Midsummer overnighter

It's been a while since I last got out. My intention was to do a few overnighters in the beginning of June, since I would have needed the training of a few long and hard days for the Tahko MTB 180 km in the beginning of July. Some interesting developments at work and a failing wisdom tooth prevented me from that, though. I finally got out for two nights around the summer solstice. I would have preferred to take my fatbike to test out a few things before a longer bikepacking trip in the end of July, but I'm currently waiting for a new bottom bracket. The current one generates so much noise that it probably fails soon.

I quit work a little earlier on Monday, packed my bike and jumped on the train to Karis/Karjaa. The weather forecast promised mostly rain, which together with unusually large amounts of mosquitoes was a guarantee of at least some misery. I took with me full rain gear, except of course rain paints. The plan was to ride for at most four hours on Monday evening to a lake on the Hanko peninsula.

The trains are great with a free WLAN and the possibility to buy coffee and stuff. The bike space is very limited and cramped, though.


Arrived at Karis/Karjaa 18:06.


The sand ridge towards Ekenäs/Tammisaari contains both poor roads and great singletrack.


Lupine.






Arriving at my childhood woods west of Ekenäs/Tammisaari.


Lillträsket




Wild rosemary (Rhododendron tomentosum)


A short boardwalk section at Långmossen.


No rain yet, but it's on its way.


I continued towards Vitsjön (white lake), one of three lakes with the same name in the area. The rain soon started. During the final bike pushing section towards my planned camp spot I started to wonder why some people use vodka to relax from the stresses of work. There should be no need to use alcohol for that: Nothing could be further from my thoughts than work, being surrounded by lots of mosquitoes and being rained upon.

The camping spot was nice and I started to put up the tent in the rain.




A refreshing bath.


Enjoying the evening in bug proof clothing. I've had the Montane Lite-Speed jacket for a couple of years now. It is very light (150 g), packs small and is windproof. The new Haglöfs Shield pants are equally nice, being windproof, light (184 g) and slim enough for cycling.


It soon started to rain again. I had pitched the tent in rain and no wind configuration, meaning it was very airy.




Indeed a nice scenic camping spot.




Sunset at 23:05 and sunrise at 04:00 meant that there was plenty of light throughout the night, especially since the sun only went a short bit below the horizon. It rained a lot during the night and at one point the wind picked up enough for me to release one of the lines keeping the windward vestibule high to tighten it down closer to the ground. This I could do from inside the tent without leaving my sleeping bag. Because of the rain I saw no reason to get up to watch the sunrise and instead opted to sleep until seven in the morning. The usual morning routines commenced...

My preciouss...




I delayed my leave a little to let the sun dry the tent (after first have wiped it with a PackTowl).


On the move again.


Another view at the camping spot.


I managed to ride for maybe one hundred meters, before being forced to push the bike for half an hour. It was wet and the mosquitoes were abundant.


Everything has its end and I arrived at a faint trail that soon became better.


Another Vitsjön. These anti-tank blocks were meant to stop Stalin's tanks 70 years ago. Despite some people calling my Fargo a tank, I managed to ride through here.




Tadpoles


Making clean water. The Katadyn Hiker water filter still works great.


The anti-tank blocks continued through the forest on the other side of the lake...




More fortifications from the war.


There are also long stretches of ditches like this. Maybe also supposed to slow down the tanks?


From war to flowers: Moorland Spotted Orchid


I had planned to ride a small forest road along the border of the military training area, but the signs telling about them practicing with sharp rounds and danger, as well as guards on several of the roads, made me rethink that plan.




Lunch break. No mosquitoes due to the hard wind. The lunch was provided by Korpijaakko. Check out his blog for some really interesting outdoor stuff.


Högholmen.


Getting a flat now and then is part of the cycling experience, though it does not happen very often to me. Riding a fully rigid bike does need very active riding and weight shifting, but in this case I did not see the sharp rock hiding in high grass and hence did not take the weight off the front wheel. A snakebite flat followed.


Västerby Storträsket provided a good place for a coffee break.




I continued back towards Karis/Karjaa with the goal of finding a nice tent spot fairly close to the train station.


Svedja träsk.


White lingonberry leaves. Albinism or plant disease?


Tent spot half an hour from the train station.


The Real Turmat series of outdoor food is still superior to anything else.


The next morning. I got up at 5:00 in the morning and took my time with the morning coffee and porridge.


At one point I noticed that time flied and packed up everything in a hurry to get to the train station.


I arrived at the train station just two minutes before the train was to leave at 6:45.


One hour later I arrived at Turku and rode home to leave the gear before continuing to work. A nice trip which covered about 165 km of bike riding and pushing, as well a two night outside, all for the price of one work day and train tickets.

A slideshow with more pictures.

A video from the outing.

My tents and shelters

My first tent was a cheap ridge tent bought from a super market sometimes in latter half of the eighties. It was light, small and mostly kept the rain on the outside. Due to the singlewall construction and lack of proper ventilation it was very prone to condensation.


Halti Tunturihaukka 3

In the middle of the nineties I bought a three person Halti dome tent from Partiovaruste in Turku. It belonged to the Tunturihaukka series of gear specifically made for the scout shops in Finland. It was very much tent for the money. The weight was not entirely horrible, 2.8 kg, and it offered plenty of space for two persons, though it was slightly short for my 192 cm. The vestibule was small. The tent had fiber glass poles and was certainly not made to endure severe storms. Still, it served me well for a couple of years.

Hilleberg Nallo

The next tent, a Hilleberg Nallo 3, was also bought locally from Partiovaruste. It was the old model with two equal length poles. Again it had plenty of space for two persons and weighed 2.5 kg. It proved its worth in Lofoten when it rained continuously for five days and it was completely dry inside all the time. Like all tents of this type, it needed a little wind in order to avoid condensation. The details and usability of this tent showed the Hilleberg quality. I sold the tent when the family no longer consisted of only two persons. Now I definitely regret selling this one, but I needed the money at the time.

Hilleberg Akto

For solo use I bought a Hilleberg Akto in 2002. It was the first model with the lighter material and highly placed vent. This tent also showed the Hilleberg attention to details and good solutions. It was big enough for me and at the time 1.5 kg for a fully storm proof four season solo tent was a good weight. The Akto is an excellent tent if you spend a lot of time in exposed areas, but for forest trips it was much too enclosed. I sold it in 2010 when I wanted a lighter, roomier and more open shelter.

Tarptent Double Rainbow

After having sold the Akto tent I started looking for a replacement. I found a good solution in the Tarptent Double Rainbow. It was light, roomy and could be opened to provide good bug free views. A five year review of it can be found here.

Halti Alfa XPD 3

A couple of years ago I found a Partiovaruste special version of the Halti Alfa XPD 3 for a very good price (at Partiovaruste). The tent has the high quality outer tent of the ordinary Alfa XPD 3 and a cheaper inner tent from the ordinary Alfa tent. This is a three person tunnel tent with an extended vestibule and it should very storm proof due to the aerodynamic shape, top notch outer tent material and lots of guy lines. It has proved to be completely waterproof without any extra seam sealing. This tent weighs 3260 g, including 23 tent pegs and a heavy (110 g) stuffsack. This was actually a very nice tent for the money, but I sold it when I got the Fjällräven Akka Dome 3 tent.

Golite Shangri-La 5

Despite having the Alfa XPD 3 tent I still wanted something that could fit the entire family of two adults and two boys currently aged six and seven. Locally the Hilleberg Nallo 4 GT was available, and a weight of 3.4 kg for a very capable and roomy four season tent is not too bad. It is expensive, though. I also checked out other lightweight alternatives: The Big Agnes Copper Spur UL4 would be under 3 kg, but the inner first pitch is not really compatible with Nordic conditions. Tarptent Hogback sleeps four at the smallest possible footprint and 1.9 kg (!), but does not seem that roomy inside. I finally chose the the Golite Shangri-La 5 with a bug inner tent, since it offered both modularity and a good amount of space for a fairly good weight while being very different from the Alfa XPD 3 tunnel tent.

The Shangri-La 5 is a pyramid tent with a separate bug inner tent. The inner tent can be pitched afterwards inside the outer tent, a necessary feature since in rainy weather you want to keep them separated in the backpack to avoid getting the inner tent wet (been there, done that). It fits the entire family and feels very roomy inside due to the height. With the inner tent, there are two very long sleeping positions (lots of space left even for my 192 cm), one slightly shorter and one very short. Three long persons could also fit, but it is too small for four adults. The space does come at a cost: The footprint is big and will limit the available tent spots.

The first night with the Shangri-La was very promising: There was not a single drop of condensation anywhere, despite no wind and a temperature a few degrees above freezing. It remains to be seen how it performs in rain and heavy wind. Some reports show it to be very capable in high wind, though I think it needs to be staked down very good for that purpose.

The Shangri-La 5 has taped seems, but I applied some extra sealant on a few places with more stitching. The weight was close to the specs: Outer tent with extra guylines 880 g, tent pole 350 g, inner tent 1325 g and the 8 standard pegs in a bag 94 g. With 4 extra large ground pegs it weighs 2.7 kg, which I think is ok for the space. Two light two person tents would be a lighter solution, but I think the social aspect of the bigger tent is more important for family use.


Fjällräven Akka Endurance 4

For a while I also had the Fjällräven Akka Endurance 4, a large 4-person tunnel tent with one ordinary and one extended vestibule. It provided plenty of room for three persons in a truly stormproof configuration. It was quite heavy and didn't see much use, since shortly after getting it I started the Vigu studies and was left with little time for own adventures. I sold it after having bought the Fjällräven Akka Dome 3 tent.

Fjällräven Akka Dome 3

In 2015 I bought a Fjällräven Akka Dome 3 tent used from a Vigu buddy. Having started to do more kayaking, I wanted a freestanding tent, and this one just fit the bill. With a width of 180 cm it is 20 cm wider than typical 3-person tents, and thus actually fits three persons without problems. The ventilation is excellent with good possibilies to open and close vents. It is a four season tent, but can still be opened up to provide bug free views during the summer, something which I nowadays consider mandatory.

Tarp

I do basically like the idea of using a tarp, but in practice I've found them of quite limited use for overnighting. During the bug period, which generally lasts from the middle of May to the end of September I prefer a fairly open but still bug proof shelter such as the Tarptent Double Rainbow, since I think rigging up a separate bug nest under the tarp just isn't worth it. And during the winter a tarp just doesn't provide enough shelter in situations when a shelter is needed. I originally had the Alpkit Rig 7 tarp, but found it a tad short when it rained with its 2.4 m x 2.8 m dimensions. The DD Superlight 2.9 m x 3.0 m tarp is long enough for me and also fits more than one person. A tarp does have other uses, though, and I generally bring one when kayaking.  e.g. as a lunch shelter when it is raining.

Bivi bag

Finally, I'm quite fond of sleeping in a bivy bag outside the bug season and when there is low probability for precipitation. It really gets you closer to the surroundings. I use a cheap bivi bag from alpkit.com, which have been good enough.

Backpacking overnighter with the kids

Finally the night temperatures seemed to stay clearly above freezing. It was time to go out with my kids, two boys aged six and seven. Bikepacking on trails is still a few years away for them, but backpacking is no problem. We got into the car and drove to Mathildedal in the Teijo area, a one hour drive. There would be other possibilities closer, but the Mathildedal trails go around two nice lakes and is quite scenic.

Starting 19:15 at Matildanjärvi.




Lots of interesting things to look at.


Not only walking...


... and not always the easiest way.


Bog-rosemary (fi suokukka, swe rosling).


Continuing towards Puolakanjärvi.




Our goal, the forest island to the right.


Almost there.


The first task was to put up the tent. There was actually another small group at the shelter (usually I see nobody on my outings), but we found a nice tent spot a bit away.


After that the kids went exploring the surroundings.






We grilled a few sandwhiches over the fire started by the other group. Delicious!


The evening was quite beautiful. Sunset at 22:15. Not bad.






Time to sleep. There were already a few mosquitoes around, enough to warrant the bug inner tent.


The kids did complain a little about the light, but soon fell asleep anyway.


The night was full of bird sounds, and in the beginning some noise from the other group. The temperature went a bit lower than expected, down to 3ºC (37ºF), but the kids said they were warm the entire time. Their sleeping bags should be good to around a little below freezing, but they seemed to glide off their half-length sleeping pads all the time, making it colder for them.

We slept long in the morning, and when we started to wake up the sun was already warming the tent to a comfortable temperature. We all ate porridge and drank hot chocolate / coffee.


Morning view.


The first night in the new tent, a Golite Shangri-La 5 with a bug inner tent, was promising. Light weight, lots of space and not a single drop of condensation despite no wind and a fairly chilly night. I'll make a post about tents later...


Morning exploring while I took down the tent.




The kids carried their own sleeping bags and pads, while I took the rest. My 80 liter backpack weighing 1.8 kg wins me no credibility amongst the lightpacking crowd, but otherwise the gear was lightweight. I would probably get a new light backpack if I would do more backpacking. A modern 60 liter backpack should weigh clearly under 1 kg.


On the move again.


Always something to take a closer look at.






Blueberry blossoms.


Small, but important, details.




We arrived at the car after a one hour walk. The children were satisfied with the outing and immediately asked when we will do it again.

A slideshow with more pictures.

Bikepacking video

I finished the video from last week's bikepacking trip.