Day 3: Saariselkä

Although yesterday was quite a clear and sunny day, it started to get cloudier towards evening. I subscribe to an app every year which sends me notifications if the northern lights are visible outside, but I wasn't expecting that we'd have any luck yesterday. Around 10pm I was just contemplating getting ready for bed, when suddenly the app pinged me. The temperature had dropped to about minus 13 at this point and so it was very tempting not to put all our clothes back on and go outside again... but I'm glad that I did, because it turned out that the northern lights really were visible.

Wow!

This is supposed to be a year of strong aurora activity.

While, as ever, the lights are never quite as green in real life as they appear through the camera lens, they were strong enough to be clearly visible to the naked eye.

For a brief minute, there was a display of swirling, purple lights which the camera just about managed to capture.

Then for a while the entire sky was lit up.

It was so cool to see

We were very lucky with the northern lights last year as well, but I think these are definitely in the running for the best we've ever seen.

It was a very active display, and so we were able to watch the lights moving and dancing around.

I was very glad that I'd bothered to get dressed and go outside

After about 20 minutes or so, the lights began to fade and we went back inside to warm up.

When we woke up on Monday, the thermometer told us that it was minus 11 outside.

When it started to get bright around 10am, we set off through the village.

Our destination was the entrance to the Urho Kekkonen national park. It looked rather snowier than last time I was here.

(This is the teepee without snow)

The aim for today was to do a short walk, called the Aurorapolku.

In theory it's quite a simple walk, which starts by crossing a ski track.

The ski track had a new sign this year, warning people not to walk down it!

In practice, the first part of the walk was quite difficult today because the snow was quite compacted, making the downhill slopes rather slippery.

Once the path began leading uphill, it became a bit easier.

We walked up through the trees, which were really beautiful covered in snow.

There were some gorgeous colours of sunrise in the sky.

At the top of the uphill section I spotted a bench that I definitely recognised from the summer.

From there the path was downhill again, although not too steeply this time.

Every so often there were more glimpses of bright colours in the sky.

I may have taken quite a few scenic photos of trees!

Towards the end of the route there is a view of the Kaunispää hill, which we'll probably climb later this week.

Eventually the path emerged onto the main road into Saariselkä.

From there it was an easy stroll into the village...

...and back to the apartment to warm up for the afternoon