Hiking in Teijon National Park

In Teijon National Park I decided to have a visit to the nature house (luontotupa) and from there to hike a little along the shores of Matildanjärvi. On the map below you can see this lake right in the middle. If you look just south of the lake you find the location of the luontotupa, but it is also linked on the bottom of this post. The hike of which I show you pictures here in this blog entry is the circular trail that circles around the word ‘luontotupa’. It is a little more than 2 km long.

This is the information center of Teijon National Park. We start to hike from here eastwards along the Matildanjärvi.

There are many nice views of the lake. Autumn weather made it a quiet and relaxing hike.

There are many of these ups and downs along the trail. I found them sometimes a little tiring (in a positive meaning) and they make the hike interesting.

I was really amazed to see that there is even infrastructure for those fishing men that want to smoke their catch right here at the lake. There are several smokers along the shore.

Roosinniemi is a small peninsula about where we have to leave the lake. You will find a bbq place and a laavu there.

Another ‘down’ along the trail.

Along the trail I found it remarkable how many different types of mushrooms are growing here in Teijon National Park. They look really nice and forms vary pretty much.

At some point we have to leave the lake and follow the trail through the forest. Also here it is remarkably nice. There are duckboards for an easier hiking.

Unfortunately the last part is on a forest path. But if you keep your eyes open…

… you can see houses made for particular kind of birds, squirrels or bats. You can see it by the different openings. Depending on their shape, they only allow specific animals to enter.

-> The official page of Teijon National Park

Korpinkierros in Nuuksio National Park

Korpinkierros with its 7 km circulates in the southwest of Nuuksio National Park and is marked with a yellow sign. As you can see on the map the trail leads through forests and along lakes.

-> The official page of Nuuksio National Park

Punarinnan Kierros in Nuuksio National Park

My second featured trail in Nuuksio National Park is the Punarinnan Kierros. As you can see it is quite short with its 2 km and declared as an easy trail. If you are in the park with younger kids, this is a good option to bring them in touch with nature. They will become those who take care of the nature in future. It can not be too early to start showing them the value of it…

I hope you enjoy the trail as I did. On the photos you can see that it is a comfortable trail. Have fun!

-> The official page of Nuuksio National Park

Haukankierros in Nuuksio National Park

In Nuuksio National Park just outside of Espoo there are very fine hiking options. Four different hikes of moderate length are featured by signs. During my visit to the park I managed to make all of them and here I want to show yout one of them, the Haukankierros (Hawk’s Trail) with its 4 km in length. As you can see on the sign, it has some ups and downs giving you the chance to have views over the surrounding forest. I really like the park as it combines so many different features of the parks around southern Finland, but still has its own characteristics.

If you are in Helsinki or Espoo for only a short time, you should take the chance to come here and do some hiking, check out the Hawk’s Trail…

-> The official page of Nuuksio National Park

Nuuksio National Park

Well, it was the last full day before I had to be at the ferry in Helsinki for the long trip back to Germany. 30 hours on the ferry meant I had to hike to move my body before being ‘trapped’ on it. So I picked Nuuksio Nationalpark as it is pretty convenient to be already in Espoo, which is just outside of Helsinki. My expectations were not really high to find beautiful spots so very close to Finlands capital, but I gave it a try. I arrived in Nuuksio late in the evening and decided to stay sleeping in my car to be close by in the early morning. My ferry left in the evening, so much time to explore the park next day before leaving the country. Right with arrival I noticed that city, traffic and noise seems something far from the park. Here it was calm nice and beautiful. A great place to be. Only the density of services like benches, bbq places was much higher, the trails a little wider, a sign that the city folks come here during weekends. But for me it was really fine.

Signs showed me that there are three featured circular trails. After almost three weeks of hiking I decided to make them all that day. Time was enough. So I had a cosy sleep and the next morning prepared myself after breakfast for my hike.

As usual my first visit was to the visitor center. Here it is always very easy to find good information about the park, its nature and fauna. Also they sell nice souvenirs. As you might have noticed, there is a strange grey rat on the logo. But in fact it is the very cute little Siberian Flying Squirrel which roams in the parks environment. I didn’t know before investigating my trip that in Europe animals like that exist…. travelling educates…

Let me put my hikes in seperate blog entries, here some general images of the park…

This is the Visitor Center, go inside!

Inside you can get a lot of information.

The ranger said that this tree is the most photographed one in the whole park 🙂

Late August / September is mushroom time… also in Nuuksio National Park. Here we are in a protected area, so leave them, especially the ones on the photo. They are poisoned!

Bumble bees do their work also in Finland.

Forest with Nordic moss.

-> The official page of Nuuksio National Park

Lakeview at Onkimaanjärvi

Some views from the shore of Onkimaanjärvi taken during my overnight stay. If  wind is calm you will have splendid reflections and if the sun is going down the light onto the other side is amazing. Here a choice of photos…

-> Official page of Liesjärvi Nationalpark

Staying overnight at Onkimaanjärvi

On my way south towards the ferry I made a visit to Liesjärvi National Park. Here I made the decision to find a nice place in nature to stay overnight. Hotels would have been a longer drive, so the decision came to find the Laavu at the shore of Onkimaanjärvi about 15 km inside the forest. My idea was to have a nice secure place where I wouldn’t be disturbed by anyone during the night.

So after diner I first enjoyed the views of the lake shore with very beautiful colors and the perfect light conditions. Then slowly night fell and it was time to go for a sleep. Everything was already prepared. Almost asleep I suddenly heard a car. I felt it was quite creepy to hear someone coming 15 km into the nowhere at 11pm in full darkness. Well, so I waited and suddenly could hear the noise of someone coming down the trail towards the Laavu. It was a relieve to see that it was someone who had to bring his dog out for a puu. He was not too asure about the situation himself as he didnt expect someone here aswell and got a little suprised to see my car with a german numberplate. He saw the Laavu on a map some time before and was curious about it.

We talked for at least half an hour then he had to continue as the dog was bored and it was time for him. It took me some time still to calm down and then planned to sleep tight. Maybe two hours later I woke up by some very intense cracking of wood. Using my headlamp I could not see anything. I never found out if it was a deer, moose or some predator, but I am sure size was minimum a deer. Well, I decided now to light the campfire and continued my rest. I can tell I did not really sleep much that night, but it was a very intense experience that I do not want to miss.

Here some impressions…

The colors of autumn together with the perfect light and beautiful reflections.

Preparing the wash water in the morning. If I hate something then it is to wash myself with cold water.

Coffee in the morning is an essential part of my life, especially while camping.

The Laavu in case you have not seen it in the other blog post.

Let me just remind you to keep the experience of nature anywhere in the world alive for the future, so take the short time to keep everything clean after you! Even if there is something not from you, pick it up and put it where it belongs. Nature is luxury that everyone owns. Do not throw it away!

-> Official page of Liesjärvi Nationalpark