Hiking in the Repovesi National Park, 2024

My friend and I spent the second last weekend of September hiking in the Repovesi national park.

This was our third hike in Repovesi following our 2020 and 2018¹ hikes. See the 2020 travel log for more background about Repovesi.

In terms of hiking gear, I carried one additional item compared to the previous hike: binoculars. I’ve started studying ornithology (the study of birds) and I decided to use this hike as an opportunity for bird spotting².

Arrival

We arrived at the Tervajärvi parking area on Friday evening. To our surprise, it was almost full, and we took the last available parking space. Instead of setting up camp near the Tervajärvi lake like we did in 2020, we hiked a short distances to Talas which is the nearest, “official” camping site.

It was warm, and a full moon shined like a street lamp. I had trouble sleeping and listened to the sounds of explosions from a nearby Pahkajärvi restricted zone³.

First day

The morning was sunny, and I made my first bird observations when a migrating flock of Common Crane (Grus grus) flew southwards.

Our plan was to head to Lapinsalmi for lunch so after breakfast we started hiking towards Määkijä.

The hanging bridge next to Lapinsalmi isn’t a flagship example of Finnish engineering. The bridge failed in 2018, was rebuilt in 2019 but had to be closed in 2024 due to structure weaknesses. This is the reason why hikers are requested to arrive either via Tervajärvi or Saarijärvi parking areas to Repovesi.

We stopped in Lapinsalmi for lunch. Instead of having prepared all food ourselves, we had bought ready-to-eat hiking meals which you only need to add water. No need to wash dishes, yay! Dinner was our own, and it needed more time to cook. I think this meal structure worked well, and I’m planning to use it in future hikes.

From Lapinsalmi we headed towards Kuutinkanava.

The water in the Kuutinkanava well is reported being drinkable but taste and smell like iron. We had enough water at this point and there was another well in Olhava so we could skip taking any water. However, it’s a good reminder that even though there are water points available, they don’t necessary provide drinkable water. Always check the latest news from each national park’s website before embarking on a hike.

We stayed at Olhava for the night. Similarly, to our previous trip, there were a lot of people staying there so we set up camp early. I tried to make bird observations but felt too tired, and the weather was getting cold, so I came empty-handed.

Second day and departure

The next morning was cold: the temperature had dropped to 5 °C during the night. After having breakfast and packing our gear we started climbing to Olhavanvuori and then hike towards Valkjärvi.

At the south end of Valkjärvi, I observed a great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) chiselling high up in a tree.

After continuing the route further we saw a dead barnacle goose (Branta leucopsis) laying in the middle trail. From the amount of feathers near its body and the violent way part of its internal organs had been ripped out, we think it may have been killed by a hawk.

We stopped for lunch at Kirnukangas. There were some birds flying in the nearby lake, but I wasn’t able to make any clear observations.

We hiked the eastern route of Koppelonkierros towards Tervajärvi, our starting location. About half-way through I spotted birds swimming in Tervajärvi lake. After observing them for a while, we concluded that they were two Arctic loons (Gavia arctica).

We arrived at the Tervajärvi parking space around 3 pm and started heading to Helsinki after that. One recommendation when driving back: if you stop at Kouvola, be sure to try the local liquorice by Kouvolan Lakritsi.

Closing thoughts

This was my first birdwatching trip and I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t observe as many birds as I thought. Then again, I didn’t come to Repovesi to just watch birds but to hike. Some birds had also started their migration at the time of the hike.

Ready-to-eat meal were good option for lunch as we eat it on-route. We can quickly boil water and eat the meal from its own bag. For dinner, we can dedicate more time for preparation since we eat it at the end of the day at the camp.

The binoculars didn’t fit in to my backpack⁴ so I carried them on my shoulder. I opted to buy a 8x30 model and the weight didn’t cause strain. The 10x42 model would have been better for birding but come with increased size and weight.

What remains to be seen in Repovesi: water bus, canoeing and more birdwatching.