Midsummer(...winter) in Lapland

It all started with us not finding any summer cottage to spend our Midsummer holidays at. Okay, we might have tried to hint to our coworkers (and everyone else) that such was the case. For all of you non-Finnish readers (hello Kiki! maybe?) Midsummer in Finland is like Thanksgiving in the States. Sometimes it’s almost as cold as Thanksgiving too.

I don't know who this is - keeps crushing at my home and work 

In total despair of having to spend our holidays looking straight at the front door of our dear little health care center we decided to do a hike at Pallas-Ylläs nature reservation area. Ylläs is a ”tunturi”, a 718m fjeld our mountain, and one of the highest ones in Finland. It’s also an absolute favorite winter location of my (Miksu) family since years past.

Hanna and her brand new hiking back pack all the way from Helsinki

Our only defeat was finding out it’d be as cold as -2C during the night, lots of wet snow during the day and a rain season of 12h during our longest hiking day. Of course, as we say in Finland, there’s no bad weather, only bad gear.

My faithful Nike's 

We were also happy and blessed to find out that our friend’s family had been hiking at Halti (another high hill/mountain) before us and let us spend our first night on their cottage couch at Ylläs. Early Friday morning after a breakfast in cheerful company we started our 60k hike from the quiet quiet tourist attraction of Olos. Our first meal came at 8k by a freezing wilderness cottage where we tried to remind ourselves that it’s summer, it’s summer, not winter.

Mmm - Finnish Summer

The second part of our first day’s hike involved us finding out that they’re not joking when telling people the trails are wet in June. Good part was, we got ourselves some clean shoes and feet, and a free foot bath. Reminding each other it’s Midsummer’s Eve was almost funny until it looked like Christmas was here. Though I do think there's a possibility we're painfully stubborn and Finnish and quietly enjoyed every part of it.

"I made a promise Mr Frodo, a promise, don't you leave him Samvais Gamgi. And I don't mean to, I don't mean to"

I like to think of myself as fashionable - when swamp areas still made us smile

Our first night was spent in the cutest and most welcoming cottage I’ve seen. (My feelings might have been affected by the Amazon river flooding in my shoes) A small curiosa - ”Don’t touch nature” was our motto until the 15th cockroach came out from the cealing.

Pahtavaara wilderness cottage

Bible and map reading - finding our way in life and nature

Our 2nd day of hiking turned out to be one big surprise where a promise of continual rain turned out to be perfect hiking weather. A little cool not to make us sweaty, but enough to provide a fresh breeze. I personally think our two best decisions of the hike were deciding to climb ”a hill” turning out to be ”Kukastunturi” (Kukasfjeld/mountain) and extending our hike with one day to diss our night in a tent on a camping area.

Mini-Hanski on her peeing place with a view (or "maisemapissa" in Finnish)

My roomie, colleagues, sister and friend

Endless views

Kesänkitunturi - I think 

I wish I could take you all there. It needs to be experienced,

Instead we slept in a wooden wilderness teepee facing three different fjelds/mountains (Kukastunturi, Kesänkitunturi, Lainiotunturi). We also enjoyed a Finnish midsummer bath washing ourselves with water heated up on a campfire facing mountains, a swamp area and forests. And no people anywhere, of course.

Drying our shoes and cooking bathing water - only in Finland

Our teepee is on the left. Kesänki and Lainiotunturi behind the trees.

Our third morning was the best one yet during this summer. (No sarcasm, at all) We woke up at 4.30am, when other hikers arrived at the teepee, left at 5.00am and half run our last 13km. All this only to be able to put our pretty Midsummer dresses on, do a truck drivers bath in a toilet and enjoy a big hotel brunch at 7.30am.

When we started our drive back to Rovaniemi and a day of city shopping we took a quick halt on the road and took a final climb up the hill to take one last look over Finnish nature at its best.

Views from Ylläs

I was joined by an old monkey - good thing my bananas were gone