"Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success."

(from an add allegedly placed in London newspapers by Ernest Schackleton, the Antarctic explorer).

Much the same macho masochism drives most backpackers into the wilderness I think. Of course, it isn't actually all that difficult, or dangerous. But we like to pretend that it is. Please humor us.

The first of the attached pages document, in pictures and text, a trip by my brother Aaron, and myself (Nathan) to the Urho Kekkonen park, in the north of Finland in July 2004. At the bottom is some advice about how to do such a trip yourself.

The second link is advice on where to go and how to get there - if you are an experienced outdoorsperson who just hasn't been backpacking in Finland before, it will help you in planning your trip. If you're a beginner you'll probably also need to read a couple of books on the subject, or preferably go with someone experienced. Wilderness means there are no stores or restaurants to buy food at, everything you need you have to carry on your back, and there is no one around to help if you get hurt. So there are certain skills and knowledge you should acquire before going out on your own.

That's it for our English language resources. If by some freak chance you are aquainted with the majestic, beautiful and oh-so-easy Finnish language, you can then proceed to the third link where you will find further advice on gear. There are also accounts from past trips - even if Finnish is not in your repertoire, you can have a look at the pretty pictures. Riitta just scanned some very nice ones from a week long canoe trip in Algonquin, Canada, but I'm drifting OT now.

Enjoy!

Nathan Lillie
see:

Nathan's description of their trip to Eastern Lapland summer 2004. General description of hiking in Finland at the end of the story

Riitta's suggested hikes for foreigners that have some basic idea of how to get there from here

back to INDEX and finnish pages

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