Odo: 285193
Location: Oulu, Finland

The last big city before the wilderness. The capital of the north they call themselves. I decided to stay a couple of days and use the powers of the mighty interwebs to spent some time in good company before going north. Just after arriving I met up with some couchsurfing folks. One told me that there’s a chance to see northern lights (aurora borealis) in the night so we went off to a nearby lake which also doubled up as a decent spot to spend the night for me.

Aurora Borealis. Thats how they look like. Thx to robin for the picture.

Sitting on the beach and sipping beer we waited and talked with some late night swimmers and came up with some fun facts about our home countries: Finland has approx 5 million inhabitants and an area of 338000 square kilometers. Germany has 80 million and approx 380000 square kilometers. So roughly 1/16th of population density. People are always amazed when I tell them that the west part of the Harz Mountains has 100 lakes. Finland has 188000 lakes. Not too bad at all. But the western Harz has the higher lake density with only 800 square kilometers.. Finland feels a little bit like the northern version of Australia.

After mocking us for trying to watch northern lights that early in the year the locals took off and some hours later we actually saw aurora borealis! This actually is quite uncommon but for some weird sun cycle reasons and solar witchcraft I arrived just at the right time of the 11 year sun cycle to watch fancy lights…

Pics or it didn’t happen? Alright, here you go… Thx to robin for this pic as well…

Before the trip I thought I won’t see any because I’m up here in the summer. Well, summer is actually at it’s end (it’s shorter in the north) and I’ll probably see plenty of northern lights. And have an indian summer like experience. And less mosquios. Not what I expected but appreciated non the less. Got to do some shopping for warmer clothing though.

Odo: 284725
Location: Pyhä-Häkki National Park / Finland

After the short (6.8km) late evening stroll (I started at 20:00) from yesterday I decided to stay another night and do the 17km track. It was really nice and since I had a late start around 15:00 as well I had the whole park for myself since the tourists started early in the morning.

The shack from yesterday in daylight

The lake in front of the shack

The actual shelter on the other side of the park. Elevated wooden floor for insulation, a fireplace in front for heating and a second fireplace for hanging out. Two height adjustable BBQs, wood storage on the left, outhouse on the right (not on the picture).

There’s not much to add to these pictures. The folks over here know what they’re doing outdoor wise. Can’t argue with that…

Swampy area

“some<2 trees

some moss I haven’t seen before

I will spent the next couple of days in Oulu, so there will be not too much hiking…

Odo: 284725
Location: Pyhä-Häkki National Park / Finland

In Germany all national park visits start with a sign of what is not allowed. No camping, no fires, no picking mushrooms or berries, no fishing, … They try to spoil the experience as good as they can so most people drive there, walk for a couple of hours and then drive back to their home/hotel. There are some small shelters against the rain sometimes which you can misuse for staying overnight.

Archive Picture: Typical Harz Mountains Shelter. No toilet, no fireplace and quite small. Quite an old picture. Who recognizes the two?

In Finland there are also signs at the park entrance, for example: Camping and fires are only allowed in the designated areas (see map just aside the sign), picking mushroom, berries is allowed throughout the park as well as fishing. The tracks are well marked and maintained, it is really difficult to get lost. I once did because a sign pointed in the wrong direction. I also really like their take on “designated area for fires”:

A fireplace, chopped wood, long pokes for roasting stuff, pans, kettles, salt, ...

Some additional wood on the back of the shack

And just in case you run out of wood, an additional hut full of wood.

The surroundings of the campsite are also nice...

A weirwood?