Travel

I'm off to Helsinki in May to visit the best man at my wedding as he now works there and I want to do a few days hiking either before or after Helsinki, but not too far away. There are plenty of treks in the north but I don't want to travel more than 2 - 3 hours as with the hotel I don't have much time. Any suggestions much appreciated. Cheers

 www.hotel-cauterets.com

Change of plan. Going for longer and off to do the Karhunkierros (Bear Ring) up by the arctic circle. Could be a bit wet as May is the time the snow melts and may end up like Chris McCandless (aka Alexender Supertramp in into the wild).

Should be fun though

Thanks Rod. There is some great information available and I am really looking forward to it. As I will be going during the week I'm sure there will be enough room in the huts for me. I may still take the tent though in case of snorers and amourous couples.

I've read that about half way there is a cafe and somewhere to stock up on food. Is that correct?

One more question Rod. Did you fly to Kuusamo? I am also thinking of going by train to Kemijarvi and maybe see a bit of the countryside on the way, even though it is 14 hrs and most probably a night train.

I actually live over here and was in the North at the time, so it wasn't too far by bus for me to kuusamo (now i live in the South ). The countryside here is great (if you like forests and lakes), but to be honest, after the first hour on a train you'll realise that forest pretty much looks the same no matter where it is on the train-line; you don't get to see much of anything else and there are no (or at least none that i have seen) sweeping vistas. The further you get into May the longer the days will be; by the beginning of June there was enough light to walk through the night.

There are also gas stoves at the huts (or at least most of them) so you really only need to take a back up stove and fuel (or not even that if you want to cook from an open fire).

Have fun.

Thanks Rod. I may let the plane take the strain and I do plan on cooking on an open fire whenever possible as nothing beats it. Looking forward to it as a friend of mine lives in Helsinki and apparently there is a restaurant with bear on the menu. 100 years ago Henry Russell served his guests bear ham on Vignemale so if the bear is available I will definitely give it a try.

Philip I found a site with info in swedish regarding the track you want to hike. As Rod mentioned he did the tour in june, and the page says that most certainly the track will be open from 1/6. But May is difficult. In Sweden the snowmobiles are allowed to run until end of april, (and this is so in Finland too I think) and if the weather is chilly it could mean skis or snowshoes would be the best way to hike the track. Better contact the locals, they may tell you more exactly.

But the good thing is that the mozzies will be nonexisting. They come btw around midsummer +- one week, and the peak period lasts about 3 weeks.

If you find a swede or a norwegian they could translate the page for you, or perhaps google does it too.

http://www.luontoon.fi/page.asp?Section=1802

Yippie, I found a way to the english page it is here http://www.luontoon.fi/page.asp?Section=7494

I've been in discussion with the Hautajarvi visitor centre and it is possible that in mid may there could be snow and ice or flooding (which is to be expected) snow and ice are no problem, but if there is flooding it's a different story as I don't fancy carrying waders or armbands.

Looking at a plan B just in case. I'm thinking of either North Karelia, a trek between pori and tampere www.reitti.org , or the peura trail. If anybody can advise on the best or better alternatives I would be very grateful. I still plan on the Karhunkierros but if it's flooded I'll change plan at the last minute

This bloke Hendrik has a really nice blog and may be able to help if you haven't seen his site already

http://hikinginfinland.blogspot.com/

Stuart, I came across this site a while back when first looking into Finland. Some good articles about gear etc. but I don't recall any info about trails in Finland or any forums as such. Did I miss something?

Back in one piece. Great hike but anybody who wants to do this do NOT do it in May. A lot of sections still had a metre of snow where other areas were dry and icy. The duck boards crossing the swamps were hidden so I got very wet at times. Of course I had to stay in Kuusamo the first night as the train even though it left on time arrived an hour and a half late so I missed 2 buses. Also at that time of year connections aren't great as it is after the ski season and before the summer hiking season. All in all though I would reccomend Finland. Great place for the outdoors, friendly and polite people and Helsinki is a great city.