Another canoe overnigher with the kids

Due to the workload at my day job, my backlog of unsorted pictures is growing bigger. I just got through the pictures of a short overnighter two weeks ago, the last weekend of May. Some impressions of that overnighter follows...

I first visited Koskeljärvi on Nordic skates in March this year and it surprised me. On the map it looks like it would be quite overgrown, but it was totally different in reality, at least the northern part of it. It is about one hour in a car away, and in that time you also almost get to landscapes with more lakes, but it was still worth a visit in the early summer, since it was supposed to be a really good bird lake.

I packed the car with the boys, a canoe and some gear for one night out and we drove there. There were some clouds around, but it didn't actually rain when we started paddling.

It took about two minutes to hear the first really interesting bird, a eurasian bittern (Botaurus stellaris), which isn't that common in Finland. It has a peculiar sound, which sounds like blowing into a bottle. Another less common bird, the little gull (Larus minutus), also appeared within minutes.

Picture by Tor.

The clouds gradually disappeared and the evening turned into a really nice one.

We paddled around for a little more that one hour, checking out a few places for staying overnight. The open shelter on the biggest island would have been nice, but the mosquitoes were already out, so the tent was necessary. We settled for some nice cliffs on the same island.

Moss spore capsules.

Hamburgers for dinner.

Indeed a nice evening.

The rather simple dinner warranted a dessert.

Sunset. In addition to the more common birds in the soundscape, we also had a pair of arctic loons (Gavia arctica) and a common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus).

I'll never buy a tent without the possibility to get good views through a mosquito net again, it's that important to me now.

The next morning was quite damp and cloudy.

Fresh-baked bread with cheese and coffee, about the best breakfast you can get.

And soon it was time to go again. Photo by Tor.

One hour of relaxed paddling back, exploring a different route.

That's it. Remember to take your kid's out! It's good for you and it's good for them!