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).

I was going through some photos from the past year and found this one from last winter. Wow we had a ton of snow back then!

This was taken with Olympus OM-D EM-5 and the magnificent Voigtlander Nokton 17.5mm f/0.95 lens.

Other than some sharpening and a bit of cropping, this photo is pretty much straight out of the camera. I really love this lens!

For the past two years we've had a tradition of cutting down our own Christmas tree. This year we decided to get the tree a week before the Christmas Eve so that we could enjoy it a little bit longer.

We spend a good three hours hunting for the perfect tree that we both were happy with. I prefer a more symmetrical, balanced tree, whereas my girlfriend prefers a more thicker and furrier tree. So, of course, we got the thicker and furrier one :)

As we both really love Christmas, searching for the tree we both liked was really fun. We spend hours in the forrest just walking and looking at different kinds of trees, taking photos of them for a reference and memorising tree locations.

Fire was also having a blast. He got to run around free in the forrest and just enjoying being a dog. 

After some back-and-forth we found the perfect tree and cut it down, drank some hot chocolate and as the darkness fell on us, carried the tree back to our car. Can't wait to have our presents under this tree!

Merry Christmas everyone!

This Sunday I decided to spend the day outside with the dog. Since I didn't want to drive far, I went to Nuuksio National Park which is about a 50 minute drive from Helsinki.

Looking at the trail map, there were two ring trails that seemed interesting: Haukankierros (4km), which seemed to be more scenic but a bit shorter, and Korpinkierros (8km) which was just the perfect length. As Korpinkierros shared some of the same trail with Haukankierros, it was my trail choice for the day.

You can read more about the trails in Nuuksio here. 

All the ring trails start and end at the Haukkalampi Information hut. There's also a parking area where you can park your car for easy access. Because of the close vicinity to Helsinki, good trail conditions and easy access, the trails are pretty busy with other hikers especially during the weekends. 

I arrived at the late afternoon and was met with a lot of people already leaving. But even then there was a steady stream of traffic for almost all the way through the first half of the trail. A bit too busy for my taste.

I might want to try to come back during the week to see if it's more quiet then.

The trails were clearly marked and almost impossible to wonder off but the recent heavy rains had made them muddy, and at times formed streams across the trail. You will definitely need some hiking or other waterproofed boots with preferably good traction on slippery surfaces.

As with every National park in Finland, dogs should be kept on leash at all times. This is a bit frustrating as Fire gets so excited when we get on the trail that he just dashes all over the place, bursting with energy.

To give him some room to run and wander, I keep him on a Flexi Giant L which is an 8m (26ft) long retractable leash. It works well on open areas and in places where there are not a lot of trees and turns on the trail.  

To make walking on the long leash easier, I've taught Fire "left", "right" and "straight" commands. This steers him into right direction and helps to keep us both on the same side of the trees. But even with this, at times the trail became so narrow I had to reel him in to avoid getting the leash all tangled up in the brushes.

In the more open areas, I hook the leash to the hip belt on my backpack for "handsfree" hiking. This works well if you can control your dog but should be avoided if your furry friend has a tendency to dash off or run over the leashes length as this will cause some very nasty face-plants. 

The first part of the trail is littered with beautiful scenery as the trail crisscrosses between small lakes and green hills. At times you can hike along the boardwalks to get over the bogs and wetlands.

On the way in, I noticed a fireplace where I planned to eat as we got back from the ring trail. I thought we had ample time to do the hike and come back before the dark but with the autumn, the darkness came so early and so quickly that we barely made it back.

The minute we reached the fireplace, the darkness surrounded us and you couldn't see a thing.

While I was setting up my Trangia, I heard a familiar voice among the few people already on the fireplace. I looked up and saw an old friend from work who was there with his family. We worked on the same team for almost three years so it was really nice to see him again.

We sat by the fire, drank some hot chocolate and talked for awhile. Their kids made sure that Fire was well fed with sausages and he didn't complain. It was nice ending the hike with some familiar faces and good company.

We parted ways in the darkness and while driving back, all I heard was a steady stream of snoring from the backseat. The dog was happy. 

I've never once voted in my life and if I should describe my reasoning for that in one sentence, this would pretty much be it. As Brand goes on to describe: if we'd all stop voting, we would stop validating the current political system that is clearly rigged against the people it's supposed to serve.

If you haven't seen the interview, it's definitely worth watching: 

 I find it funny to watch how Brands valid reasoning makes Paxman visibly uncomfortable and watching him desperately try to trivialise Brands message and failing miserably is a lesson in being prepared. Paxman wasn't clearly expecting this from Brand, being that he's "only an actor".

This wasn't the first time Brand brings the hammer for people who think he's just an stupid actor, and I'm seeing a pattern forming here. I like this Russell Brand more than the one I've seen in the movies.

While hiking around the Garmisch area, by far the coolest animals we met were these cows. They were roaming around the fields on a public road so I decided to take my tele-lens and get some photos – from a distance. But as soon as they saw me, they charged at me like a herd of zombies and had me surrounded pretty quickly. 

While I've met cows and other farm animals while growing up, I still find them really fascinating–and sometimes a bit scary–to be really close to. Luckily these girls were more interested in our company than our flesh or brains. After getting to know each other a little bit, and some one sided licking, we and these gentle monsters parted our ways.

The next day, after hiking at Eckbauer, we decided to try our luck with Alpspitze. We woke up to a similarly foggy morning and the weather report showed no signs of clearing skies. 

After a spooky cable car ride in total greyness, we reached the top and started our descent. On our way down we walked past many, what must have been, picturesque spots but only saw the grey fog that surrounded us.

Even though the weather wasn't what we had hoped for, we enjoyed the hike as we had good company, food, and the entire mountain to ourselves. 

About one third down we left our little mark on the side of the mountain <3