northern lights – Home in the Wild

Peace and quiet in Finnish Lapland

Posted on October 17, 2016 by ilkkalariola

After a very intensive season at the paddling centre it is great to get somewhere where it is really quiet. The northern part of Lake Inari was just that.

Evening at Suolistaipale Open Hut

This picture is from our second night at the Suolistaipale Open Hut. The picture is a long exposure with a 10-stop ND-filter.

Blue moment at Lake Inari

A blue moment just before the dark. This was a great camping place at Kyynelvuono, one of the fjorfs on the northside of Lake Inari.

Sunrise at Lake Inari

The most beautiful sunset of the trip was close the to the Pisteri Open Hut, where we stayed for one night.

Sunset at Lake Nitsijärvi

A sunset at Lake Nitsijärvi, our last camp!

Northern Lights in Finnish Lapland

On the last two nghts we were also able to see some Northern Lights. This was a great place to camp. There was a small pond just by the lake and we pitched our tents in between.

Our group at Lake Inari

A group picture with Henna, my father and me.

We are travelling in Europe with Henna now, so the next post will be from our trip here. We are currently in Montenegro and have been to Slovenia and Bosnia & Herzegovina earlier.

Iceland in January

Posted on February 8, 2016February 8, 2016 by ilkkalariola

I am just packing my things here in Sodankylä and ready to get back to Helsinki for the rest of the spring. Even here it’s raining now and the temperature is above zero. So it’s a good time to think about our trip to Iceland.

Solfar in Reykjavik

There are straight flights from Helsinki to Reykjavik and the flight time is only a bit over 3 hours. So it was easy to get there. This is Solfar in Reykjavik, in my opinion one of the coolest pieces of art in the city. Northern Lights in Reykjavik

On the first night in Reykjavik we could see the Northern Lights even in the city. THe next morning we picked up our rental car and headed along the south coast.

Strokkur in Geysir

First we drove along the famous Golden Circle. This is Strokkur in the Geysir area!

Gulfoss in Iceland

Gullfoss is one of the most impressive waterfalls I have ever seen!

Seljandsfoss in Iceland

Another great waterfall was Seljandsfoss. There is a path behind the waterfall, but eventhough we had spiked shoes, it was too slippery to go completely around.

Northern Lights at Skyrhusid Guest House

We drove along the south coast and stayed in small guesthouses. This picture is from a gueshouse called Skyrhusid close to the Vatnajökull Glacier.

I have so many good pictures from the trip, that I need to write a few more post from the trip. Here is the last picture from Reykjavik. You can take a lift to the top of Halgrimskirkja church. The views are really good!

View of Reykjavik from Halgrimskirkja

Northern Lights in Helsinki

Posted on January 20, 2016 by ilkkalariola

Tonight the sky is clear in Helsinki and you can see the Northern Lights. This doesn’t happen too often here in the south of Finland. To see them you need to get out of the city, because there is too much light pollution. I found this spot close to Sipoonkorpi National Park. Here are a few pictures.

Northern Lights in Helsinki

Northern Lights above Sipoonkorpi National Park

Northern Lights in Southern Finland

The Northern Lights in Helsinki

It was pretty cold, about -25 degrees Celsius. So I didn’t stay out too long, but it was really nice to see the Northern LIghts here in the south. On Sunday I am heading back to Lapland and hope to have the opportunity to take some more photos of them.

October hiking in Nuortti, part 1

Posted on October 26, 2015November 2, 2015 by ilkkalariola

Back from the canoe trip in Norway, we had a free weekend in Finland. Staying in Sodankylä, we decided to head to the southern parts of Urho Kekkonen National Park. There is a 40 kilometer circular route called Nuortti Hiking Trail. It follows the River Nuortti almost all the way to the Russian border, where you cross the bridge to the other side of the river. You walk back on the other side and at the end you need to cross the river without a bridge. This was something we were really looking forward to, since the water is starting to get close to freezing here in the north. But it was only at the very end of the trip.

The river was still flowing free of ice, but the small lakes and ponds start to be frozen.

We started a bit late on Saturday. By the time we had our lunch break, we were pretty sure we would have to walk the last kilometres in the dark. Already at this point the sun was going behind the hills.

The trail was very nice. Sometimes it went down to the river and st times it continued higher up on the banks. A bit of snow on the ground, but it didn’t really bother us.

There are two lookout spots on the trail. We managed to get to the second one during the last rays of daylight. After the stop we need to take out our head torches and hike the last 3,5 kilometres in the dark.

It was cloudy most of the day and the weather forecast promised clouds and rain during the night. As we reached the open hut, the sky started to clear and we could see the stars. The hut is called Saiho and it is just 800 metres from the Russian border. As you can see we also enjoyed some northern lights in the evening.

You can read about the second in the next post.

Northern lights in the Pasvik Valley

Posted on October 19, 2015October 19, 2015 by ilkkalariola

During our canoening trip the weather was very consistent. The high pressure was stuck on top of us. During the day there were some clouds, but in the evening the skies cleared. This meant a great showing of Aurora Borealis every night. I have seen northern lights many times before, but this was something special.

I hadn’t taken any photos of northern lights before, but with the expert help of my brother I learned a lot during this trip. Here are my favorite photos.

This is my second picture of the northern lights ever. The first one didn’t turn out quite as well. So this is pure beginners luck. And actually I think this might be my favorite picture of the week.

This is another picture from the same night. The lake was so calm, that the reflections were really good. The Aurora Borealis are moving all the time, so you also need a bit of luck to get the picture at the perfect time.

This photo is from the next evening as we had just pulled the canoes to the parking place in Øvre Pasvik National park. After dinner I saw the northern lights behind our van and I knew I had to get this picture. My brother is sitting in the van and my father helped light the side of the car with his head torch.

There was a nice small rapid at the parking place of the national park. Already during the day I was looking at this spot and thought it would be a great place to take a picture. This is just as the sun has gone down.

Our last night in the wild. The tents are just a bit right from the picture. It was really hard to go to sleep when it looks like this outside.