An August overnighter

Another mtb riding post in midst of the kayaking posts.


JJ joined me for a short overnighter in the Kurjenrahka area. In addition to just riding the nice trails, I wanted to check out the new location of the Vajosuo shelter as well as check out some other spots for the Vigu six day bikepacking trip i October. We started at Rantapiha and rode north of Savojärvi, a section with mostly duckboards. JJ had his fatbike.

The next section was the trail towards Haukkavuori, though we only went as far as to the Honkasaari shelter. A fairly nice section with singletrack and duckboards. With only the two of us, the riding was quite flowy, with some occasional breaks to put more air into my back tire, which had developed a small leak. The front tire is now a tubeless Maxxis Chronicle, and I will put one in the back as well.

In the beginning of the summer people were somewhat worried or confused about the small numbers of bumble bees. Later, however, there seemed to be a normal amount of them, like here on an orpine.

The Honkasaari shelter. A big shelter, but no firewood.

We went back to Kurjenrahka to take the ordinary trail to Vajosuo, when we encountered this notice that the trail was closed due to the duckboards being in poor shape They had been in poor shape for several years now, so we started to wonder if they had been removed to be replaced with new ones. We still decided to check it out, since the sign didn't explicitly forbid us and probably rode around 90 percent of duckboards anyway. I would understand the reason to close the route if the duckboards were actually removed, but not now.

The Kurjenrahka mire.

The day is now shortening noticeably, but the sun is still up for 16.5 hours.

Cloudberry break.

We arrived at the Vajosuo shelter at ten in the evening, shortly after the sunset, which had to be documented before anything else. The amount of active riding was around 3,5 h.

The next order of business was a fire...

... and a cold beer. My beer was still wonderfully cold, despite the summer warmth, since I had insulated it well.

The new location of the Vajosuo shelter is great, very close to the mire in two directions.

Thus the evening went on, talking, having something to eat and watching the surrounding, until we wen't to sleep around 1:30.

The night was warm and I didn't even bother with a sleeping bag. I just slept in a silk liner, though I also had my 200 g down jacket.

During the night, the fog had been thick on the mire, but it was dispersed in the morning.

It was now time for breakfast, with coffee and sandwhiches.

I also put in an new inner tire.

We started with a short visit to the Vajosuo bird tower and then continued through the Kangenmiekka trails.

The lingonberries are coming up nicely, but are still far from ripe.

The Halkokannisto shelter still has the miserable wood saving stove.

A raspberry break.

It's not as bad as it looks, it's only blueberry marks.

A real break was held at the traditional place, Taakaniitunvuori.

We then rode the rest of the route, back to the cars, for a total of 3.5 hours of active riding this day as well. A nice little overnighter and the bike fitness seems to be returning after to much work and too little riding during the spring and early summer. Thanks to JJ for the company.