6 feet of cleavage
As mentioned before my walk ended in Monaco. And there is this big Oceanographic Museum near the prince`s palace. It`s a very cool place. Lots on information about ocean studies, loads of artifacts, fish and animal skeletons, turtles humping on the roof and aquarium. (more…)
parachutes are overrated
About five days into the hike I passed another ski center – La Norma – but found it almost empty and totally closed down for summer. Near a swimming pool I found a somewhat level ground and set up my, `cause it wasn`t looking very good weather wise. I was almost ready to hit the sack, maybe writing about the day, when I heard some rustling nearby. As the campsite was not very far from a steep cliff and therefore a bit exposed I had pulled the sides to the ground and therefore my vision was a bit impaired. But I lifted the tarp to see what was up and the were… (more…)
breathe in the snowflakes
I’ve managed to catch some breath from work and actually sort, edit and so on all the pictures from the Via Alpina trip this year. More emotions from the trip are also on the way.
i’m the sponge-bob of my corn cob
Se these are some of the best memories from hiking the Via Alpina this summer
On the morning of the second day I had just started a climb up to col Citrin. The trail was steepish, but fun. A big rock appeared and then a small fox cub playing near it.
And as it noticed me, it didn’t take off like any other wild animal would. At first I just stood there watching, but then slowly reached for my camera and managed to take some shots. After a while the cub disappeared from the track and I slowly continues. I made maybe a few steps before the cub appeared again, but this time there were two of them. This time they seemed a bit startled and went hiding a first, but then sneaked out again. I slowly moved around to get a better view and watched the play for a while. I saw a plenty of wild animals, but this was definitely the coolest. I also spooked a wild boar off it’s sleeping place and spotted a deer through the bush. (more…)
helloweekend
I think I’m extremely pleased to inform all the non-Estonians that just a week days ago a brand new long distance hiking trail was opened. It’s a massive (for Estonia) 627km long and takes you from Aegviidu in Northern Estonia to the southernmost point of the country and then some more to end at Ähijärve in the Karula National Park. Unfortunately there is no internet information about it in English so I have taken the liberty to translate the Estonian text. I hope that some official prints will be available soon.
the voice inside my head won’t listen to me
I’m kinda sorry that this took so long, but I managed to delete part of the post at some point and got a bit demotivated after that.
The last part of Via Alpina Red Trail began from Champex-Lac in Switzerland and ended in Monaco 22 days later. According to my calculations it was almost 700km, but the ascent/descent sums are too messed up on the guidebook so by my best estimation it’s around 40k up and about the same down. Average distance for a day was 31,5km and speed 3,5 km/h. It took 207 hours of walking. Several passes over 2000m highest of those over 2700m and many still covered in snow.
the red trail
only a ninja can sneak up to another ninja
Estonian State Forest Management Center (clumsy I know) has finally managed to translate their website about hiking in Estonia into English. If you happen to visit my country then this is the place you can and should look if you want the basic and official information about trails, camping sites, rental and forest huts and different national parks, reserves and so on. It has a pretty handy search module and of course the results are displayed in English too.
If you need to specify something then you can use the facebook page.
However – if you should desire more detailed andunpublished information about different trails in Estonia then you should visit our hiking forum – matkafoorum.net
ready for a crime
I have finished walking the Via Alpina Red Trail. It took 24 days of hiking to get from Champex-Lac to Monaco. It was sometimes hard, but now it’s done. More to follow when I get back home.
the third wish
Although this blog has been quiet for too long I haven’t been sitting idly for the whole time. Some preparations have been made to take me again to walk in the Alps. This year the goal is to finish the Via Alpina Red Trail and reach Monaco in the end of the first week of July. Starting point is Champex-Lac. I’ll be on trail for three weeks and hopefully it turns our better than last year. Still some packing to do but the gear isn’t much different from the last yea, except I have a new tarp (made by my mother) – more about that when I get back. And YES, my French hasn’t improved much.
If needed, I can be contacted via blog. See you on the trails.
leap my faith
I had this route drawn down at least a year ago. But somehow, probably because of my occasional laziness, I haven’t managed to put my feet down the road.
This weekend I finally get out and, although quite late, was on trail before lunch. Weather is nice and the ground still a bit frozen. I had planned to reach the northernmost point of cape Juminda and back when drawing the route, but it was clear that it was a two day walk OR a very early beginning. Weather forecast for Sunday is not good and I have already overslept so I have to re-assess my possibilities.
Midway on the cape is a huge boulder – Majakivi – Stonehouse. That becomes my destination.
Mostly on smaller paths, occasionally across a bog and through waterlogged old forest until the duckboards leading to the boulder appeared. This is much better than I hoped for. When reaching the stone I feel like I had been there already – maybe during elementary school when we had an excursion the Lahemaa National Park. Will have to dig up some old photos to confirm.
Walking away from the boulder the duckboards take you to another bog – unlike the previous one’s this is still young therefore no trees have grown on it yet to obstruct the views. But this also makes it quite boring as no features stand out. I strongly prefer those in Kõrvemaa, where patches of forest and lakes and ponds make it more interesting.
A lookout tower, which I had no knowledge about stands high above the bog and also offers the sight the the sea. A rare stretch of asphalt I quickly leave behind and after crossing three smaller streams I’m on the path parallel to the one I started on. These roads are interesting ’cause they lead to nowhere – except to the bog, but still look as they have often been traveled with cars. But I doubt these were created to allow access cranberries.
It gets pretty dark when I reach the settlement of Pudisoo and even darken when I discover that I have taken a wrong turn. All I can see is that there are deep gorges on both sides of the road. I had hoped to see them in light, but I guess that I have to return.
Last few kilometers are in pitch black darkness and I get somewhat confused again on the crossroads.
Finally I get to my car after 6 hours and 27 km of walking.
post-cancer-scare-mercy-fuck
This is not actually something new, but there has been a quite active Estonian hiking forum online for some time now. At the moment all of the discussion is in Estonian, but there is a sub-page in English where one can ask about hiking in Estonia. Some of us have been around a lot and can point you to the right direction. Gear-wise it’s pretty heavyweight, but the seed of lightweight hiking has been planted and there are some followers.
I hope that the registration process is made easy enough and that we can help you out to plan a visit.
The address is www.matkafoorum.net or you can use the banner on the left titled Estonian hiking forum.
somebody that I want to know
This blog is quite like my life has been recently – uneventful, when talking about hiking and outdoors. I did ride some bike, but that’s a lame-ish excuse.
So when we had to organize a march for conscripts finishing their basic training I decided to make this into a training walk for me and choose the route accordingly. Usually the march is two days with around 25km each day. Before the event I had measured the distance on the map by eye and it seemed like around 50km. I had to man one checkpoint in the beginning and after that was free to pace off. Soldiers usually do this in full gear, but as I ended my basic training almost 10 years ago I can do much as I please. So it was combat gear (minus rifle and helmet) and light sleeping gear for me.
Travelling was mostly on gravel roads. 60km in total with walking time around 12 hours. About a third I walked in total darkness, which was cool. Got some blister, because I neglected foot-care, but nothing too painful. Muscles felt stiff in the evening after finishing, but the next day it was almost OK.
where dreams come to die
Now this is frustrating and I’ve been putting posting this off for more than a month or so. I don’t like to write about failures, but nevertheless here it is.
My big summer hike this year failed after only 5 days on the trail. Reason is very simple – it wasn’t much fun.
I was watching the forecasts for a week before departure and it showed the snow melting with promising progress and I was confident when leaving home. When the plane came over the mountains in Hemavan I got worried, because there was still plenty of snow. But I hoped for the best.
Day 1
Starting off at the skiing slopes in Hemavan I was already walking on snow and slush. But still I was thinking that it must be because they have gathered more snow for skiing and it did ease up higher. I decide to skip Sytertoppen because of the snow and made a short break in Viterskalsstugan, which was still close.
Continuing along the now constant 😦 snowfield I spotted an animal track. The prints looked similar to bears, but were too close together so I believe that they were wolverine’s. The trail came down from one side of the valley and went up to the other side.
Despite the snow it was quite easy going as I didn’t have to posthole much and even the sun shone for a bit. Before Syterstugan I had this bizarre moment when all I could see was some of the waymarks in front and behind me an everything else was just white. When it cleared again I could see a valley mostly covered in snow. Not very promising and quite disheartening.
There is a series of suspension bridges making way over the smaller islands over southern part of Tärnasjon, but that was last of the fun for the day. The last kilometers to Tärnasjonstugan were slow slogging over rotten snow. No fun at all and as the clock was nearing midnight I was getting quite tired. Finally reached the hut not a moment too soon. Eating and getting to sleep ended my day at around 01:00.
Time / distance travelled: 11h / 38km
Day 2:
Not a too early start and I was on my towards Servestugan. It didn’t get any easier, but still easy enough. Tried to find easier going by following already melted spots of ground. Reindeers were about with their young calves, but the ground and landscape were rather uneventful.
Near Vuomajavvrie it got really bad as I had to cross some rivers consisting mostly of slushy, cold and knee-deep remnants of snow. It can’t really be described, but needs to be experienced. At that point I praise my sneakers. Although they got wet along with the socks, the water was out in an instant. Try the same with some leather hiking boots and you’re f*cked for a week. I tried creating something waterproof around my socks in the last emergency hut of a old trashbag, but as I had to cut it into pieces, it didn’t work out as planned. But it was rather good until I had to go in knee-deep.
There I met a herder or smth like that, driving around and checking out how the reindeer are doing. After expressing his surprise over seeing someone hiking in these conditions and so early in the season he showed me a deer, who had just given birth. The calf didn’t even stand up yet. After we departed and he sped off I heard a loud yell and the engine noise stopped. Checking out the situation I saw the snowmobile sitting deeply in that very same slush I mentioned before. Nothing I could do though. Uphill were more wolverine tracks, shitty weather and frustrating moments when I had to posthole like crazy. At some point I even had to yell some. But the last few km were pleasant at least. Downhill and almost clear path. Still, I lost my sunglasses and had to backtrack for about 10 minutes before I found them. And at 21:25 I was in Aigertstugan.
Time / distance travelled: 12,5h / 33km
Day 3
Going down on the northern slope it was still pretty wet, but soon got interesting as there was a winding trail among the trees, crossing some very high and fast rivers. As I got lower the terrain became more and more comfortable with tall trees and a clear path. This was actually why I came here. I enjoy big vistas over high mountains, but forests are the real deal.
Reached Ammarnäs. Bought a new waterbottle, orange and sunscreen – no idea why I didn’t take the latter from home. There was two ways to continue. Along the bottom of the valley – no snow and no vistas; or climb under ski-lifts to Stuorajabba – could be snow and definately be views over the valleys and nearby mountain. So uphill I go. To my great dismay I soon arrive on a plateau with low vegetation and plenty of snow. Trying to get by easier I go through the bushes.. and lose my map for a while. Backtrack, find it, relieved, continue. Occasionally it gets easier as I get out from between the bushes, but the highest point is covered with soft snow for as far as eye can see. Feeling not too happy to follow the trail to make a huge U-turn over snow just for the sake of it I decide to cut some. As I can already see the next hut in the bottom of the valley I head straight towards it. I find a small stream and following it becomes the highlight of the day. When smaller streams can be just hopped over I come to one that needs to be waded through. It’s narrow and deep and quite fast, but I manage.
The big Vindelälven river that ends up as a lake near Ammarnäs is very fast and swollen and look as quite the fun when in a raft or playboat or packraft (IF you skill level is high enough, other-ways you might as well step in front of a full speed train as it saves you the expense of getting to Sweden). By the time I reach the hut I have again lost my water-bottle (this ain’t the end of it). I briefly chat with a woman already in there and after hearing of my problem offers me a small platy bottle (this I didn’t lose) and I make my plans to go on to reach a renvaktarstuga (this was actually a hut for reindeer herders, but unlike the previous one I encountered it was closed and didn’t have an emergency shelter nearby).
That was about 8km and turned out to be quite easy, except for the last km which took like and hour of post-holing. Even the latter wasn’t that bad because the snow was soft making it an easy effort to push through. What makes it suck is that you never know if you are going to fall through the snow or not. Even if the snow is hard and carries well you can’t walk with your normal speed, ’cause if you hit that soft spot while going fast you might end up faceplanting.
So the hut was closed, but I found shelter from the wind I decided to crash outside. Although the sun was going down it didn’t look like the weather would get worse. And then I discovered that I was missing my tarp. Must have left it into Aigertstugan, but it was bad news in any case. The thermometer showed +5 so I had all my clothes on for sleeping. I called it a day at around 22:00
Time / distance travelled: 11h / 38km
Day 4
I usually try to avoid sleeping high in the mountains, but it was too early in that last hut. But it got even colder during the so-called night and started to snow. By the time I decided to get up my socks and trailrunners were frozen. The snow had a bit of crust, but not enough to carry. In fact it made the going even harder as I couldn’t push through with my knees, but had to lift my leg out of the hole with every step. Not good at all. And then came the crux of the day.
I had to cross a stream of slush that was balls deep with frozen crust. I couldn’t just wade through like the day before, but had to posthole gaining about 40cm with every step. Really-really bad. Changed my socks immediately after that so my toes wouldn’t go black. Onward from there is was just slogging, moderately difficult, but I felt tired and the distance on the map went past like snail. When there were occasional signposts I couldn’t believe that I had covered only so few kilometers. The ground itself would be OK in summer conditions – slightly rolling and would offer good views if the weather is good. But in my case if was more like shitty winter, rain and mist. It was totally wasted when I reached Snjulttjie day hut so I fired up the stove and slept for few hours. By that time I had fought and won a quite easy battle in my head that this is not the way to do it. It was just not fun and I decided to bail out in Adolfström. I would get there next morning, but had still a long way to go. It eased up a bit when descending to the valley where Bäverholmen and Adolfström are but mostly it was still slogging through all the wet snow. Before starting the descent I came by a very old shelter and foundation for a house. All the other building I had been built on higher from the ground on posts. No idea why someone went through the effort of making a foundation like that.
It was very low in the valley when the landscape turned to my liking again. I was walking along the river with patches of swamp on the other side. The trail was twisting along the waters edge, occasionally coming so close to the swollen river that the waves reached the path. It was clear that the trail wasn’t going to last very long in these conditions. Small hills covered in high pines were separating the river and swamps. Some walkways were established to provide dry crossing. I had picked a laavu with fireplace by the lake for the night and the same path was the highlight of the day. This was the ground I like when hiking – a chance to see something new in the end of every small ascent or bend.
The fireplace turned out like those we have in Estonia – garbage lyin around, inscriptions on the laavu walls and so on. But the lakeside itself was pleasant, night was clam and bugs were absent. Quick wash, collected driftwood for fire, eat and sleep. Tomorrow was going to be easy.
Time / distance travelled: 11,5h / 30+km
Day 5
Didn’t get up that early, ’cause I had planned this to be the last day. When reaching Adolfström about an hour later, I realized that it would have been a good idea after all, because I missed the only bus out for the day. After consulting with a very friendly local elderly couple I made a plan to continue ’till Jäckvikk after all. Main reason was that it was a bigger place and had a bus going to eastern coast in the afternoon next day.
Although uphill, the beginning was pleasant again – small road, bigger trees, no snow. But as warned the snow returned at around 700m and continued until descending into the valley next day. As it was the last day I KCCO’d. Again some high rivers, small and pleasant Pieljekaisenstugan, where I took time to read the logbook. Funnyly I founf some happy comments from lightweight hikers and some not so happy by the one’s who trugged along with a heavy packback and were going to quit at the first possible place. Ironic to laugh about it as I too was going to quit, but not at least because I was physically unable to continue. Left some extra food to the hut. After the hut was to be the hardest part ’cause it was the highest, but oddly it turned out to have not so much snow after all and was easy considering the conditions. I had planned to stay in a dayhut, about 8km from Jäckvikk, for the night. Oddly I had discovered this hut in the last hut, because on my map I had drawn a path over it. The area around Jäckvikk seems to be very popular, ’cause the hut was huge. I could fit the living roome and dinner roome from my house in there easily. As it was huge it took some time to warm the place up. I spent the rest of the day tiding up my gear, making food and otherways preparing for extraction. And then it was waiting – which I hate.
Time / distance travelled: 8h / 20+km
Day 6
Late start, but I still was in the village way too early and because it was Sunday almost everything was closed. Right after starting from the hut I managed to lose the trail and therefore continued straight down towards the lake. No problems getting down, although had to find a safer crossing over one river. Thanks to the helpful owners of Kyrkans Fjällgård I got to use computer to plot my route home and shower, before getting onto a bus.
Time / distance travelled: 2h / 8km
And there it was – my “big” hike for the summer, finished before it even began. Only thing remainig was to get home an it took me around 48 hours of busses, trains and ferries and it was the most strenuous part of the whole thing.
But that was just the physical part I didn’t manage to accomplish. I also feel no I know that I failed in some personalt goals that I set and some promises to myself that I couldn’t keep. But those remain my own…
This leaves me to do some hiking in Estonia when the weather gets a bit colder.. but next year….
exceptions to gravity
I’ll try to approach this gear post in Andrew Skurka style. In his book he brings out the main points on how he decides what gear to bring along to a certain trip.
Trip objectives: Long spell of inactivity between “some” skiing when there was snow and cycling when there was no snow anymore have made me somewhat lazy, out of shape and otherwise stagnant. In addition to that I can’t really think of a better way to spend a month of my vacation than being almost alone in the wilderness of Scandinavian mountains. The plan is to start from Hemavan, go along Kungsleden to Kvikkjokk, take a left turn onto Padjelantaleden, reach Sulitjelma and from there follow Nordkalottleden until Kautokeino. I should re-emerge into the civilization fit as ever after 1000+km of walking. Time is chosen so there won’t be much traffic yet. I go solo and have arranged some re-supply points along the way in 6 to 9 day apart.
Environmental & route conditions: As Kungsleden is very popular in the season thee shouldn’t be any problems for route finding. Padjelantaleden and Nordkalottleden are less so, but still no worries.
Temperatures: According to yr.no the average temperature in June in Hemavan is 11,7C. This year the average temp in May has been 1.4 degrees colder than average – and the temperatures at the moment are around 0 C. you can go into more detailed information in here.
Precipitation: Again the yr.no site indicates that June is the driest month with only 10 rainy days. Although there is quite a lot of snow left in the mountains there shouldn’t e any additional.
Daylight: It’s midnight sun in this time of year so there are max 4 hours per day when the sun isn’t above horizon.
Ground cover: Mostly on beaten path consisting of rock, turf. Might be a little bit wet as it’s snow melting time
Vegetation: If at all then there shouldn’t be much more than birch and willow, not very high or thick as I’m following a path. Lower vegetation shouldn’t be a problem also
Sun exposure: Sun is high and up most of the day so skin protection is needed
Water availability: Lots of rivers, streams, lakes and so on. No problem.
Wildlife & insects: There could be reindeer, lynx, wolf, wolverine and brown bear, but I doubt that any of those will be hanging around the paths. Snakes maybe – just have to watch my step. And of course mosquitoes. It seems that I have aimed for the first hatch so it could be intense. Luckily there’s almost always windy.
Remoteness: The huts are plenty along the way, but traffic scarce as it’s early in season. Some huts in the beginning might be closed. No idea about cell reception, but there are emergency phones along the path. I’m not hoping for much human encounter.
Natural hazards: some rivers might be swollen with meltwater, but bigger ones should have bridges. Some snow, but shouldn’t be any avalanche danger.
So here are the main items I’ll take.
Shelter: Integral Designs SilPoncho. I now most prefer to take a more enclosed shelter, but that’s the one I have. Although there is a pretty sweet deal on the Shangri-La1. The wind prediction is quite low and despite it could rain on most days I have experience that I can pitch it down low enough so there won’t be any trouble.
Sleeping system: Old BPL Vapr bivi, Thermarest Z-lite, GoLite RS+1 and Ferrino liner. As the quilt is rated at around +3 then it should carry well with the added warmth of the bivi, liner and warm baselayer I’m going to wear while sleeping.
Backpack: GoLite Pinnacle. Gotten used to it and as it was a little too big last year, but now I have to carry up to 9 days of food so it fine.
Footwear. Salomon XA3D ultra2. I now wasn’t absolutely happy with them last year, mainly because the crappy soles. So when looking around in the shops I really didn’t find anything that seemed proper enough. All those ultra cushioned and colored and tuned.. and I went to the tested ones’. I know the possible problems and can avoid some mistakes. And they were comfortable. But about 3 days after I had bought the Salomons I found out that there is a inov8 dealer in Estonia. But that’ll be something I’ll try next time.
Cooking: I’ll be using an alcohol stove now with a titanium pot. Fuel is available in the Swedish huts so. But I feel that I should have gone with the Emberlite, which being a wood stove is much more hassle-free. There’s always next time.
Clothing remains mostly the same, but I have purchased the GoLite Tumalo jacket. It should carry me through the worst weather.
The topo will be taken care the same way, but now I won’t be carring all the maps, but only those I need on the current stage. Others will be (hopefully) waiting with the food boxes along the way.
maps from Hemavan to Vaisaluokta – first half of the hike
Some how it feel like underprepared. Like there has been too little effort to set this thing up. I hope that it just seems like that.
But anyhow I’ll be on the trail noon tomorrow. I think the first part – getting to Hemavan is most nerve wrecking with a night in Arlanda airport and so on. I don’t know how often will I be able to make updates, but I’ll try.
See you on the trail!
this involves a lot of shit and a big fan
Went shopping for my hike in June. As the prices are quite high in Sweden and even more so in remote huts I decided a long ago to get everything from home and send it to certain points along the route. I’ve calculated the daily distance to be 30km so it’ll take 35 days. Possible re-supply locations are Kvikkjokk, Ritsem, Abisko and Kilpisjärvi. Some distances are longer than I like – on two stages I have to carry food for 9 and on three stages for 6 days. It wasn’t that easy to decide on the menu, but I tried to make it as light and nutritious as possible. The many might seem a bit monotonous, but I previous experience shows that I can handle it. (more…)
if it weren’t for bad luck.. i wouldn’t have any
As we had some decent snowfall finally I had no choice to tar the skis and plan a weekend for some snow action. As I didn’t manage to go to Endla Nature reserve in the late summer I chose this destination. (more…)
i’ll break you like a promise
When I decided at some point in 2011 that in the end of the year I will go skiing in Finnish Lapland I didn’t have to think long to choose the neighborhood of Halti as a destination. (more…)
do something out of yourself and see how it feels
So I had this idea.
NO.. I’m not starting a goat farm and train them to haul a sledge so I could cut across the fields with snow.
What about trying to connect my walking projects with some charity?
this isn’t a drill, we’re shooting to kill
I have a map lying aroun in my cabinet that covers the Lahemaa national park and Kõrvemaa natural reserve. I used this on my last walk from Kunda to Võsu, but the outcome of that walk was a little bit unsatisfactory so last week I thought that now would be time to have a go at it again. I spent some time sketching the possible rout to the map. Main goal was to follow the shore-line of the capes Käsmu, Pärispea and Juminda and the cut over the Koitjärve mire to Aegviidu, where I could catch a train back. I would say that I managed to fill about 70%
Cape Käsmu
I earned this vol VI
I’ve fallen a bit behind with this post, but nevertheless here it is.
Now to make sure that my trip wasn’t all about snakes and bad weather – here are things that made the 34 days of walking the best thing that I have ever done.
The simplicity of what I was doing. Walking. Obviously. It’s like the most simple thing you can do – put one foot in front of another, repeat. (more…)
I earned this vol IV
I have finished with the pictures. It wasn’t very easy sorting through 1000+ of them, stitching them into panoramas and going through them trying to select out the one to share with others. Nevertheless I managed to make a selection of 400 which are available in the usual gallery – Via Alpina 2011.
Now as I needed something for my fathers 50th birthday and I had the idea of printing out one of the bigger pictures to hang on the wall. Wasn’t very shure how it would turn out ’cause my Panasonic TZ4 allows only about 3200×2400 with 12 megapixels. Gave it a try and here is the actual result. I consider it to be pretty impressive and it really is high quality.
Got me thinking and here’s what I came up with.
How would you feel about sponsoring my next trip and in return get something like that on YOUR wall? To be honest this won’t be very cheap to have a photo that big ‘because the photo laboratories charge quite a lot depending on the end product. So browse through the gallery for this year and also the first part and if you see something of interest then let me know and we can figure out the details.
So enjoy, I certainly did.
i earned this vol II
Snakes. They creeped me out too. And I saw more of them than I have ever seen in my life in just three days. And as one can imagine this is the post about what I didn’t like during the walk through the Alps. Word of caution. Some highly aggressive ranting is going to follow and lots of fucks.
lugupeetud reisijad! selles peatuses on lühike perroon - väljumine ainult esimesest vagunist 
