October hiking in Nuortti, part 2

If you missed the first part, you can read it here.

We had a good nights sleep at the open hut. Our day started slowly and it was already way after 10 am before we got going. The first day’s hike was only 19 kilometres and the second day was going to be about 23 kilometres. With our pace this meant hiking the last kilometres in the dark again. And also crossing River Nuortti in the dark.

The start of the second day was through a beautiful forest. We didn’t see any other hikers during the weekend, but we did see both Willow Grouses and Capercaillies along the trail.

Later in the afternoon we also came closer to the river again. There were a lot of beautiful places.

It was supposed to be cloudy on Sunday, but most of the day the sun was shining. It was pure joy walking on a trail like this.

There are a lot of fireplaces, open shelters and open huts along the route. This was a beautiful place to enjoy a break. As you can see the sun is getting pretty low again.

Soon we had to take out our head torches again, but the trail was clear and easy to follow. By this time we were really feeling it on our legs. And looking forward to the refreshing crossing of the cold river.

When we came to the wading place, we decided to just keep our hiking boots on. It looked a bit sketchy and deep, so we thought it was the best option. The crossing was about 25 metres and it felt really cold. It wasn’t much deeper than the knees, so in the end it wasn’t so bad after all.  After the crossing it was just 500 meters back to our car, where we changed our shoes and clothes.

I really recommend the hiking route. The scenery was beautiful and very versatile. We hiked a total of 42 kilometres in two days. This was a bit too much especially as the days in Finland are relatively short in October. You could easily spend three or four days on the trail and there would still be enough to see and do. Maybe next time we will have more than just a weekend.