Day 6: Saariselkä

When we stepped outside the cabin this morning, we found that there had been a bit more fresh snowfall overnight. The pile of snow outside our door is getting increasingly big.

We're staying in such a beautiful location  

Our plan for today involved hiring snowshoes. We set off towards the main road in search of an equipment rental place.

As we walked we could see the row of buildings on top of the hill that we hadn't quite made it to the top of the other day. If we managed to rent snowshoes, we were hoping to make it all the way up today.

Renting snowshoes turned out to be very easy We found a rental place near to the supermarket and paid €15 each per day, which seemed very reasonable. Then we just had to figure out how to strap them onto our feet.

That always seems to be the hardest part of snowshoeing, but we got there in the end and were soon ready to set out on the trail.

The rental place had thrown in poles for free. I thought they would make walking easier but initially we found it hard work, as the path began to gradually climb up the hill.

We stopped for frequent breaks to catch our breath, but that wasn't a hardship with views like this.

Before too long the top of the hill was starting to look a little closer.

And I felt like I started to get into a better rhythm with my poles.

As we got higher the snow became deeper and the snowshoes became more useful.

It was somewhere around here that we had to turn back the other day.

As we climbed higher, I caught sight of some snowmobile riders on the horizon, which was pretty cool. There was a snowmobile track lower down that we'd crossed.

We continued to pass some amazing snow-covered trees.

This one was my absolute favourite.

I definitely wanted to have my photo taken with it  

There were some brilliant views of the surrounding countryside as well.

And the top of the hill really was starting to look very close indeed.

For the last part of the trail it was difficult to see where the path was in places. Luckily it was marked with bright blue poles, which we could just about see even though they too were covered with snow in places.

One final push and we made it to the top!

There was some sort of observation tower at the summit, plus a pile of parked snowmobiles.

There was also a rather frozen-looking aerial and a hotel.

And of course some more great views  

The hill is called Kaunispää and there's a ski lift up the other side of it.

Kaunispää is 437 metres high, so we had climbed up quite a way.

Apparently on a clear day you can see all the way to the Russian border from here  

Once we'd finished admiring the views, it was time to follow the sign back down to the village.

The walk down was a lot easier than the climb up  

It was still quite a long walk, though - today has been another 6 mile day. But it was great fun