Lemmenjoki national park

My plan was to hike the summer hiking trail which you can find on the luontoon.fi site. The trail would have been 49.2 kilometers and I was going to walk it in 2.5 days. Maybe little bit ambitious. But I don´t know how ambitious it was, because on the second hiking day my knee started to hurt so much that it was difficult to even move it. So I had to stop my hiking trip there. Here is short story of the hiking that I did.

Day 1

I started from Lemmenjoki national park parking lot after three in the evening. Weather was warm and beautiful. It was supposed to rain, but the temperature was somewhere around plus seventeen degrees and the sun was shining, so I was happy to start the hike. Hiking in the north in Nordic countries you will learn at some point that the forecast is not to be trusted. This time it was a pleasant surprise.

The trail was okay, but the terrain was quite shapely. In Lemmenjoki, the trails are a lot of going up and then down and then up again. I walked about three kilometers per hour, so a little slower than you would walk on a flat surface. I had my first break at Sotkajärvi laavu. I made food and coffee, because I hadn’t eaten yet anything that day.

After the break the trail continued on a ridge. The scenery was amazing. Forested hills could be seen everywhere between trees. I put a picture of that with the last text. Next stop was at a river crossing.

The crossing was done with a boat attached to a rope system. It was the weirdest river crossing I’ve ever done and I was a bit confused as to how it actually worked. But I got a cross to the other side and was able to continue, so it was all right in the end.

Next stop would be Härkäkoski. This part was easy, but it was a walk through the woods. I saw glimpses of forested hills on the left side, but walking forward there was only forest ahead. It was already quite late and even tho sun doesn’t set this North in the summer, it was quite gloomy because of the big trees and sun was so low. I turned my head many times, because I thought I saw something in the forest, but there was nothing but me, ofcourse.

I stopped for a little break in Härkäkoski and then continued to Ravadasjärvi. Trail was easy and I was quickly in Ravadasjärvi. I stayed overnight there.

Day 2

I woke up and had nice breakfast. It was a bit rainy, but I didn´t mind. My next stop would be Kultahamina. I started with big goals in my head for the day, but this was the worst part so far. There was a lot small streams to walk through and a lot of fallen trees in the trail.(Some other traveller had counted 13 fallen trees) I noticed a pain in my right knee, but didn’t think much of it. I have had pains in my knees before, so it wasn’t anything new.

I reached Kultahamina a bit tired, but I needed to continue. I started to walk a rocky hill and my knee starts to hurt really badly. Now this is new. The pain was really bad and I had to stop because of it. I think there, on the ground, a little bit and deside to go back to Kultahamina. The trail would have continued to be rocky and there would have been a lot of going up and down, so I decided to end my hike here. Kultahamina was the last place where you could get close to the national park parking lot by boat. I waited five hours for the boat to arrive and then I got a boat ride back to Njurkunlahti.

I have never ended a hike before, but the decision had to be made quickly. I didn’t have time to heal my knee in the campsite for couple days and then continue, so the best choice was to go back by boat. This was really a teaching moment that I need to listen to my body. I think I had someone watching over me, because the worst pain came just before I would have been too far to walk back to Kultahamina.

But every experience is experience so I have nice memories of the hike. I am writing this a week later so now I can tell you that my knee is a lot better and there is almost no pain left.