Walking in Lapland Moitakaru

 

The second walk was again Michael, Katia and me, Mary and Kirsty flying in in the evening.

We drove to the start at the ski resort and set off eastwards.The ski resort without the snow is just not pretty.

The views across the valley were pleasant enough and an old twisted tree caught our attention.

We had a long discussion about the origin of the reddish coloured rock but decided that we just did not know.

Michael and Katia posed next to this magnificient dead tree.

Michael discussed routes with this cyclist, at the bus stop, who seemed more than interested and we saw him on later walks taking up the options outlined. We nicknamed the information boards bus stops for obvious reasons and because there were often people looking at them.

The views of small lakes and ponds through the trees was calming but the trail was a bit of a bike motorway.

We reached the husky safari centre just before Moitkaru lunch stop and the dogs watched us all the way past them. Some looked more like wolves than dogs. Katia sang as she walked past the dog pounds and they returned the compliment.

The lake next to the dog pound was beautiful but inaccessible.

We could see the lunch stop through the trees and people were already there so the fire should be lit and ready to grill. Passing over a small bridge 2 girls were filling water bottles to make their lunch time soup they said. The water really is very good but maybe boiling it is still worth the effort.

The grill fire pit was full when we arrived with several people grilling sausages. We sat down and prepared to do our own. We were talking about the dogs re-acting to Katia's singing and for some reason the conversation turned to tracheotomy which involved the actions of cutting the throat to complete the operation. We noticed that most of the people had left the grill not sure why.

For me an unusal sign was worth taking a picture of. The low normally wet land made a change to the forest.

Setting off back to the forest we passed a large anthill, one of many on all the trails.

We climbed Palopää and were rewarded with views of the Boreal Forest reaching to the hill tops in the distance towards Russia and the south. A nice hill to climb and a fantastic view.

Back down the hill through the forest to the fire hut at Palo-Ojan-Kota. We met with several people here and had our afternoon snack and finished the coffee.

This is where the oldest tree in Lapland is supposed to be. As we did not know where it was we missed it.

At this point we had walked a fair way and were tired but we still chose the high path towards Kaunispää hilltop.

We walked for miles through the forest and as the sun started to drop the trees were lit up with the late sunshine.

Because of the distance walked the hill was quite tough and the sinking sun behind the summit reminded us of how late it was getting.

From the top. Looking towards Russia acroass the Taiga.

Looking south towards Kiilopää

The top of a skilift.

Saariselkä in the twilight.

The summit from the way down the toboggan slope.

On the way down

Finally at the bottom just a short walk to the car a tired but happy trio.

Distance          14.5 miles

Time in motion 5.14 hours

Total Ascent        1300 ft

Quite a long walk and a good amount of climb although no part of the uphill was steep. Too far to do every day on this kind of trip but still enjoyed it.