Finding the Coordinates of Nature

In paid collaboration with - Ruka-Kuusamo Matkailu ry - Gateway to Land of National Parks -project

The coordinates of nature lead us to Ruka- Kuusamo at the beginning of this summer!

I have always thought that the key for a successful summer trip is a combination of rich nature, local food, fun activities and relaxation. Ruka-Kuusamo area is the perfect combination of these all, offering a great variety of services and activities regardless the season you decide to go for a visit.

Time of the visit: Mid June Weather: Sunny/Rainy/Cloudy Temperature: +12 - +15 Length of stay: 5 days

We started our trip cruising around Ruka with e-bikes.  The diverse repertory of trails allowed us to enjoy the beautiful landscapes around us.  We made our way to the top of the ski hill, which was fun with the e-bikes. For those who love biking, you may want to know that `Ruka Bike Park´ will be completely ready during autumn 2021.

More on the Bike Park here!

We continued enjoying Ruka-Kuusamo while fishing in the beautiful and peaceful Kuusinkiriver on a guided fly fishing tour. I had been wanting to visit this river for a while.

Our awesome guide Mika showed us around and it only took us a minute to land the first fish. It can be easy when you’re with a local professional! After fishing for a while, little rain shower forced us to come out of the water for a bit to to enjoy a quick lunch by the fire. Definitely a memorable experience!

More on Mika’s guiding services here!

After a fun day fishing we rushed to Isokenkäisten Klubi, where a nice gourmet meal was waiting for us. Our dinner was served in a traditional Lappish hut ”Kota”, where we got to enjoy local delicacies and some of their own secret recipes! I could have stolen their “carrot caviar” recipe… It was amazing! One of the most exciting food experiences I’ve ever had!

And of course, what would a day be without a sauna? Isokenkäisten Klubi is located by a lake, so it was super nice to take a dip after their wonderful smoke sauna!

More about Isokenkäisten Klubi

Overnight canoeing trip at Oulanka National Park was our next activity. 25 kilometers of diverse nature with unique forests and beautiful sandy shores provide a perfect setting for an amazing canoe trip. Kiutaköngäs-Jäkälämutka section of Oulankariver is good even for beginners and can be done in one day. However, we decided to divide the trip into two days and camp overnight in Nurmisaarenniemi in our tent.

Our adventure began with soft rain and ended with a beautiful foggy sunset. We were the only ones at Nurmisaarenniemi until the sunset and it was a good place to stay with designated place for a campfire with wood service. We woke up to a beautiful sunny morning and got to enjoy nice weather throughout the whole way out to Jäkälämutka.

Our canoes and transfer was organised by Rukapalvelu.

Last but not least, we decided to go for a morning hike to Konttainen. The hike takes about 15-25 minutes from the parking lot and gives you amazing views from the top. A few other of my favorite little day hikes in Ruka-Kuusamo area are Valtavaara, Pyhävaara and Riisitunturi.

Ruka has definitely fascinated us and we cannot wait go back soon!

Road trip to Norway - #Finntothewild

I had an empty slot in my calendar and I gave a call to my friend Konsta and asked him to join me on a road trip to Western Norway. Luckily he was also able to make it and we were set.

We started by taking the ferry from Turku to Stockholm. We spent the first night at our friends place in Stockholm and headed to Hamar the next day. In Hamar we were just in time to see the May 17th celebration which is the Norwegian Constitution Day. We watched the beautiful parade there and headed Northwest after the celebration.

It was time for the actual camping trip from there on. We had to turn around on the first day due to the amount of new snow on a mountain pass. It was just too much for our summer tires. We made it near Oppdal and set up our tent right next to a river, which was great! It's actually very easy to find good camping spots in Norway and they usually come with a pretty nice view!

The towns we visited were, Sunndalsøra, Åndalsnes, Ålesund, Geiranger, Stryn, Hemsedahl, Oslo and all the smaller towns in between.  The drive is very nice and the road goes mostly along the fjords or over the mountains, which I like a lot. Hours pass when you just enjoy the views.

Driving in Norway isn't free. Not only the gas price is pretty high, there is tolls and ferries along the way. We had to pay around 60€ for the tolls and 25€ for two ferries. It's definitely not a big amount, but good to remember when you are planning a road trip to Norway.

Gear:

We got some awesome gear to test out from a Finnish outdoor brand Halti.

Jacket and pants: We picked up some super lightweight pack-away jackets and pants named Pisara. They were perfect to the changing weather conditions we experienced. They kept us dry and protected from the rain and wind for the whole trip! Click here for more details.

Tent: We've actually broken a tent in the wind traveling in Norway, so we were happy to have a nice tunnel tent XPD Finland 3 from Halti with us. It is easy to setup and can withstand the weather conditions easily. I don't want to give it back to them anymore!

Sleeping bags and mattresses: We were pretty much Halti from head to toe. We had their sleeping bags and mattresses and I can say that good gear makes such a difference! Having lightweight and high quality gear will keep you smiling on your trips!

See some of the photos from our trip below!

- Daniel

Arctic Adventure

We have been camping in Scandinavia quite a few times during the summer and fall. This time we wanted to do something different and we called few of our friends to join us for this Arctic camping trip to Lofoten. The idea came when we wanted to see the mountains of Lofoten covered in the snow.

It was obvious that sleeping in a tent during the winter is totally different compared to nice and warm summer nights. We got equipped for this trip and our friends over at Bayerncar Oy offered us a nice BMW X5 that fit all of our gear for the drive to Norway. 

We headed up towards Kilpisjärvi for the first night. On the way we stopped by at our friends grocery store Jounin Kauppa in Ylläs. He was kind enough to offer us the food for the trip! We didn't quite make it all the way to Kilpisjärvi for the first night, but near Kaaresuvanto we found this awesome Laavu to sleep in.

The actual adventure started the next day and we didn't have to worry about the time any longer. We stopped once in a while for photos and cooked some nice meals with our camping cookers. We almost made it to the Lofoten Islands on the second day, but we decided to stop in Målselva for a dinner and enjoy the Northern lights. The day had been so long, that we decided to pull our tents out and stay there for the night.

On our third travel day we made our way finally to Lofoten and everyone got super excited. The weather changed drastically every fifteen minutes and we stopped the car almost as often, since everyone went crazy with their cameras. We made it to near Leknes, where we were based pretty much for the rest of the trip.

We drove around every day to different photo locations including Reine, Haukland and Uttakleiv. Even though the weather wasn't the best possible, we were able to capture some nice images.

Our best part of the trip for sure was our hike to Kvalvika beach. We went there with our tents and rest of the equipment as we wanted to spend the night there. The weather was crazy again, as it changed from huge snowstorm to sunshine and partial blue skies. We lit up a bonfire and kept it going as the sun went down. We enjoyed our time in this quiet and beautiful beach and it definitely gave us a nice ending for the whole adventure.

Here are some photos from the trip!