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Clare
Clare

Day 4: Saariselkä

I was just getting ready to go to bed last night when I got another notification on my phone that the northern lights were visible. Tim had wet hair so wasn't able to go outside, but I threw my thermals on and went out for a look.

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It turned out to be worth the effort!

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The aurora activity was really strong last night and there were some incredible colours in the sky as a result.

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I couldn't believe the reds, pinks and purples I was seeing.

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The colours looked particularly impressive when I got away from the street lights a little bit and watched the lights over the trees.

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It looked a bit like they were shining down from a UFO :D 

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It felt pretty cold outside, so I didn't stay out for too long.

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When we got up and went outside this morning, I could see that the thermometer outside our apartment was indicating minus 18.

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The plan for today was to walk up the Kaunispää fell. We made our way to the starting point of the walk.

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This was another place which looked so different to how it had in the summer!

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In summer, there is a small lake here.

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In winter, there's no sign of a lake at all.

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The path leads uphill, but it's quite gentle to start.

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As we walked through the trees we could see that there was definitely more snow on them than last year.

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This is always a good walk for scenic tree photos; there are all sorts of different shapes and sizes :)

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After a while the path starts to follow alongside a cross-country ski run.

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Then it turns off and leads more steeply up the fell.

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On windy days, this part of the walk is pretty cold and exposed. Luckily, today was a calm day and so it didn't feel too bad at all.

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The trees here are quite exposed to the wind and it was clear that some of them had taken a bit of a beating.

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Now that we had gained some height, we could look down to Saariselkä and the forests beyond.

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It looked like some mist or low cloud was coming in over the village.

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Once we got a bit higher we could see the cloud more clearly...

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...and just a hint of sunrise in the distance.

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Today was definitely not as sunny as the past two days have been, and as we got closer to the top it was hard to tell where the sky ended and the snow began.

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Eventually we could see the distinctive weather station, which sits on top of the fell, appearing in the distance. We were nearly there.

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There's also a lovely restaurant on the top of the fell. 

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The building looked rather icy, compared to last time I saw it!

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When I was here in the summer, I climbed to the top of the observation tower.

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That also looked significantly colder today.

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We went into the restaurant and got a nice table by the window.

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Tim bought me a gluehwein, which was a great way to warm up...

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...and then we had burger and chips for lunch.

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Once we'd finished eating, it was time to leave the restaurant and start climbing back down the hill.

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We passed the big Saariselkä sign, which had a touch of what was probably now sunset appearing behind it.

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You can see that the snow is quite high when you look at a picture of it in summer.

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The view was quite misty as we made our way back down to ground level.

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I suspect we won't be seeing the northern lights tonight, but after the displays of the past two days I definitely can't complain :)

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