Still winter in Lapland

Many places in South of Finland and Sweden are already declaring the spring’s arrival by showing people pictures of flowers in the social medias. Here in Lapland we know very little about spring, yet. The season here is still winter. If you have read my post about the eight seasons in Lapland you can see it is still winter in April. Read more here.

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This time of the year is one of my favourite times. There are snow everywhere and in the evening skies there are Auroras every other week to be seen. The sky is blue and the sun is shining in the daytime. As I am a keen ice-fisher the season for ice-fishing and winter net-fishing is now starting. So far the fish have been hiding in the deep parts of the lakes and fishermen are moving around, drilling holes all over the lakes, but still do not get any fish, or at least very few. Well, that will certainly change during the next weeks. The weather has been cold and clear. Mornings have been very cold; around -20 degrees Celsius. But as the sun rises it warms up the air and it is bearable to stay outdoor doing ice-fishing already early in the mornings. Read more about auroras here and about net-fishing here.

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Net fishing is always unpredictable. Sometimes you get nothing and sometimes you are surprised by valuable and rare fish specimens. Some areas do not give you anything but pikes and burbots. You get tired of eating the same fish every day. Pikes and burbots are big fish and there is food for several days in one specimen.

But one lucky day you are surprised with a pike-perch or even a salmon trout and then you know why you continue working hard with netfishing in cold and windy weather. The reward is so much worth for a keen fisherman.

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On a big lake it helps if you have a snowmobile for your use. To get from one place to another takes so much time only by skies. Early in winter it is impossible to walk on the ice because of the huge amount of snow. But after some changes in weather from warm, sunny days to freezing cold nights the snow gets hard and easy to move on. In March the changes in weather result in hard icy surface on the snow and you can move around everywhere with help of a snowmobile or by skies. By snowmobile you can easily visit different fire places around in the nature to warm your hands and feet during a day out in the nature.

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Ice-fishing early in the winter is often a very wet experience. Water rises from the drilled holes up on the ice and that could cause difficulties with the snowmobile. Not to mention if you have a self-built shelter in tow behind the snowmobile. A dip in the water with that combination means a lot of hard work with the howell and other tools to get the carriage up on the “surface” again. Those problems are forgotten in March when you can go everywhere without risk to get stuck in wet snow-water. I have explained more about these problems here.

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This time of the year is also the time when the eggs from salmon trout are planted out in the small rapids of the rivers to hopefully grow into big salmon trouts some day. So was made also this year.

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Sometimes young salmon trouts are put into the lake to grow. All these measures grant the interest for ice-fishing and angling to stay high.

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As I am waiting for the birds to return to Lapland I have to enjoy the fish I get. Within a couple of weeks there will be swans, gulls and grouses on the ice. I look forward to that.

 

 

An autumn day with experiences for body and soul in Pyytöuoma Nature Park

After a warm and exceptional long summer time this year in Finnish Lapland the autumn now announces its arrival with lower outdoor temperatures and the leaves falling off the trees.

Still you can enjoy fantastic and fabulous hiking day trips all over Lapland on the large amount of suitable hiking paths in the forests or on the fells. One of the most beautiful hiking paths for a day trip  in the forest is the path of Pyytöuoma in Posio in the east of Lapland near the Russian border. This is not far away from Korouoma canyon, where I have hiked before.

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IMG_9264Some people like to hike in the open areas on top of fells, but I like it very much to walk through forests and learn about the wild life and the nature of the Lappish forest. The environment is also changing all the time; sometimes you cross a little river and sometimes you have to climb up along a wall of the cliffs a bit and many times the path goes over swamps on duckboards, And almost certainly you find a fire-place where you can stop for a while and just sit down and enjoy your picnic and the surrounding views.

IMG_2628To find this Pyytöuoma, you drive by car along road nr 81 from Rovaniemi towards Posio. About 37 kms before Posio you turn left on to a sandy road leading you about 8 kms to a parking area where you can leave your car. From here the 3,7 km long nature path starts. The path circles in a beautiful scenery along the Pyytöuoma riverbed and cliffs. There are some steep places where you go down to the bottom of the canyon and also places where you approach up from the canyon again, but the path is very well suitable even for family day trips.

Pyytötuoma area is protected and almost in its natural state. There are rare species of flora and fauna living in the ancient forests of Pyytöuoma. If you are interested, along the path there are 12 info signs about the nature and forest management of the area.

IMG_0111After a while, almost halfway, you are walking on the bottom of the canyon and you cross a little river. In case you have your fishing equipment with you, you can always try to catch the rare river trout (brown trout), which lives in these kinds of small rivers in the Lappish forests. But from here the path starts rising again up on the other side of the riverbed. This is the most trying part of the path but once you end up on top of the cliff  you will get your reward. The view is just astonishing and there is also a beautiful fire-place waiting for you. The picnic you brought with you should be enjoyed here by the fire. There is a sign also telling that there is a well here near by, but I did not manage to find it, but I probably did not try hard enough.

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After a deserved pause the hike can continue. Now the path leads you through the forest and the information signs tell you about the work in the forest and how the Finnish Forest and Park Service has planned to keep the natural state of Pyytöuoma with as little incite in the nature as possible.

IMG_9271After a walk along a duck board you see a small “lake” or just a body of water in the middle of the swamp. The water is clear and it tempts you to taste it. I found out by tasting that it is clear and ice-cold and also good tasting.

Finally in the end of the path we end up at a “laavu” or a covered fire-place. This was a day trip for us, but if you choose to make a several days stay in the forest, this laavu could be the place to stay over night at this time of the year. You could keep yourself warm at the fire-place and in case of rain you would stay dry.

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This was a very interesting and enjoyable day trip for me both because of the exercise my body got by climbing and walking and the soul could just rest in the beauty of the nature of this canyon and the surrounding nature. In the evening the temperature lowered to nearly 0 degrees and you could see a thin ice coat on the surface of a lake near by.

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