Lord of the Flies, The Ounasjoki River - June 2017 - Trip Report

The best photos are courtesy of Richard Grahame and Duncan Gray

Who wouldn’t want to undertake a prodigious noble wild prospect? Our plan for a complete 300km descent of the Ounasjoki river in Lapland seemed to fit the bill.

We were an unlikely team. A retired Scottish doctor who has well as having a vast accolade of adventures also has a vast vernacular of profanities,  a mariner who has been attacked by pirates, a charity owner and a general layabout (me).

We all met in Helsinki and eyed each other up. Would this trip work? Could 4 complete strangers get along in harmony for 10 days with no real option to escape each other? By the end of the trip Richard had snapped my tent pole, Adam had thrown my SLR in the river and Duncan had taken out his Scottish rage on my Sat Nav – I certainly get the feeling they weren’t that keen on me…

Fortunately we had a long drive from Helsinki to our start point in Hetta, and 16 hours gave us a lot of time to get to know each other and make strategic tent sharing allocations. Finland has an impressive road network and there was little traffic so we made good time. As we sped north I was amazed by how many trees there were, even today some 70% of Finland is covered in forest. Pines, firs and birches lined the roads and wrapped themselves around the cities; there would certainly be some good adventuring opportunities here for those brave enough to bushwack their way through the forest.

Another interesting natural fact about Finland is that it was originally about one third bog. There is even a theory that the country’s name in Finnish, Suomi, is derived from the Finnish word for bog, suo. Many of these bogs have now been drained and converted to farmland but they are still extensive in the north, where we would be paddling. In fact Finland has so many bogs that there are even various names for different types of bogs – who’d have thought it?!

• suo – bog

• korpi – marshy spruce forest

• neva – open bog

• räme – pine bog

• aapa – raised bog

The problem with all the lakes, bogs and trees in Finland is that it basically makes the country a huge adventure playground for mosquitos. We were unlucky, we arrived during a mini-heatwave and, according the locals, had just caught the height of the mosquito breeding season. Every day our campsites were swarmed by biting insects. At least we got some variety, as well as the mosquitos we spotted midges, horse flies and black flies. Even Duncan, our brave Scot, who originally declared “these have nothing on Scottish midges” (multiple swear words removed) was soon cowering in his tent whenever he got the chance.

Even during my time in the Amazon I never saw so many biting insects in one place. Our evenings became a game of cat and mouse, hiding in our tents as much as possible and dashing out to do campsite chores. Going to the toilet was a hazardous task. The mosquitos were able to bite through most single layers of clothing so despite the 20oC temperatures my standard evening outfit consisted of:

• trainers

• softshell trousers

• waterproof trousers

• fleece top

• thin primaloft coat with hood up

• buff

• sun visor

• headnet

• neoprene gloves

I was roasting but at least I was relatively safe. Mosquitos are normally most active at dawn and dusk – however as Lapland sits within the Arctic Circle we were experiencing the Midnight Sun. Dun and dusk effectively stretches for about 12 hours – there was no respite! To give you some idea of numbers one morning I woke up early and decided to count the number of mosquitos trapped between my (mesh) inner tent and my flysheet. It was difficult to count accurately as they kept moving but I estimated there to be around 100 (and thousands more outside from the humming I could hear).

Weirdly the rapids also seemed to attract the insects. The calm sections of river were relatively mosquito free but rapids were filled with bugs trying to get up your nose, eyes and mouths. It was off-putting to say the least. I took to running most of the rapids backwards but the rest of the group weren’t quite so confident and are definitely hardier than me to keep going in those conditions!

Our plan was to cover ~30km a day of the 300km journey, taking 10 days and ending at Rovaniemi (the home of Santa Claus!) rather than continuing for a couple of days more to reach the sea. The other three had rented touring boats, which are far faster by design than the whitewater kayak I had bought along from home. I knew touring boats would be optimal as most of the river is serene with only the occaisional easy rapid. I knew this, yet it was cheaper to fly my boat out than rent, so I saved money and spent effort instead.

The paddling itself was enchanting. Cosy log cabins dot the banks as the river winds its way through dense pine forests. The water is clear and sometimes large fish can be seen swimming underneath you. When the wind died crystal clear reflections of the sky, trees and our boats could be seen in the surface of the water – unusual in a river flowing at several kilometres per hour. Had it not been for a series of events that filled my camera with rice I would have taken pictures of it all! Fortunately the rest of the four man team I led on this Finnish kayaking expedition had more optical luck.

Camping ashore in secluded forests and being able to catch fish for dinner, is quite rightly a dream for many. It was whilst setting up one of these camps that I had left my camera on top of my boat, off the wet ground whilst I faffed around. Adam had not seen my precarious placement of this expensive electronic item and accidentally knocked it into the waters grasp. I’m not sure why, but the mariners reaction was just to watch it bubble and sweep away, so I had to jump in myself and retrieve it. Having prised it back from Finland herself, I tried to save the camera by taking the components apart and sealing them in a bag of rice. This resulted in a still dead camera that had much rice in unreachable places, rendering it useless even if it had dried out properly! Lessons learnt.

The Ounasjoki river was not a big, tough challenging expedition. It has the feel of a wild adventure but is achievable by any group with some idea of water safety. The start and end are easy to access, and phone signal and nearby roads provide reassurance in the case of an emergency. Rovaniemi can be reached in under 6 hours (with a transfer in Helsinki) for under 200GBP. There Vesa of Tulikipina can rent you gear and arrange shuttles. Taking it easy, wildcamping and living on a budget you could get a two week trip for around £700 per person all in if travelling as a group. If you have your own boats then a cheaper option would probably be to fly with Easyjet to Tallinn in Estonia and then ferry and drive from there, probably costing around £500 per person total. A Scandinavian canoe wilderness adventure is on many people’s bucket list. The rapids aren’t hard so take the plunge. Find your boat, point it downstream, grab a gallon of mozzie repellent and get going!