So I finally put one of my adventure dreams into practice. An over-night hiking trip in finnish nature. I made the trip with my cousin. She is a real backwoods(wo)man and was at least as excited of this trip as I was. We decided to go to Koli National park and do Herajärvi trail. We had this image in our heads where we would walk a little, make the camp, I would take some pictures and she would check some odd plants from her book.
Well, it wasn’t just like that. We learned that 10km in nature full of hills is a big deal. We also learned that 1km in that terrain may take over an hour. However, we had the best time.
I had my brand new hiking shoes on and was lucky to not get any major abrasions. Only some little ones on my toes. In both evenings it was quite a victory to see the campground… and just in time before the dark. On the first night our final leg went on duckboards through a swamp. I got so excited to see the campground that my foot slipped and I fell. Fortunately I only got some minor bruises on my wrist.
Our just-add-water-pasta tasted super good in both evenings.
First night we slept in a tent and the second one in this lean-to.
We also made an extra trip by car to see this cave system called Pirunkirkko. Totally worth going!
For the third night we had booked a room in Break Sokos hotel Koli. We got to wash ourselves in Koli relax spa, make facial treatment in aromatic sauna, have some champagne in a hot tub and still look at that breathtaking view. No pics from there, just relaxing!
I enjoyed every minute of that long weekend. Even those sweaty ones upwards the hills.
On One Wheel 