Urho Kekkonen National Park (Urho Kekkosen kansallispuisto)

Urho Kekkonen National Park

Location: Lapland   Map

Area: 2550 km²
KoilliskairaVisitor center
Open: May- Sept
Mon- Fri 9am- 5pm
Sat- Sun 9am- 4pm
Tel. +358 (0) 205 64 7251

 

Description of Urho Kekkonen National Park

Urho Kekkonen National Park is located in Lapland region of Finland. This Finnish national park is named after Urho Kekkonen, President and Prime Minister of Finland. The nature park covers an area of 2550 km². Urho Kekkonen National Park has several trails from 1 km to 7 km in length with the shortest trail handicapped assessable. Large reindeer herds are commonly seen in the region. Fishing and hunting is allowed, but carries certain restrictions. The best time to visit Urho Kekkonen National Park is in the summer. Fairly mild continental climate warmed by the Gulfstream makes summers fairly warm. The average temperature in Urho Kekkonen National Park ranges from -20°C in winter to +20°C in summer.

 

Sights

The Kiehinen Visitor Center is located in Saariselkä, where you can get all the necessary information about the national park, book a hut, purchase a fishing license or a snowmobile permit and find out how to get to the most picturesque places in this area of the park - the Sokosti fells (Sokosti) and Ukselmapää, Pirunportti and Lumikuru gorges, as well as look at Lake Luirojärvi.
The Korvatunturi visitor center is the second nature center of the park, located in Savukoski. Here you can learn about the history of the park, how to get to the places of reindeer herders Suomujoki, Oskarinkoski, Raja-Jooseppi.
The visitor center "Tankavaara" (Tankavaara) is another tourist center of the park, located in the Tankavaara area. Near the center there are several marked trails for family walks, ranging in length from 1 to 7 km.
The German military base of the Second World War Schutzwall will allow you to get acquainted with the military history of the last century and see with your own eyes the military equipment of those times.
Museum of Gold. Archived from the original on October 22, 2015. in Tankavaara is the world's only international museum of the history of gold mining. The small village of Tankavaara, which has grown into the Golden Village, is easily accessible by driving north on Route 4 from Sodankylä. Here you can learn interesting information about the gold rush in Lapland, see real bars mined in this area and try yourself as a real gold digger.
The top of the Kiilopää fell, from where you can see the endless expanses of the national park.
Kaunispää fell in Saariselkä with a beautiful landscape from above.

 

What to do

The national park is divided into two parts. The main part, located in the Saariselkä area, is suitable for walking for a day. And in Kemin-Sompio and Nuortti, you can go on a long hike through the wild corners of nature.

Hiking
You can enjoy the unique nature of the national park by walking along marked hiking trails. Around Saariselkä and Kiilopää there are hiking trails with a total length of about 200 km, 100 km of which lead to forest labyrinths, mountain peaks and river banks of the national park.

Hiking trips
The wide expanses of the national park offer tourists endless opportunities for exciting adventures. To get off the marked trail, you need to be able to navigate the terrain using a map and compass. To stop for the night in the park, there are many public or rented forest huts, which are located at a distance of one day's journey from each other. Near each place of spending the night there is always a supply of firewood. The starting point of the trip can be Saariselkä and Kiilopää, as well as Aittajärvi and Raja-Jooseppi in the northern part of the park. Most of the unmarked trails in the national park are of medium difficulty.

Fishing
In the lakes of the park, you can fish with a fishing rod for free or engage in ice fishing. For other types of fishing you need to purchase a license.

bird watching
On the trails near the village of Tankavaara, there are two birdwatching towers, from where, in clear weather, you can see a variety of inhabitants of the park - golden eagle, kukshu, ptarmigan or golden plover.

Berries and mushrooms
Berries and mushrooms can be freely picked in any corner of the national park.

Alloys
For kayaking or canoeing, the Luirojoki and Kopsusjoki rivers are suitable.

Biking
4 special routes laid through the picturesque area will allow you to go on an exciting journey by bike.

Skis
Near Saariselkä, Kiilopää and Kakslauttanen there are about 200 km of ski trails marked with wooden signs. The color on the plates indicates the level of difficulty: a blue mark means an easy route, a red one means an average one, and a black one means a difficult one. Already in autumn, you can ride the Ensilumenlatu ski track or the 25 km long illuminated pistes starting in Saariselkä. With the advent of snow, the trails passing through the hills of the national park open. On the way there are huts and sheds with fire pits.

 

Where to sleep

On the territory of the national park is located:
5 huts for rest
37 huts and tents for general use or rented out for overnight stays
24 sheds with a campfire site
3 summer kitchens
5 plagues
about 130 designated campfire sites
Tents and awnings

Sheds, huts and chums of common use are provided for spending the night in the national park, and you can put up your own tent next to them. Also, anyone can go to one of the 7 saunas in the park.

Forest huts and plagues
The forest house can be booked for several days at the visitor center.

Tourist complexes
Various accommodation options are presented in the vicinity of the national park

 

Geography

Urho Kekkonen National Park is located in the northern Finnish province of Lapland on the Russian border. It is located in the communes of Inari, Sodankylä and Savukoski. There are information centers in Tankavaara and Savukoski, and the park office in Saariselkä. With its 2550 km² it is the second largest national park in Finland after Lemmenjoki National Park. Sompio Nature Park borders Urho Kekkonen National Park to the west.

 

Nature

The extensive area of the national park includes fells as well as wide swamp areas and forests. The northern part of the national park consists of a fell area. Mainly birch trees grow here, the higher elevations are unforested and only covered by lichens. The highest fell in Urho Kekkonen National Park is Sokosti at 718 m. Also the Korvatunturi, according to the Finnish popular belief the homeland of Santa Claus, is located in the area of the national park directly on the Russian border. In the south-west there are wide aap bogs, which serve as breeding grounds for numerous birds. The southern part of the national park is occupied by extensive pine and spruce forests, from which occasional fells rise. At Saariselkä in the north of the national park, the spruce reaches the northern limit of its range, north of which only pines are found.

A total of 130 bird species breed in the national park, including mountain finches, warblers, meadow pipits, redwings, redpolls and rare species such as the golden eagle, gyrfalcon and peregrine falcon. Siberian jays, Lappland tits and three-toed woodpeckers are found in the wooded areas. Golden plovers and morellel plovers live on the unforested fells. The moorland provides habitat for species such as the wood sandpiper, ruff and snipe.

Urho Kekkonen National Park is home to 21 different species of mammals, including all four of Finland's large carnivores (brown bear, wolf, lynx and wolverine), as well as reindeer, moose, rabbits, foxes, shrews, moles, pine martens, stoats, little weasels and otters. In addition to numerous trout, the river pearl mussels also live in the rivers of the national park. The adder reaches the northern limit of its range here.

 

Visiting

The Urho Kekkonen National Park, with its extensive wilderness areas, offers opportunities for challenging multi-day hikes or ski tours. For less experienced hikers, there are shorter marked hiking trails of one to seven kilometers in the western part of the national park in Kiilopää, Tankavaara and Saariselkä.

 

History

Originally, the territory of the national park was inhabited by semi-nomadic Sami people who hunted and fished in the summer and gathered in their winter villages in the cold season. There were four such winter villages in the territory of the national park. Above all, the forest reindeer was hunted. To do this, the Sami used pitfalls, the remains of which can still be seen in the landscape. From the 16th century onwards, the Sami culture began to die out. Under the influence of Finnish settlers and Christianization, the Sami slowly assimilated into Finnish arable farming. The Finns practiced agriculture and cattle breeding and used the wilderness areas, which include the area of today's national park, as hunting grounds. The forest reindeer was wiped out in the mid-19th century as a result of intensive hunting. Today's Sami population of the area only immigrated from northern Norway at the end of the 19th century. They brought their semi-domestic reindeer herds with them and established reindeer herding in what is now the national park area.

 

Some rules

Campfires

Lighting a fire in the park is allowed only in specially designated places, on recreation areas. There are braziers and prepared firewood. You can always use your own burner. Open flames are prohibited during the fire hazard period. It is recommended to check the weather conditions and warnings in advance before the trip.

Garbage
It is not customary to leave rubbish in the park. Combustible waste can be burned in a fire, food waste can be thrown into the dry closet, other garbage can be taken to special containers located at the entrance to the park.

Animals
Pets can only be walked in the park on a leash.

Transport
On the territory of the national park it is forbidden to move on a motorcycle and a car.

Other
Only local residents can hunt in the park. It is not allowed to collect stones, as well as damage the soil and rock topography.