Different paths along the same route

22/09/2020
Time for mindfulness
Time for mindfulness
Sound of water
Sound of water
Stairways to up
Stairways to up

Inspired by the colours, we went on an evening walk, where we experienced several different nature trails and natural wonders at the same time: fells, rocky outs, forests, groves and fell streamlets. Even though we "just" hiked round the Kellostapuli Fell, there were very different kind of landscapes and nature miracles on the same route. This route is a part of Pallas-Ylläs National park.

The route started from the parking place Ylläs Fell (Y1) and we continued along the Seitapolku path to Varkaankuru. The path is easy to walk and when we arrived at Varkaankuru we crossed Varkaanoja and after the lean we walked along Kiirunankieppi. This path is between fells Keskinen Laki and Kellostapuli, which is also known as the Kellostapuli gorge. On the fell area, the autumn colours gloved magnificently.

When the Kellostapuli gorge goes to downwards, we were completely on rocky land between two fells. There is an an easy-to-walk path between fells, although the path is some places very steep but there are benches for rest and landscape admiration along the path. In a rocky landscape there is something like Zen and mindfulness. Also the landscape reminds me of the moonscape, because there is no vegetation and the sun only shines there in the early hours of the morning. So it's a very good place to sit, admire the scenery and meditate what is going in the world - but without any worries.

In the end of gorge one path continue to the left via the the Seitapolku to Kesänkijärvi and the other to right via Kiirunankieppi to Keskinen Laki. We continued our journey towards Lake Kesänkijärvi and were able to admire the pine forest and the shimmering colours in ground. The path has been improved easier to go and earlier the path was more difficult with roots of trees and rocks.

After reaching Lake Kesäkijärvi, we continued through the Hillapolku path in the direction of Kesänkijärvi, but more in the forest. This path was also very easy to follow. On this route, I remembered the winter ski track from Kesänginkeidas to Äkäslompolo, but I think that ski route goes closer to Kesäkijärvi because Hillapolku path would be too narrow for skiers.

From the Hillapolku path you turn left to the Varkaankuru path and the route goes next to the fell stream back towards Varkaankuru. On this route, the vegetation is very abundant and has lot of huge and old trees. The path has been built with planks to make walking easier and there are quite a lot of stairs. This section was the most demanding part of the walking route, as it rose upwards.

Although the route was shady, it was abundant with vegetation and therefore very different from the fell route. The sound of fell stream gave a lot of joy all the way back to Varkaankuru. I had some poetic ideas in my mind and I quoted for Vivaldi's Four Season like four different kind nature magic - all those are great for me...

This new walking route was really interesting and nice. And just the right long for an evening walk.