Hiking in Finland

Climbing, bikepacking, skiing & packrafting in the north

Pirkan-Taival Trail Trip

We're back! The bus dropped us on Tuesday morning at 09.55 o'clock in Kuru, and we immediately started walking. The first kilometer was along the road, but after a idyllic lake it took a left turn and soon we were walking in the forest. The sun was shining, it was warm and the mosquitos and horseflies were glad we enhenced their day with our sweet blood - I forgot to take Off! with me. We reached the lean-to shelter at Löyttyjärvi after an hour of walking, and had a snack and a little break before we continued.

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On the road.

Hiking w/ Minna
First break.

Hiking w/ Minna
Follow the sign!

Hiking w/ Minna
Dragonfly.

Hiking w/ Minna
On the left our camp.

Hiking w/ Minna
The view from camp.

After another one and half hour walking we reached the lean-to shelter on Koukerinvuori, where we would stay for the night. As we got up rather early - summer holidays mean we get up later than the normal 0630 we get up the rest of the year - Minna had a nap while I was walking around, snapping photos and entertaining myself with some Terry Pratchett and collecting wood to burn in the Bush Buddy.

Hiking w/ Minna
Flowers on the path.

Hiking w/ Minna
The view of an ant.

Hiking w/ Minna
A yellow flower.

Talking, reading, observing the nature around us and taking it easy made the time pass by quickly. I cooked us a delicious dinner, and later made our nightcap before we went to sleep. We both were warm in the Sir Joseph Double Attack, although the bag is a bit to wide cut for us, it could be slimmer. Maybe a good opportunity to look for a more suitable bag. We slept long the following day - it rained during the night - and had a relaxed breakfast. We added some dried fruits and nuts to the müsli, which made it excellent, that will be come a staple food item on future trips. Around noon we started to walk back to Kuru. We decided to walk past by the road, and it was a good decision: heaps of forest strawberries were in one spot, which we eagerly collected!

Hiking w/ Minna
Forest strawberries, collected in less than five minutes! We filled it up till the rim at the next spot =)

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Idyllic, isn't it?

Hiking w/ Minna
Beautiful.

Hiking w/ Minna
Tiny.

We arrived at Kuru at three, and sat down for a cup of coffee and cake, did some food shopping for cooking at home and caught the bus which brought us safe home. Civilization had us back after a night in the wild, in which I learned that you can use the Bush Buddy also to empty the dry toilet of mosquitos if you put it in there for a while, with some moist wood to burning in it =) The BBU is really excellent, I like it even more than a real fire. It was a beautiful trip, and we might soon go again on another one!

Food (for Thought)

Tomorrow at 08.50 o'clock the girlfriend and me will take the bus to Kuru to walk part of the Pirkan-Taival Trail. Its gonna be an easy, relaxed walk, where she will be the boss if it comes to speed and breaks. I will carry the food, sleeping bags and mattresses, kitchen and so on, while she can take it easy and carry the snacks and her own water. While I was considering going with the Real Turmat food, we decided to go with my own cooking for this trip. We also just got her a Haglöfs Hail Q Jacket this morning, for rain and wind protection. Together with her Haglöfs pants she's now set and should be save if there's some rain.

Our Dinner will be curry rice with tuna and pineapple. Its quick and tasty, and costs significantly less than the 8€ one of the Real Turmat bags would have cost me. As a nightcap we take a hot Minttu cacao - Minttu is a delicious Finnish peppermint liqueur, and I saw in Alko that they had it in a small bottle so it is perfect for this trip.

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Dinner + Nightcap.

As snacks I bought us a variety of organic fruit bars, at 1€ a piece they're affordable and tasty. Two organic chocolate bars for some quick energy, as well as a bag of assorted nuts should keep us going. If we feel like something warm to drink, the good cappucino cacao will be the go to.

Food - snacks
Snacks for the day.

Breakfast will be organic müsli with milk powder, an apple - I can't continue to say how good apples are as trail food! - and another cup of cappucino cacao. I'll pre-mix the müsli and milk powder in zip-lock bags this evening, so I don't need to carry the cardboard boxes.

Food - breakfast
Breakfast.

We'll be back Wednesday evening, so you can expect a trip report one Thursday or Friday.

Day Tripping

Already a few weekends ago I went with the significant other for a day trip to the forests close to Tampere. We took a bus to the forest, and then walked for about three hours till it started raining and we took a bus back home. We saw plenty of squirrels in the forest, and the ridges and eskers made for a nice walk. I even made us a cup of cacao with the Bush Buddy, and the lady was mighty impressed =) Enjoy some photos of our day out together.

Walking w/ Minna

Walking w/ Minna

Walking w/ Minna

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Walking w/ Minna

I was able to convince her to go for an over-nighter with me, and so we will walk a part of the Pirkan Taival trail next week. It needs to be perfect - its her first backpacking trip - so I need to ensure

a) great scenery
b) easy walking
c) sufficient and good food
d) beautiful spot for the night

and of course good equipment and so on. I probably will give her my Haglöfs Tight Pro with some food and water, while I will carry everything else. I won a Sir Joseph Double Attack sleeping bag in a blogging contest in March, so we will be using that, coupled together, for sleeping, together with a Evazote and my TAR ProLite 4. Cooking will be with the BBU, and I was thinking of getting some Real Turmat food for the trip, cuz its fast and easy. If you got any tips on how to make the trip a excellent first experience, feel free to share them with me!