Sipoonkorpi Christmas hike

Yesterday we had some downtime and, wanting to burn some extra calories from Christmas, decided to go for a quick day hike in Sipoonkorpi National Park. We got off to a late start but still decided to try to hike the 4,8km Kalkkiruukki nature trail.

By the time we got to the trailhead the sun was already going down and it was clear we would either have to hike an unknown trail in the dark, or come up with a new plan. As driving to the shorter trail would've cost us even more time, we decided to hike the trail for as long as we could and then turn around and try to reach the campfire site before dark.

My girlfriend got a pair of Meindl Island Lady hiking boots for Christmas and this was her first time trying them on. It was so cute watching her trying not to get her new shoes muddy and wet on the trail that was covered in mud and buddles.

I was trying to tell her that hiking boots are made to get dirty, but she still insisted going around every buddle and muddy area, to protect her new boots. I, on the other hand, was loving being knee deep in the mud.

As during the winter in Finland, the setting of sun is measured in minutes, if not in seconds, we soon found ourselves on the trail with the darkness creeping in. As we knew we didn't have a long way back, we stopped for a quick photoshoot using the Snow Peak's Mini Hozuki lantern as a light.

As I didn't bring a tripod, I was shooting handheld on a pretty slow shutter speeds, but I still think the images turned out great. It's in these kind of low light situations that I really love the in-body image stabilisation on my Olympus OM-D E-M5.

What little did we see of the Kalkkiruukki nature trail, it was easily one of our favourite trails in southern Finland. There is little to no crowd, at least compared to Nuuksio, and the trail runs through a beautiful forest and rocky landscape.

We're definitely going back!

Word of advice though: the terrain is a bit more demanding, and the trail is at times not well marked. 

Getting there

Outdoors.fi recommends leaving your car at the parking area at the yard of Trollberga Tractor Museum (map link) but we left our car at the end of Kalkkiuunintie, right were the trail begins (map link).