Fells, rivers and lakes

We are still in the Ivalo area, but we have moved from the Urienemi campsite  on Inarijarvi lake down the road to the Ukonjarvi campsite on Ukonjarvi Lake.

On Tuesday, Leo and Bryan did a test on the practice area for the rogaine in Saariselka, a ski resort that's pretty quiet in the off season.  The event sets up a few practice points so teams can get used to the terrain and the mapping.  We agreed to meet in  2 hours, and Debi and I went for a hike up to the top of the fell that overlooks Saariselka.  We were rewarded with a view of the town, the neighboring ski hill and far into the distance all around us.

We got back 15 minutes late and sat down next to the neighbourhood swimming hole to wait for the men.  And waited.  They didn't get back till 2 hours later.  Not lost, they said, just underestimated the distances.

The next day we rented canoes from a youth Centre and paddled from the lake outlet down the river till we got to a rapid.  We portaged on the nifty Finnish canoe skid, then continued down the river.  After a few hours we turned around and paddled up the river again.  There's not much gradient here in the rolling Finnish fell country, except for that one rapid we portaged.

                                                            Finnish portage