It was saturday morning, 2.april and sun woke me up around 7 am. Going to be a great day, we are leaving from Tampere 10pm and driving 120km to Liesjärvi.

Liesjärvi have been owned by goverment since 1878, but it’s 21 sq.km area have been National Park from 1958. Some parts been protected earlier as 1929.

Sightseens are for example Korteniemi traditional farm, which was forest guards place in early 1900. There is many events in the farm, where people can take a part or try to do farming with style of 1910s.

My day got sudden turn around 8am, when my girlfriend called (we were engaged) and told me that she wants to continue her life without me. It was a shock to me because i really didn’t expect this to happen with us.

My friend called and i told what happened, but wanted to go. I felt i would die if i stay in the house. So he picked me up 10am and off we go.

Our first place was Hämeen Luontokeskus (Häme is the souther part of Finland, Luontokeskus = Nature Centre) There was a big room with information about Liesjärvi nature and it’s wildlife.

Next to the parking place at th Kopinlahti, was this huge burl. We were joking how many kuksa’s we could make from this.

Panorama (open in the full screen and move with mouse) http://sphcst.com/6m5w6

Just 100 meter away from parking was an information board. One other hiker told that there is some Canadian gooses sitting in the edge of ice near the bridge ahead of us.

So we headed to this trail part which was named Kyynäränharju. It’s 1km long and 10-30meters wide ridge between the lakes. Only this one small and a bit bad shape bridge connects it.

We could see the gooses 50 meters away from the bridge. They were cleaning themselfs. Ice have melted quite well, i enjoyed seeing water flowing and sparkling in the sun under the bridge and saw brown tones of sand under the water. Calming feeling in my troubled mind. http://sphcst.com/kvcti

After the ridge, we continued from Pirttilahti (cabinbay) to the Ilvesreitti (Lynxtrail) which have been marked with yellow diamond shaped piece of wood. Log trail was quite nice to walk, some parts were still under the ice. Friend almost slipped later on these. Ground felt a bit hard, i thought it haven’t melted yet, even it looked good.

After 2 km we arrived to the Siltalahti (bridgebay) camping place, enjoyed the view shortly and continued on the trail. http://sphcst.com/yq7vh

We had map and also cellphone map, but we couldn’t find the trail from them which was ahead of us! Still it was marked trail so we kinda knew where it was heading.

Sun was drawing long shadows and melting the ice. I saw drops sparking on the blueberry stalks, could smell the spring! Awesome! Somehow i felt energetic! I really enjoyed this trail and sights.

Parts of the trail were under the thick ice, so we had to be a bit careful. I think there was at least 50-70 cm ice on our way. Later it will melt and most likely cut the trail for couple of weeks.

Panorama from Karhunpesännummi (Bear nest field)

Our plan was to go first to the Peukalolammi (Thumbpond) but we didn’t find a short trail there. So we ended up to the Kaksvetinen (two lakes or waters, vetinen could also mean wet).
There was 2 older men in the campfire so we sat down and enjoyed some lunch. Men told us that they arrived there previous day and been fishing on the ice. Seems they got quite a few. They have been sleeping in the big hut and leaving next day.

We tought that this wasn’t our place, windy and we could find a good spot to hang ourselfs (i like this phrase haha) So we decided to continue to the Peukalolammi, which was only 1,5km away.

We check first the Peukalolammi rent cabin, just in case because place looked suitable to us. Not sleeping there but surroundings were great.

Peukalolammi Lean-to was perfect! Many places to hang our hammocks. I choce the place near the lean-to and my friend wanted to stay a bit further.

I had my Amok Draumr 3.0 with me and friend had finnish Varusteleka manufactured model (equal to the ticket to the moon).

We had 10km behind us and i wasn’t even tired yet! But my friend felt hungry and a bit tired already. So it was time for a dinner. 5pm already. I had some sausage with me which i chopped and fried on the pan with vegetables.

Rest of the day we talked of future plans and enjoyed sunny weather. Some snack later and went for a sleep around 11pm.

I couldn’t sleep much, for obvious reasons. many things on my mind and felt really empty.

But i got things away from my mind by listening sounds in the night. Some birds (or bats?) flew quite near my hammock. Heard something moving in the bushes, maybe mouse or fox?

But then the best thing…an owl! I heard it hooting somewhere around the lake. Huu huu. Huu hu-huu it said many times. It was fascinating!

I fell in sleep around 5am finally and woke up 9am. packed up and made some breakfast. My friend was still sleeping, he got up just before 12.

After my friend packed up, we left the place. We decided to walk shorter and faster way back to the car. Only 6km.

My cellphone battery went empty during the night and also my batterypack too. So when i got my phone charging in the car, got many messages. My mother and brother have been trying to reach me many times during the morning. Also called to my ex-girlfriend. And finally to the emergency number (which told to wait, because it haven’t been so long since last call). They forgot that i told them going for overnighter!

Well, i am still confused about what happened, but felt that forest gave me a bit strenght to carry on. We’ll see what will happen in the future. Hopefully better times.