni Karhunkierros. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 24mm f/11 1/50sec. ISO100
Sunset in pieni karhunkierros II. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 24mm f/11 1/30sec. ISO400
The ”Tranquility” shot is my favorite. Although when I look more carefully it looks a bit scary for the cabin-dwellers – the cold water is so close!
Thanks a million, Snow!! Happy you like it! The view when I took this photo was so calming and relaxing. There’s a nearby waterfall, but was all covered with a huge layer of ice… so the water was just flowing calming at this part of the river. Actually, it looked more like a little pond or lake than a river!! The cabin is one of the refuges in Oulanka… it even has a stair so you can swim in this part of the river. I don’t think this part is very dangerous or the water gets very high in spring/summer… Although I’ve never swum in rivers and I’ve always heard that it can be pretty dangerous even if the water looks calm!
Beautiful images, and a great hike. Thanks for taking us along. I especially liked the pictures of the cabin so near the river.
Thanks a mil, Anne!! These are definitely some of my favorite photos from the trip! But every day was so different up there that I can’t choose just one photo, hehehe, you’ll see!
Ah, the little cabins in Juuma. Don’t they look amazing? Just there, by the blue river… I was surprised to discover that most of those cabins were refuges for hikes that can use them for free! And they were pretty well equipped, considering that! Even if I’m not a bit fan of camping (I’ve never done it, but I know myself and I know that I could’t even sleep in a tend if I try), I see these cabins and I dream with beautiful autumn days in these forests, watching the sunset by the river before sleeping in one of those cabins….
What a beautiful landscape Mer, so artfully captured by you. Those pink skies from the sunset are so dreamy. And I love the little cabin by the blue river but that river looks like a raging one!! I would be afraid he he he. But the red little cabin looks like the perfect place to escape for a couple of days. Love the photo of the hanging wooden bridge all snowed, so beautiful! Again thank you for the trip to Lapland
Thanks a mil, B! The photos from this day are some of my favorite from Lapland! (well, technically, not all of them were taken in Lapland, but in other province of Finland… hahaha, Isaac wanted me to mention that). The day we arrived we say a beautiful sunset, but after that, all was grey skies… until this day! And the blue river added so much noise and color to the landscape… I knew I was going to like this Natural Park, because it’s so different to what we saw in the rest of Lapland! Btw, apparently the river attracts a lot of people for its rapids in summer, when they can do rafting 🙂 it must be pretty fun!
And the red cabin… imagine, it’s at the edge of the forest, it has a lake in front and a Finnish sauna by the lake…. how idyllic does it sound?? 🙂