Local hiking in Keitele and Konginkangas

Photos: @sini&pete

The best thing about local hiking is that you don't spend much time traveling. You don't need to reserve the whole weekend or waste energy driving. Sometimes you just have to go close enough to notice how many great places there are in your home municipality and in your local surroundings!  

Local hiking and holidaying is eye-opening; you can discover brand-new things right around home! It's also ecological and affordable. The mindset of ecological travel isn't about maximizing time or personal gain, but about unhurriedness and moderation. Striving for unhurriedness in these hectic times is something worth aiming for.

On Friday 26.7.2019 the sun is shining and the temperature is nearing 30°c. The workday is over and the backpack is waiting to be packed. We're making an overnight trip to a small island where Pete had spent a lot of time in his childhood, so the place was very familiar to one of us. We borrowed a rowboat from an acquaintance and arrived at the shore when the day had already turned into evening.

With the sun already setting behind our backs, we rowed toward the island, the distance was approx. 2 km each way. We even got a few seagulls as travel companions to escort the hikers across the lake to their destination

We tied up the boat and lifted our gear from the boat onto the shore. Ah, what a gentle breeze and a lovely rocky landscape. We looked for a flat spot for the tent and pitched it. Of course on such a warm night you could have managed under the open sky without a tent, but mosquitoes were swarming to a bothersome degree already in the early evening, so the tent would keep the buzzers at bay.

After pitching the tent there was time to take photos and explore the island. In Pete's words, hardly anything had changed; at least somewhere amid the rush there is a place where time has stood still. 

Before going to sleep we brewed evening tea on the Trangia (with a forest fire warning in force, we couldn't light a campfire) and enjoyed being together, the scenery, and the lapping of the water.

 As the sun set, the sky turned completely a beautiful shade of red.

The morning was wonderfully warm and beautiful, the lake was calm. Before leaving we took a swim and enjoyed the summer weather and the unhurried pace. Before noon we rowed back to the shore (the forecast promised over 30°c, which is fairly warm when rowing on a lake). 

We took along:

• Backpack (swimsuits, sunscreen, long-sleeved clothes, toothbrushes, paper, matches, snacks, water..)
• Trangia (+methylated spirits)
• Tent (+sleeping bags, sleeping pads)
• Bag for trash

Please remember when hiking to take away everything you bring (trash too!). That way nature stays clean.

Hiking is fun, eye-opening, and possible for all of us! Plan ahead, or set off on a whim to enjoy different places. We're not wilderness veterans, but we want to try and enjoy nature. You just need to venture a little outside your comfort zone and keep an open mind, that way you can experience and learn all kinds of new and wonderful things.

Sini and Pete