My Northern Home

Nuolikuru, Lapland The general powerlessness, which had been the theme for my autumn days, was again giving me "good" advices to just stay home and not see anybody. Or was it our government's voice? Sometimes I'm not sure anymore. Luckily for me I had promised to go for a day adventure to Nuolikuru canyon ( Arrow Canyon ) with my dear French Friend. We start to drive when it was still dark and arrived to the canyon just when the darkness start to give away for the daylight. The air was cold and I felt little bit chilly. The autumn weather had staid mild and there had not been proper frozen days yet. But the snow had finally come back after a month of absence. Hopefully for good this time. Everything looked so much more brighter and lighter with the snow. We both could feel our minds and bodies growing more lighter and relaxed the minute we entered to the forest. The pure joy of the fresh snow took us over. We climbed on the rocks, slide down the hill sides on our but...

 The plan was to go for a hike. And maybe spot some new rocks to climb. And have a picnic on top of the hill, of course. As it is the harvest time in forest and berries and mushrooms are ready to pick, I packed a fabric bag and my mushroom knife, just in case we would find some. Little did we know. The warm rains had made it. The forest was full of mushrooms. And I'm not exaggerating. Like really Full Of Them. First we picked what we found, but the amount of mushrooms was so overwhelming, that in a while we grew more selective. It was hard to decide which to pick and to what direction to go for them. Eventually, the mushroom mania hit us. We end up wondering around the hill sides for five hours. This of course included long and nice picnic on the top, including, among others, carrot cake muffins and home made pizza slices. In that moment life felt just perfect. We have saying in Finland "tulee kuin sieniä sateella" Meaning, that something will "come as mushrooms in t...

Sodankylä, June 2020 I was waiting for it many days. In the news they promised it would come. I almost lost my hope. But then, the spring flood finally started. It was a time for a flood adventure I have always loved to experience the power of the nature. And the running water is one of the most powerful ones. It will make it's way. Where ever it want's to go. Now it didn't fit anymore in the riverbed. And started to take over the forests and fields around it. And houses of those wanting to live (too) near the river. With our bicycles we went to look for the familiar places around our city, now taken over by the rivers Jeesiö and Kitinen. It was exciting to cycle in the water. Feeling how the strong stream tried to catch our tires. Wanting to takes us with it. At some point the water went so deep That it was hard to cycle fast enough to avoid falling down. And my fatbike tires actually started to float like a pontoons. Finally, but not surprisingly, we end up swimming in th...

In these times of isolation and uncertainty, the social contacts we can have, come more valuable. I feel, that one can't survive without any. Sure you can phone your sister the other end of the country, or Whatsapp your friends around the globe. But it can't give the same, as a shared cup of tea. As many other, I have minimized my social contacts. And I have come more grateful for them. And for, that it is still possible for us to go outside to share that cup of tea. And laugh away all the agony of the world situation. This time me and my most dear French friend went to explore Hirviäkuru canyon at Pittiövaara hill. I have been here many times (here is the link to my previous adventure in this place) , as the place is literally on my backyard, but still this was my first time down in the canyon at winter time. The snow cover made everything look totally different. We wondered everything around us. T...

Pyhä-Nattanen or Nattaset is a place that has been on my to-do list for a long time. Now, finally, with a little push from my friend, we went to explore the fells. It is impossible to not have heard about the place, as in Some looks like everybody has been there. This was obviously for me a reason to go there at off-season, as I don't want to be there with everybody else. First time I came across with the place in Samuli Paulaharju's book about Sompio wilderness area history (Sompio, 1939) . He is writing that Sompio is an area between two Pyhä. I knew the southern Pyhä as I had lived there for four years, but I was curious about this other Pyhä. What is it? Where is it? So we hopped in my car and started to drive north from Sodankylä. We knew that the place should be some kilometers away, but still in Sodankylä commune. As we drive more and more north and 100 km and a bit more than one ...