The Karhunkierros trail with Ally the folding canoe

Welcome!

Some notes about a hike I took with my friend Toni in the Karhunkierros trail,  Kuusamo, Finland.

I had wanted to purchase a folding canoe for a few years. When I finally had the chance to buy it, we had already planned a hike in the Karhunkierros trail. It’s made by an norwegian company Bergans of Norway and it’s called Ally.

So we hadn’t planned the hike in view of the folding canoe, but I wanted to take the canoe with us anyway. The biggest reason why I bought the canoe was to find out how it could be used during a hike. Finland has thousands of lakes, rivers and streams and I thought it would be a nice idea to skip from water to water with a light canoe.

We decided to start the hike from a village called Hautajärvi and utilize lakes and as many of the rivers that were streaming towards east as we could to move ahead. The biggest river in that area is River Oulankajoki and of course that would be a big part of our journey. 

The River Oulankajoki streams eventually to Russia. We could paddle close to the boarder zone, but from there on the map didn’t show any waters that we could really use. There is another river that joins the River Oulankajoki close to the boarder zone the River Kitkajoki but it also streams towards Russia. It seemed that we would have to carry the canoe for at least 10km.  So we were prepared to carry the canoe to a village called Juuma and from there after we would use lakes to get towards our finish line mountain Rukatunturi. 

Altogether the whole route would be about 85km. We calculated that our plan would be possible to accomplish if we would start on Sunday afternoon and finish on the next Saturday afternoon. So we had to be prepared for six nights outdoors.

21.9.2014

Before we could get started I had to get my stuff and myself from southern Finland to the city of Kajaani.

Me and the folding canoe got easily to Kajaani airport, but of course my backpack had gotten lost somewhere in Helsinki-Vantaa airport and it didn’t arrive with my flight.

A friendly airport official promised to do everything she could to get my backpack on the next flight. The flight was supposed to be in Kajaani at the same night so it wasn't too big of a setback. We got some extra time to catch up during lunch.

We were lucky as my backpack arrived with the evening flight. We decided to drive directly to mountain Rukatunturi although this meant that our adventure would begin around midnight in the village of Hautajärvi.

Soon it was dark.

We arrived at the mountain Rukatunturi and had to change to hiking gear at the parking lot.

Next we had to take a taxi to Hautajärvi.

Since the arrival of my backpack was delayed we hadn’t had the time to get our gear in order. As we arrived to Hautajärvi the logistic challenge became clear.

We got our gear to the first campfire site about 500 meters away from the parking lot and set up our tent to get some sleep. The night was beautiful with clear skies showing lots of stars. You could even see the Milky Way.

22.9.2014

At the break of dawn we finally had the chance to get our gear sorted. We also made some breakfast at the campfire.

The short walk that we did with all the gear the previous night made it clear that carrying all of it  would be the very last option. So the river streaming beside the campsite river Koutajoki was going to be our first paddling challenge.

We assembled the canoe.

The adventure began nicely on the river Koutajoki, although we had to make some stops to adjust the gear since neither of us had much paddling experience. I bought an carrying backpack for the canoe. It also works as an drysack, so we put the other backpack in it.

Lake Viksjärvi

After a while we arrived to river Savinajoki. Unfortunately the stream was too shallow to paddle, so we had to float the canoe.

Floating the canoe along the river was fun and exciting. Jumping around the rocks of the river bank made us feel like a child again. Of course we had to be careful not to fall in the ice cold water. It also took a lot of energy and after a while we got a bit tired and decided to make our first lunch on a campfire site along Perttumakoski rapids.

We wondered if we could drink the water straight from the river but then just decided to drink it and see what happens. Few hours and several sips later we didn't get sick or anything, so we took all drinking water from the river through out the adventure. The water in the streams of Oulanka national park are usually safe to drink but you should always seek streaming water and still there is always a small chance to get ill.

We continued along river the Savinajoki. We floated the canoe since the water was still too shallow. In some parts we had to carry the canoe as well. When the evening came we set up a camp in the forrest close to the Karhunkierros trail. As the night came the temperature went below freezing and our drinking water got frozen. While setting up the camp we heard a big twig brake and some movement in the forest. We waited for a hiker to show up but there was no one.

The name of the hiking trail, Karhunkierros, is formed of two finnish words karhu = bear and kierros = tour. There are a lot of bears in Finland and many in this area as well. We are not sure if the sound was made by one, but when you are tired, hungry and cold in the dark forrest you’d rather not hear these kind of sounds.

23.9.2014

In the morning we were in high spirits and made plans for the day.

Lingonberry

For the most parts the river Savinajoki was too shallow to paddle so we had to float and carry the canoe to lake Savilampi. Everytime we could paddle it was very nice.

The weather was changing all the time. Here we got the first snowfall.

Rupakivi

The weather conditions started really getting the better of us. We stopped to the nearest place possible on the river bank to make lunch. This is how it looked like. Getting to the lake Savilampi was actually really challenging. When you get tired you lose composure and you make mistakes. As we left this campsite we forgot to take the camera and its bag with us. It was left hanging right there where it is in the photo.

So we had to run back to get it.

At least it wasn’t cold anymore since after the run we had to carry the canoe along the trail. There were some big uphills. I hope Ally enjoyed the nice scenery.

Eventually we made it to the lake Savilampi and as a prize for the tough journey the sun started to shine. After paddling through the lake Savilampi we joined the river Oulankajoki for the first time.

We paddled to Taivalköngäs rapids. We thought that we would just stop for a while, eat something and then continue, but the sunlight was fading and the challenges of the day made us stay at the wilderness hut in Taivalköngäs. In the hut we met Annika. She was hiking the Karhunkierros trail by herself. 

In the middle of the night Toni heard noises from downstairs where Annika was sleeping. He thought that someone entered the hut late to stay overnight. In the morning Annika told us that bank voles kept her awake all night running around the gas cooker her backpack and even on her face searching for food.

24.9.2014

We had breakfast in the hut and continued our adventure. The Taivalköngäs rapids was a bit too much for us to handle so we carried Ally pass. There is a slide for passing the canoes by in the Taivalköngäs rapids. There was a mixture of snow and rain falling from the skies. The weather conditions were again interesting. Next planned stop was the Kiutaköngäs rapids.

The falling snow and water was too much for my jacket as its sleeves were outside the waterproof poncho. We had to stop so I could get my gear fixed. In conditions like this I should have had better rainwear. A dry suit was really what I was missing. It got really cold when paddling since you really didn't have to do that much to keep going.

After all it was easy to paddle from the Taivalköngäs rapids to the Kiutaköngäs rapids. We didn’t have to float or carry the canoe at all. At the Kiutaköngäs rapids there is a nature centre called Oulanka Visitor Centre. We stopped there to have lunch, hoping that the weather would get a bit better.

However, no changes in the weather seemed to be showing up so we continued. I bought a 4€ disposable rainjacket from the nature centre hoping it would help me to cope with the weather conditions. Despite the conditions the Kiutaköngäs rapids was an impressive sight.

There was no chance to paddle through the Kiutaköngäs rapids so we carried the canoe pass. Toni seemed to be ready for paddling again.

After the Kiutaköngäs rapids the River Oulankajoki offered a smooth and fast ride to the wilderness hut Ansakämppä where we decided to stay overnight. It had been raining all day. The temperature was just above freezing so it was raining water instead of snow.

In the hut we came across with Annika again. She had made it there before us. Although we made good progress paddling, every time we had to carry the canoe through lands it slowed us down significantly. Annika's hiking pace was also quite fast. After all day in the rain and on the river it was nice to get ourselves and our gear dry in the warm hut.

25.9.2014

The rain continued in the morning but, instead of water, this time it was snow. The mobile network coverage isn’t good in large areas inside the Oulanka national park, so Toni had to climb up a hill to update the weather forecast. It said it should stop snowing in a few hours, and it did, so we were on the move again.

Toni navigated through out the adventure and did a good job too. River Oulankajoki continued its powerful flow and it got us in a great mood. We progressed at a good pace towards the River Kitkajoki junction.

During the paddling we saw a lot of water birds. Most of all whooper swans which is the national bird of Finland.

There was no rain and in the afternoon the clouds started to scatter and it seemed that we could even get some sunshine. At times we stopped to the beautiful sandy river banks that have evolved around River Oulankajoki.

Everything was well, until I once again took the camera out of its bag and accidentally dropped it in the River Oulankajoki. Fortunately I got a hold of the strap attached to the camera and was able to pull it out of the water. As we all know electronic devices and water don't go well together. Neither did Toni’s camera. It started acting oddly. Sometimes it worked just fine but occasionally it didn’t switch on at all. Nevertheless, we were lucky enough to be able to get some photos after the accident too.

We had lunch in a campfire site called Alaniemi. From there we had a short paddle to the River Kitkajoki junction.

The last bit of the River Oulankajoki was like a giant water slide. The waters were quite shallow and crystal clear throughout the River Oulankajoki. We could see the riverbed with its stones under us and it felt like we were flying on it.

When we got to the River Kitkajoki junction we tried to paddle upstream but it was impossible and we pulled the canoe on the river bank.

Next we dismantled the canoe as ahead of us was the longest walk of the adventure and it wouldn’t have been wise to carry the canoe assembled. We had to solve the problem of carrying two backpacks and the canoe in its carrying sack. We basically had three backpacks to carry.

The terrain offered little consolation since it was filled with fallen tree trunks. After some consideration we decided to build a stretcher for the canoe sack. We tied together two thin pine trunks that we found.

As we were putting together the stretcher Annika appeared from the woods. We knew that she had planned to come to this same river junction but who would have guessed that we would arrive at the same time. Annika was supposed to wade to the other side of River Kitkajoki. The stream was too deep for wading and she would have had to swim over. Ally was already dismantled so we couldn’t help her either. We decided to continue the hike together. Annika helped us by carrying the paddles. We were en route again.

The terrain was quite challenging indeed. Lots of tree trunks and little hills to climb and descend. Because of the heavy burden we had to stop often to rest. The packed canoe sack weighs about 23kg alone. Our backpacks weighed around 15-20kg each. When you are far away from medical help you don’t want to take any chances.

The daylight was once again fading and the campfire site Talvitien mutka where we were heading to, wasn’t in our sights yet. It was becoming a struggle in both physical and mental ways. In the steep forrest slopes me and Toni fell several times under the burden and our shoes twisted and turned painfully in our feet. Then the darkness came but our struggle wasn’t over yet. We stopped in the middle of a swamp and checked our location from the map. We were going the right way. We had to put headlamps on to continue. Finally we made it to Talvitien mutka. We quickly made a campfire and ate supper. The night came with frost. We tried to keep the inside of the open shelter warm by hanging the tent canvas in front of the opening.

26.9.2014

The night had been really tough but in the morning we were all set for another challenging day. As the sun rose it shone upon us from clear sky and lifted our spirits. We continued with Annika towards the village of Juuma. From there on we would be able to paddle again.

We soon came across the official Karhunkierros trail but it didn’t help too much since the terrain remained challenging. After a lot of hills, tree trunks and little creeks that we had to pass we made it to another crossing where Annika headed towards the little Karhunkierros trail and we headed towards the village of Juuma. We thanked Annika for her contribution and parted.

We had to go on for a short while to get to lake Jyräväjärvi. There we ate lunch and after that it was a joy to assemble the canoe and paddle again. We crossed lake Jyräväjärvi and carried Ally pass the Niskakoski rapids. We came through the woods to Juuma’s camping area, where people were bathing and having a sauna, enjoying the friday night. There was a cafe in the camping area and fortunately it was open.

We bought something to eat and drink and just relaxed sitting on chairs and enjoying the warmth. You really start to appreciate small things like these after a few days of constant rain, cold weather and physical strain.

We even considered ending the adventure there. It was hard to leave the comfort of the cafe and the weather forecast showed rain and wind for the evening. We sat in the cafe and looked out the window towards lake Ala-Juumajärvi. Soon we realized that quitting was not an option. We prepared our gear for paddling and shoved the canoe in to the lake. Headwind was blowing and the waves occasionally had whitecaps on their tops.

The Lake Ala-Juumajärvi was one of the many lakes that would get us closer to the mountain Rukatunturi our goal. Paddling in the rivers had already taught us to balance the gear in the canoe. Paddling on open water was a new experience. High winds and waves tested Ally’s stability. Since the canoe is light it was an constant struggle to keep it steady and in a straight line. You really had to concentrate on paddling and sitting up straight.

The Lake Ala-Juumajärvi led us to the Lake Ylä-Juumajärvi from which we carried the canoe to lake Kuopunki. This was only a short transition from lake to lake. Although the conditions were tough we made good progress after a good break in the cafe.

In the west end of the lake Kuopunki we tried to paddle up a small creek but soon it proved to be impossible. We had to get ready to carry Ally again. On the map it didn’t look too bad and we were in high spirits. The terrain was quite tough filled with tree trunks, boulder fields and small scarps. I guess we were going a bit zigzag in the woods and eventually we had to stop to check our location on the map. We couldn’t understand why we didn’t find the road that should have been right in front of us. Finally we got to the road and stopped. We had to take a break. We had only progressed 500 meters. We were exhausted.

Since we operated on expert level the daylight was of course dying as well. We had to move on. We followed the road for a bit and then entered the woods again. Soon it was dark and we had to turn on our headlamps again. We tried to find a small creek that would lead us to lake Kuivajärvi.

We found the creek but it wasn't too much of a consolation. The exhaustion led me to believe that the canoe canvas would brake any minute in the creek filled with small twigs and rocks. I suggested that we would make a camp but Toni told me that we were on a swamp and therefore it wasn’t possible to camp. We had progressed 1km from the Lake Kuopunki.

We paddled up the creek dodging twigs below the surface and even over our heads. As it was predicted it started raining so we had to put on our rainwear. After a while we made it to the Lake Kuivajärvi. It was pitch black. The rain came pouring down and the warmth of the southern wind was the only consolation. Lake Kuivajärvi is throughout about one meter deep. There were tree trunks sticking out of the water and below the surface there was some kind of alga everywhere. We stirred it around when we paddled.

We tried to paddle as close to the shore as possible but it was still quite hard to navigate in the darkness. Eventually we made it across the Lake Kuivajärvi into a land strip separating the Lake Kuivajärvi from the Lake Ajakka. We quickly set up the tent to get away from the rain and wind.

Luckily we had two sandwiches that we had bought from the cafe. They tasted pretty damn good. "Quite a way to spend a friday night”, we thought and laughed before we crawled inside our sleeping bags. Unfortunately the wind and rain woke us up several times during the night.

27.9.2014

Even though the night was a bit restless in the morning we were excited to begin the last day of our adventure. To our amusement we realized that we had set up our camp just about 200 meters from the nearest cottage.

My 4€ rain jacket may have been the best purchase I’ve ever made.

We gathered our gear and carried the canoe to the Lake Ajakka. Wind was blowing from the south. For us it meant headwind and it was still pretty strong. On large open waters it was building up waves and paddling became labored.

We crossed the Lake Ajakka about 2km and hopped to lake Säkkilänjärvi. Crossing the Lake Säkkilänjärvi was about 3km of paddling and after that a hop to the Lake Taivallampi.

Toni with some lingonberries and a weird smile.

Lake Taivallampi crossed.

After the Lake Taivallampi we paddled to the Lake Ala-Kitka’s eastern end the Likoperä. The Likoperä means basically dirty end. And it was. The lakebed was muddy and shallow. As the paddles stirred the mud a foul stench rose from the water. Therefore, despite the fact that we were starving we decided not to cook from the water of Likoperä.

We had to carry the canoe over a road called Juumantie and after that we reached the Lake Kantojärvi. On the shore of the Lake Kantojärvi we cooked our last lunch of the adventure. There were a few reindeers wandering about as we were eating. They are quite common in this area of Finland.

A few years back in the Urho Kekkonen national park, which is in Finnish Lappland, there was an intimidating event including me, Toni and a horny reindeer buck. But that's another story.

After lunch we continued paddling in headwind and although we had just eaten and had our energy levels high we were struggling to make progress. When we had crossed the Lake Kantojärvi to its southern end we had a little trouble finding a small creek that would lead us to the Lake Purnujärvi. Finally we found it and luckily we were able to paddle almost all the way to the Lake Purnujärvi.

As we laid our eyes on the Lake Purnujärvi and the southern horizon, in the distance, to our surprise we could see the peak of the mountain Rukatunturi and the ski jumping tower that ascends near it.

The adventure was really coming to an end. We had realized that it wouldn’t be wise to continue any further than the southern end of the Lake Purnujärvi. It was already afternoon and going any further would force us to carry the canoe basically up the mountain Rukatunturi and it just didn’t seem like such a great idea.

Last location check from the map on the Lake Purnujärvi.

Finished!

We were left about 5km short of the original goal but it didn't feel like the adventure was cut short.

Expeditioners:

Ville ja Toni

Canoe:

Bergans of Norway - Ally 15'

Cameras:

Sony DSC-H10

iPhone 4S

Nokia 800

Nokia Lumia 820

Short canoe review:

The Ally canoe worked well. Even better than I expected. The materials are really good and can handle a lot. I think it’s safe to say that the conditions on our adventure were at least demanding. Considering the experienced conditions and the structural limitations of a portable canoe it worked brilliantly on streaming waters and on open lake waters.

Many thanks:

To Oulanka visitor centre and its helpful staff.
To Essi for assisting with the translation.

Special thanks to Annika!