Jouni Laaksonen 31.3.2022 I was asked if I have a list of gears I carry on my winter hikes. Of course I have, but I didn’t have one in English right away. Now I translated my list to English, and I decided to make a post of it. A sledge (pulka) is a good option to pull your winter gear.A backpack is the other way to carry your winter equipment. You do need quite a lot of equipment to tackle freezing temperatures, a meter of snow and so on, but at the same time you must not take too much weight to pull or carry with you. Here’s my list, but remember you need to modify it to your own taste. Belo ..read more

Jouni Laaksonen 31.1.2022 Hello, all my readers! Sorry for being so quiet for the past months. I am alive and active, but I just haven’t found time to write blog posts. And I suspect the situation is not going to change any time soon. I just finished with one book manuscript, and the next books, several of them, are already agreed on with my publishers… So, I continue doing what I love: writing about hiking. (All of this writing happens in Finnish, there are no new English books coming from me as far as I can see.) I wanted to cheer up your day with a pic from a day trip here in Northern Finl ..read more

Jouni Laaksonen 24.8.2021 In my earlier post I told how this summer I did a lot of hiking with you 7 years old daughter. During several previous summers we have done a four or five days family hike, like Hetta-Pallas. This summer we wanted to try something new: my wife headed with our older daughter (14 years) to Kevo Trail, 63 km, and I and our younger daughter set as our goal to visit Paratiisikuru (Paradise Gorge). Paratiisikuru is situated in the heart of the second largest national park in Finland, Urho Kekkonen National Park. There is no marked trail to the gorge, but there are well-trod ..read more

Jouni Laaksonen 12.8.2021 I will remember this summer for two things. Well, three, for of course COVID-19 will mark memories of this summer, too. Anyhow, the pandemia hasn’t been much of an issue here in sparsely populated north. First, this was the hottest summer of my life. We swam in the nearby lakes numerous times, and really enjoyed deserted beaches and warm lake water. During the hottest period hiking meant always walking or paddling to a beach. At the same time the hotness and dryness was a big burden to gardens and all of nature. We all really have to act to lessen the climate crisis ..read more

Jouni Laaksonen 22.6.2021 There are two kinds of us: those that love living in a big city and seeing a lot of people every day, and those that love living in countryside, in solitude. Well, of course this is an exaggeration and there are every kind of people between those two extremities. Anyway, I belong strongly to the latter type. One of the great aspects of living in a sparsely populated area is that you find peace and tranquility everywhere. Yesterday it was +30°C, which is really really hot for Northern Finland. I do not love such hot temperatures – unless I can spend the hot day on a b ..read more

Jouni Laaksonen 3.6.2021 Exceptionally this blog text is both in Finnish and English. I tell a bit different things about the same book in these two languages. First Finnish, then English. / Tämä blogiteksti on sekä suomeksi että englanniksi, hieman eri painotuksilla. Ensin suomi ja sen alapuolella englanti. Suomeksi / In Finnish Uusi kirjani ilmestyi juuri: Vaellustarinoita – Askeleita luontoon. Kirjan perustiedot löytyvät kirjamyymälästäni www.iki.fi/jel, josta kirjan voi vaikkapa ostaa omistuskirjoituksen kera. Tässä kuitenkin avaan kirjaa hieman tarkemmin. Suomessa julkaistaan paljon eräk ..read more

Jouni Laaksonen 18.5.2021 I’ve been very fortunate this winter, for I’ve had plenty of opportunities for winter hiking, that is ski touring. I just returned home from the last trip. Most of Finland has been green and without snow for a while already, but the North-Westernmost corner, Käsivarsi Wilderness Area, has still a thick snow cover. That’s where we did a week long ski tour with my friend. This was one of the best hikes in all my life, nothing less. The first day was totally cloudy and there was some snowfall also. Navigating in complete whiteout is, well, let’s say interesting. We could ..read more

21.4.2021 Jouni Laaksonen I’m sorry I’ve been quiet here in my blog lately. I’ve been busy with my new book, and I’ve been winter hiking a lot. (The book is in Finnish, it’s called Vaellustarinoita – Askeleita luontoon, and it will be published in June. I’ll tell more about it when it’s been published.) Here’s a brief summary of my winter 2021: In December we skied in Pyhä-Luosto National park with my family. We rented a cottage and skied mostly on the beautiful ski tracks of the National Park. However, we also slept one night in our kota tent, which can be warmed up by a wood oven. Here we ar ..read more

Jouni Laaksonen 8.2.2021 Last weekend I was skiing with good friends in Elimyssalo Nature Reserve. We spent two nights on the yard of Teerinen lean-to, and in between skied a whole day inside the Nature Reserve. There was a lot of snow, –20°C, beautiful open bogs, old forests, and not a single other hiker, or her/his ski tracks to be seen. Just what we wanted. We had long and wide skis (270—310 cm long, 7 cm wide metsäsukset), and skiing in deep snow was not too difficult. There were six of us, so when you had ploughed through the snow for a while, making a ski track for those that followed y ..read more

Jouni Laaksonen 19.1.2021 Midwinter is the most demanding season in Finnish nature, and by a distance. Temperature can be really low, daylight time is short, snow cover is often thick and so soft that your skis sink deep. Also, often the weather in December and January is cloudy, which makes the landscape black and white, almost colorless. Also there are no shadows when the clouds are thick, which drains the views even more. However, sometimes you happen to time your hike so that there are cloudless days. That’s what happened to me last week in Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park. And then you ..read more