Salla National Park

Text & fotos by Téa Karvinen

Area: 100 km2

Established: 2022

Location: Salla (in eastern part of Finnish Lapland)

https://www.nationalparks.fi/sallanp

Home of fells, swamps and old-growth forests

Salla National Park is the home of swamps, fells, hills, and old forests. The national park is an important part of the whole large protected areas on both sides of the eastern border of Finland. The ecological connection of the park to Russia is formed, for example, through the Paanajärvi National Park. Salla National Park spreads mainly to the east of the Salla–Kuusamo road, but there are also several wilderness reserves and hiking destinations to the west of the road.

About 10,000 years ago, Salla’s ridges and gorges were born on the edge of the continental ice as the melting waters piled up with sand and gravel on a thick ice mattress on cracks and tunnels. On the ridge area of the national park, the plants of heath areas, such as the endangered Moonwort, and the rare Spring sedge and the Breckland Thyme. Beautifully grayed pine trees grow in the ridge areas. In addition to the wet aapa mires, the area is marked by old, over 200-year-old spruce trees with kelo (rich dead pine trees) and decay wood.

The ecosystem of the old forests is presented in a renewed exhibition at Salla Visitor Center. One of the valuable issues of old forests is the decaying organism community, which participates in the softening of the kelo before it falls and decomposes. One tree can be the home of thousands of organisms. Almost all of the rare or endangered species found in the insect survey project in Salla National Park are species of old forests. In a natural forest, the amount of decaying wood can be ten or even a hundred times higher than in a commercial forest. There are a total of 4,000-5,000 species living in a decay tree in Finland.

The water of the Kaunisharju depression pond is so clear that every stone and plant on the bottom is clearly visible. “The clarity comes from the fact that the ridges filter the water very clean,” Metsähallitus plant expert Mari Kekäläinen says at the moment as a Siberian jay flies to us to see if there is something to eat.

We move on to the Hanhioja stream surrounded by a fen swamp. The stream spreads in the treeless bog between the fell area. Thanks to the lime stone content of the bedrock, the swamps in Salla are exceptionally nutritious. At the base of our feet, we find an Alpine Saw-wort which has blue-purple flowers smelling like vanilla. There is also a Large Marsh Violet, Galium Aparine (cleaver), Mountain Melick and Marsh Hawk’s-beard nearby.

The Alpine Bartsia is deceiving: the red ‘flowers’ are the leaves at the top of the stem. Mari Kekäläinen is enthusiastic about looking for an endangered Closed-heath Cotton-grass that is difficult to distinguish from the more common Hare’s-tail cottongrass. Identification requires a magnifying glass. “I am always happy to look at these.” Finally she is lucky, and records the species data immediately.

The journey continues. The green sparrows have chicks with them. The little ones are begging for food from the mothers. The rims of the marsh show the oil -colored fluid, which is rust, soil iron. Beautiful, insect -eating plants, Sundew and Common Butterwort, inspire me to photograph. The gentle hay of the stream, Sweet Vernal Grass, smells like coumarin, very sweet. The Broad-leaved Bog-cotton, called ‘the gentleman of the fen swamps’, swings beautifully in the wind.

”Sensory points” and wilderness

Three observation points for natural phenomena have been built in and around the national park, where you can watch the scenery protected from the rain and wind. The views are directed to the north, so sometimes when the weather is clear, the northern lights, or the summer night sun of the nightless summer night become visible. By car, the most easily accessible of the three sites for seeing northern lights and views is Kaunisharju at the edge of a steep slope. The other marked viewpoints are on the island next to the Keselmäjärvi beach and on the edge of the swamp at Tupien laavu (lean-on shelter).

Places called ‘Aistipiste’ (a sensory point or stop) encourage people to feel the nature sensations by eyes, ears, nose and skin. The wilderness can be thus experienced by all the senses from the head to the toes. There are ’sensory points’ along the hiking routes. The resting places such as hammocks and rocking chairs are marked on the map. For example, at point seven, there is an Arctic foot bath: on the Kontiolampi route on Hangasoja stream you can rest your feet in cool water.

For the first time, I tried an electric-assisted Fatbike during the spring on Salla shiny snow blankets and during the frost of February. When I turned on the most powerful ‘boost’, the electric aid, the feeling was surprising every time and brought a smile. It was like someone pushed from the backside and whispered to me: Have fun, let’s go! If the frost tightens and drops below minus twelve degrees, people drive then by regular fatbike bikes.

In winter time, the most popular and best maintenanced Fatbike ring route in Salla National Park is the Kontiolampi round (18 km) and during snow-free time Kaunisharju ring route (11 km). One of the most popular routes in the national park is the Pahakuru tour (18 km), both hiking and during the winter biking. The route passes past the charming Tunturilampi. From its opposite shore, the big Pyhätunturi reflects on the surface of the lake.

The Tunturikumpu route can be walked in the old spruce forest. The Pahaojankuru route, located on the UKK route, is steep and craggy. At the bottom of it, the creek can be reached from the stairs at the campfire.

The about 20-kilometer long Aatsinginhauta – a wide and forest covered canyon – can bearly be seen through the trees at Pahaojankuru. The bottom of the valley is at the most 250 meters lower than the highest fells. If you wish, you can continue your journey from Pahakuru to Pitkälampi lake, where you can see the fell scenery of Julmoiva and Aatsinginhauta.

The ‘Taivaan tavoittelijan taival‘ route will guide you to the highest point of the national park, to the top of Pyhätunturi (478 m). This is the only wood-free and rocky grounded fell in the national park, as the other peaks are forest-covered. As handsome as the scenery – which opens to every direction – from the peak observation tower is, one might feel some nostalgia while watching the views toward the east. “Wishing those handsome fells of Sallatunturi would still be ours!” Further away in the east, one can see the original fells of Sallatunturi in Russia: fells of Sallatunturi, Välitunturi and Rohmoiva.

With an archaeologist

Three wars tore Salla in 1939-1945. Almost half of the municipality, 6 000 km², remained on the Soviet Union. In connection with the regional war territorial losses, Finland lost Sallatunturi, which we can now only admire farther away. The municipality of Salla was previously known as Kuolajärvi, but the name was changed to Salla in 1936. After the wars, the new village of Märkäjärvi, the current center of Salla, was chosen to be the new church village.

In the 1930s there was a colorful tourism and winter sports history in the area, which continued until the wars. Skiing – without ski lifts – had landed in Finland. In 1937, the first Finnish Championships for Slalom and Downhill was held in the original Sallatunturi. Before the huge changes of the wars, the history of the Salla region was shaped through wilderness culture. At the end of the 19th century, beaver and forest deer were extinct due to hunting. At the same time, the importance of major reindeer herding as a livelihood began to grow and forestry was increasing.

Sanna Aho, the archaeologist of Metsähallitus (Forest Service), invented cultural heritage sites in the Salla municipal nature reserves in the summer of 2021. The work focused on the national park area, which had not had before such a large study. “The terrain was difficult to walk. Often there was a feeling that you had to walk ’right spot on’ if you wanted to find something archaeologically interesting. Trees grow on the top of the hills and fells. The visibility was weak, the air was full of insects. There were 27 terrain days, and I walked 180 kilometers. ”

Sanna Aho was looking for abnormalities, dints, bumps, holes, all kinds of non-nature-looking traces, such as barns on meadows, deer pits, signs of military history. “Perhaps the most interesting discoveries for tourists are the ruins of the early 20th century Savotta (logging) cabins – about a dozen was found – and military history destinations.” The national park area has had a significant role in the guerrilla battles of the Finns against the Soviet troops during the Winter War. The Finns used the Savotta cabins in the Aatsinginhauta as a base and made attacks from there.

The Kolmiloukkonen area at Kaunisharju had a base for Finns, from where the guerrilla wars were launched. In the 1970s, a hermit must have lived in one of the dugouts for years. The field fortress is made up of dugouts, pots, firing nests and battle graves. The ridge has several kettle holes that have been used in the fortress system. For example, there is a machine gun nest, a narrow corridor that leads to a kettle hole and through which men could safely get out of the nest.

For Sanna Aho, the most interesting discoveries are the two ancient remains of Lake Onkamojärvi, the fish fields. In addition to fishing remains, there was a cut copper sheet, which suggests that the fish fields have been in use by the 17th century at the latest. Copper objects are most often cut and reused. Owning copper has shown wealth; copper was part of trade, and an import.

Summer Morning ’Bird line calculation’

Well, how was it? I sit with Petri Piisilä, a park master of the Metsähallitus animal group, on the shore of Aatsinginhauta at Koutojärvi lake on an early June morning. Cloudberry blooms in the sunshine. The beautiful song of the rustic bunting rushes behind the pond. The compelling sound of the green sandpaper is farther away. Fells of Julmoiva and Sokiavaara are visible on the other side of the pond. “I set off at four in the morning to the western slopes of Julmoiva and walked through the old forest eastwards to a steep slope. The entire distance of the ’Bird line calculation’ was six kilometers. ”

From the rectangular area, all birds are counted on both sides (left and right) within 25 meters of the line. The method indicates the number of ground species and individuals. “The eastern slope was so difficult that I was swearing myself. I designed this route! Sometimes I had to get up the steep slope on all fours, but the work was rewarded with plenty of orange-flanked bush robin observations.

In addition to the couple which were warning on the main area, there were three singing males on the sides. The bird is one of the most beautiful and quite rare here in Salla. When you hear that beautiful verse a few times, it sticks to the brain blocks.” The most abundant birds in the morning counting were brambling, willow warbler, common redstartand redwing.

Petri Piisilä did not see birds of prey. Line calculation calculates small or sparrow birds. The birds of prey have their own follow -up methods. A capercaillie, the emblem species of Salla National Park, was found on all three lines during the line calculations during the summer 2021. The nice species to be seen or heard of the old forest were three-toed woodpecker and rustic bunting. Eastern exoticism was provided by ten orange-flanked bush robins, and the southern delicacies were winter wrens and greenish warblers.

In addition to birds, Piisilä also maps other animals. During the morning calculation, he suddenly heard a rush and found a bear’s sleeping place. A bear’s droppings were still steaming. “I think a bear lives here because in the spring I found several excavated ant warrens.” Piisilä has often seen wolverines in the Salla area. The entire population counts less than ten individuals on both sides of the border. This vagabond of the wilderness wanders easily even through a large region of fells such as the wide area of the Sallatunturi region. Wolverines have a good memory and a really great sense of smell.