Day 9: Ahopää

It was another bright sunny day this morning... and another challenge to get €15 worth of value out of the breakfast buffet. No croissants today; just meatballs and Karelian pastries. In fairness, the meatballs are really delicious. They just feel like an unusual breakfast food.

Once I'd eaten as much as I could and collected my poles, I was off. The route I was following today was the Ahopää trail, marked with blue-topped poles. It started off in the same direction as the Luulampi trail I followed yesterday, which was marked with yellow poles.

That meant starting the day with quite a lot of walking uphill again.

But at least it was very scenic

Before too long I reached the reindeer fence. I'm getting quite good at climbing through these gates now!

I didn't immediately see any reindeer when I climbed through the fence, but I did see the white tower of the weather station on top of Kaunispää in the far distance.

And then I realised I could actually see two reindeer, they were just a long way away

I soon spotted another couple...

...and then the rest of the herd.

While I was admiring the reindeer, a Finnish hiker explained to me that we were definitely looking at Russia in the far distance.

He was a lot more excited about that than the reindeer.

Even after a week of seeing them, I am still quite excited about the reindeer

It was a gorgeous view though.

As I started the walk downhill towards the Luulampi pool, I spotted two more reindeer.

My attempts to get a selfie with them didn't really work (they're quite small in the background!)

They were really cool though

Before too long I was down at pond level.

I sat down at one of the campfire spots to have a drink...

...and realised I could see something.

I found the communal axe!

From this point the route diverged from the Luulampi trail I followed yesterday, with a nice wide trail leading through the woods.

I was glad that there was shade in places because it was turning into a really hot day.

I crossed over a river...

...walked through some more forest...

...and got to a place I recognised.

I'd made it to the Rumakuru gorge area, which I visited on Sunday.

On Sunday I'd walked here from the direction of Saariselk; today I'd approached from the opposite direction

I had lunch outside one of the huts. Didn't seem to be an axe here!

Then I went to see the gorge again

After the gorge, the route started going steeply uphill, back towards Kiilopää.

There were a few unexpectedly bridge-less rivers to cross on the way...

...but luckily not very much water and lots of stepping stones.

Then there was more uphill.

Lots more uphill!

It did result in some nice views though

I realised I could see the top of Kaunispää again. The weather station is a very good landmark.

Otherwise it was hard to know what direction I was looking in.

I was almost finished with the uphill by this point.

Once I got to the top I realised I could see another rocky gorge down below. It hasn't come out very well in photos; I didn't want to go too close to the edge!

It was quite impressive in real life, though. At the point where it came to an end there was a path where you could walk a little way into it.

It was very rocky!

After a bit more walking, my route intercepted the Poropolku trail which I'd attempted on Wednesday in the rain. It was so misty on Wednesday that there had been no views at all, but today the weather was a lot clearer and it was beautiful.