Late Summer and Early Winter – Hiking through the Pöyrisjärvi Wilderness Area

Two people sitting next two camp fire, with nothern lights in the background
Campfire and northern lights

I strongly felt the urge to go for a hike a couple of weeks ago, so I decided, as so often in the past years, to hike in – or actually through the Pöyrisjärvi wilderness area. Once again. With a friend we enjoyed a wonderful hike, including the last summerly days of this year, as well as the first snowfall, which delighted us toward the end of our hike. We started in Hetta, came by Pöyrisjärvi, and ended our hike in Kalmkaltio, in the east of the Pöyrisjärvi wilderness area. Continue reading “Late Summer and Early Winter – Hiking through the Pöyrisjärvi Wilderness Area”

Between Arctic Sand Dunes and Colorful Autumn Vegetation – Ruska in Pöyrisjärvi Wilderness Area

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Kalmakaltio
Scenery in Kalmakaltio

When I joined some friends for the hike from Pallas to Hetta, ruska (the Finnish word for autumn) just started in Lapland, and the first trees changed their colors. I took note of that fact with lots of satisfaction, as in the first half of September a long planned hiking trip through the Pöyrisjärvi wilderness area was laying just ahead of me. Or actually of us, as we were a group of 4 people all together, who jointly wanted to walk from Kalmakaltio (via Pöyrisjärvi) to Hetta. Approximately 150 km on foot, Continue reading “Between Arctic Sand Dunes and Colorful Autumn Vegetation – Ruska in Pöyrisjärvi Wilderness Area”

Skiing in Käsivarsi Wilderness Area – Exploring the Surroundings of Kilpisjärvi

Käsivarsi Wilderness Area - near Kilpisjärvi
Mountain range close to Kilpisjärvi, in Käsivarsi wilderness area

In April I kind of felt like needing some mountains around me, especially because I really wanted to go skiing. Alpine Skiing! Rovaniemi and its surroundings is really great for cross country, but suffers from a total absence of mountains – like Finland in general (I’d say, even if not everybody agrees). However, close to the Norwegian border, in the very North-West of Finland, there are some (the native Austrian would say: almost) mountains, that looked inviting for skiing when I passed by there in January, on my way to Tromsø.

So it was pretty easy to make a decision. Continue reading “Skiing in Käsivarsi Wilderness Area – Exploring the Surroundings of Kilpisjärvi”

Hiking in the Khibiny and Lovozero Mountains (Russian Lapland)

Khibiny MountainsMy friend Andi and me made a long planned hiking trip into the Khibiny mountains, on the Kola peninsula in summer. For me it was the first part of an almost three months lasting trip. First we went by train to Moscow to visit a friend before we went on by train to Apatity, from where we took a taxi to Kirovsk, visiting another friend for a few days. We used this time there to get some better maps for the region, since there are no marked trails Continue reading “Hiking in the Khibiny and Lovozero Mountains (Russian Lapland)”

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