Day 4: Rumakuru

Breakfast might have been sparse yesterday but it was going to be great today; while I was at the supermarket yesterday I picked up a supply of my favourite Finnish pastries. Tim might refer to these as "soil", but I love them  

I soon realised it was a much brighter, sunnier day than yesterday once I stepped outside and started walking through Saariselkä towards the national park.

I was quite excited today because I was trying a trail called Rumakuru, which it isn't possible to walk in winter.

My route started off the same as yesterday though, following the Aurora trail steeply uphill.

The first few kilometres were then along part of the Iisakkipää trail that I'd walked on yesterday. This is the easy bit that Tim and I normally snowshoe on in winter.

After a while the path began to go more uphill...

...and I had views out over the forests.

Before too long I'd reached the crossroads where I contrasted my winter and summer selfies yesterday.

From here the Rumakuru path goes in a different direction, so everything from here onwards was new territory

I had a go at taking a selfie and realised it was so sunny it was hard to keep my eyes open.

I've never needed sunglasses in Lapland before

Unfortunately the path was also a mountain biking route, so I did have to watch out for bikes coming up behind me. It looks very rocky for cycling here to me, but lots of people seem to be doing it.

The path continued uphill for a while...

...giving more great forest views.

Part of the path must be a skiing route in winter, because I realised that some of the info boards were giving skiing distances.

Eventually the path became wider, more like a gravel road.

This led to the Rumakuru hut, which is part of the Finnish national park version of tourist amenities. There were some sort of compost toilets here, plus several fireplaces for camp fires. I didn't see it here but I remember learning on a snowshoeing excursion once that some of these have communal axes so that people can chop firewood. Can't imagine that working out in the UK  

It was a nice place to pause for lunch anyway. Lots of mountain bikers were whizzing past without stopping, which seemed like a shame because there was supposed to be a sight worth seeing here. I turned off onto a narrower path...

...which led me to a view of the Rumakuru Gorge.

This steep, rocky gorge was formed by melting water during the last Ice Age.

The name "Rumakuru" apparently means "Ugly Gorge" in Finnish. It did look very dark and rocky, but the little pool in front was pretty  

Once I'd finished admiring the gorge, I re-joined the main path.

There were lots of little streams on the way back to Saariselkä and they had varying levels of bridge across them. This one was luckily more stable than it looked from a distance!

And the stream was pretty  

I was considering turning around and going back the way I'd come when I saw the log across this one  

Luckily I then realised that there were enough stepping stones to get across without getting your feet wet.

The final stream had a much more impressive bridge!

Once I'd successfully crossed all streams, the path opened up into a wider forest road. The mountain bikers went fast on this one!

Before too long I was back in the vicinity of Saariselkä...

...and discovering new lakes.

Also discovering more reindeer!

I am the only person who seems to find the reindeer remotely interesting - I guess it's like going to Wales and photographing sheep - but I am amazed every time I see one casually wandering around.

And once I got back to the apartment I saw a few more wandering past.

Overall it was a lovely walk today and really cool to be able to see somewhere that isn't accessible in winter