Bear watching

There are bears in the forests I visit, but I've never had the opportunity to see one. Due to hunting, which still is performed under strict control, the bears are very wary of humans and disappear before you have a chance to see them. This behaviour also means that bears pose very little threat to humans, and there has been only one fatality, a jogger coming between the cubs and the mother, for a long time. You don't have to take care to store your food or eat in another place than you sleep, like you have to do in America. But this means that it is difficult to see bears, unless you use some tricks.

Lassi Rautianen, see www.articmedia.fi, is one of the foremost animal photographers in Finland and is also a nature tourism pioneer. For twenty years he has had hides in the no man's land (requiring special permits to enter) along the Russian border, luring bears and other animals with carcasses to come before the hides for photography and filming. In the beginning only nature photographers and filmers were coming (BBC has lots of material from Lassi's hides), but later he started offering the services for a (slightly) broader audience as well. I went there with a small group of nature enthusiasts, with whom I've made a number of nature trips. We were hoping to see bear, wolf and possibly wolverine, though there is no guarantee to see anything, since these are still wild animals coming in from Russia to see if there is anything edible offered.

We started from Turku at 06:00 a Friday morning and had 720 km of car driving to the basecamp 60 km east of Kuhmo. The journey felt rather long, and the weather wasn't promising.

The final 15 km on rather small roads.

Lassi's base camp.

In addition to the six of us from Turku, there was an older Scottish couple, a German couple and a larger (6-8 people) group of nature photographers from Sweden there. The food at the base camp was excellent.

After eating we made a few sandwhiches for the night and filled our thermos bottles and then we drove some 10-15 km on small forest roads. After that it was a 1 km walk to the hides.

There were three hides taking two persons each at this location, one of five. The hides were rather primitive according to the Scottish couple (they had obviously expected something more luxurious) and we were not to leave them until eight in the following morning, after having entered them a little after five in the afternoon. There was a bucket of some kind in case of emergency and a canister to pee in.

R is rigging up the camera. I don't exactly have the photography gear for occasions like this, having changed my gear to a lightweight m43 system two years ago. My main camera was a Panasonic GH2 with the Panasonic 100-300 mm 4-5.6 lens. With this lens I had enough reach, but the limited amount of light caused problems. A camera with a larger sensor for good high ISO performance as well as lenses with a very large aperture would have been needed. The animals never appear when there is plenty of light...

For the next two and a half hour not much happened. Gulls, Hooded Crows and Ravens arrived and provided some entertainment when they tried to get the salmons hidden to lure the bears there.

The Raven is actually a very interesting bird. It has a totally different elegance than the Hooded Crow, both in appearance and in its flying skills. And it has the ability to generate most interesting sounds.

At eight in the evening it started to happen. A very big and old scarred bear appeared. It moved slowly and looked like a giant fat teddy bear. Lassi calls this bear Lenkka and said that it is 25 years old.

Lenkka knew where to find the salmon and promply lay down and started eating.

There were three white-tailed Eagles in the area and one of them came a little closer, though they all seemed very cautious.

After some time Lenkka decided to move a little.

He soon found another spot.

At 21:15 another bear appeared. This was a young and smaller one, which moved very quickly and kept its distance to Lenkka. The bears know their place in their hierarchy.

This bear stayed for maybe 10-15 minutes, while Lenkka still rested.

Around 21:30 Lenkka also moved on, but a third bear came twenty minutes later. It also stayed only a short while, even though it was alone.

It now started to get dark, but we saw one last bear appearing at 22:15. This one was easy to recognize, like Lenkka, and we would see it the following evening.

The cloudy weather meant that it became dark an hour earlier than in clear weather and sometime after eleven it became too dark for us to see anything. The hide was just big enough to sleep the two of us.

Sometime after midnight I woke up to the sound of moose (or elk if you wish, Alces alces) bellowing, a very lamenting sound. I fell asleep again, and slept a little too well, getting up again around 5:30 in the morning. It rained quite a bit, but I still had coffee left in the thermos.

Nothing happened during the morning and after a little more than two hours and four three cups of coffee we started packing our gear to return to the basecamp with the cars.

A most excellent breakfast waited at the base camp along with even more coffee. After the breakfast Lassi held a slideshow with inspiring photos.

Lassi is a humorous guy and unlike most Finns, he spoke passable English, Swedish and German with his guests.

The rest of the day was spent resting until the dinner at four in the afternoon, as well as a stroll around the area. For dinner we had the best Karelian stew I've ever tasted. After dinner we again went to the hides and were in place around half past five.

These hides were at a different place, about 500 m from the previous ones, and the four hides took a total of nine persons. I again was in a two person hide with R.

Then we waited. The sky wasn't uniformly grey. There was at least some different shades of grey, but it was still not particularly light. We waited patiently, though I started on my coffee earlier this time. A Northern Lapwing posed for us for a while.

The  White-tailed Eagles also made their appearance.

At 19:45 I saw the first bear in the distance. It disappeared, but twenty minutes later something black moved in the forest on the other side of the mire. The bear seemed to be very cautious, probably because of another bear we didn't see. After a while it finally dared to leave the forest.

It arrived at the place where a dead pig (I think) had been left earlier, though there was not much left of it. I think this bear was bear number three from the day before.

A while later another bear appeared. This was a younger one and it's thinner appearance, cautiousness and quick moves showed this to be bear number two from the day before.

Now something is happening.

Bear number four of the day before, easily recognizable by the white spot at the neck, proved to be the boss at this place. It just walked straight while the other two bears stood still or kept their distance.

The bears stayed in the vicinity until around nine in the evening.

Some 10-15 minutes after the bears left, the dull greyness gave way to a more dramatic light.

After a while one of the bears actually returned.

The bear still found something to eat there and stayed for a while.

Soon the cloud cover returned, it became dark and we went to sleep. I got up a little over four in the morning to see if the wolves would appear. A pack of wolves had visited a few days before. During the night some of the Swedes also had a wolverine appear before their hides. When nothing happened I went to sleep again a little over six in the morning, and got up again around eight. We then returned to the base camp for breakfast.

The rest of the day we drove back to Turku, nine hours including on lunch of 45 minutes. Sometimes Turku seems to be so far away from the interesting places...

I think this was a very nice experience and I also think Lassi Rautiainen provided a good nature package. I'm sure I will be back at some point. I would of course still like to see a bear (and wolves) on my own in the nature, but it is not likely to happen. Both animals are too wary of humans for that, mostly because of hunting I reckon. To see the animals on your own would demand a lot of time in the nature or going to a place like Rovdjurstorget (the Predator Square) in Sarek and spend a day or two with the binoculars.

A short Kurjenrahka overnighter

It occurred to me that I should go on a few backpacking overnighters to see if the gear and techniques work as expected before the Wilderness Guide school starts with a week in the Lemmenjoki National Park in Lapland. Hiking is a low intensity activity compared to the bikepacking outings I'm used to, but there is more to it than just aerobic fitness. The feet might need some conditioning in order to avoid blisters and the muscles carrying the backpack could also possibly benefit from some conditioning, even though I nowadays keep the backpack quite light. I also had some new gear, an excellent Gossamer Gear Kumo backpack that I won, and new trail running shoes, the Salomon Speedcross 3, to replace my old Lundhags boots, since everyone* says that it would be wrong and stupid to use traditional boots.

I chose the Kurjenrahka National Park for this outing, since it is only a half hour drive away and it is a nice area. With an approximate goal in mind, I started walking at 18:30.

With the trail runners my stride was very light and with my long legs it looked almost ridiculous on the video clips I took. They weighed 320 g each, which is 600 g lighter than my old Lundhags boots. Per foot!

For once, the mire has some colors with the blooming heather.

Cloudberry leaves turned red.

The duckboard walking demanded some care, in order not to step on caterpillars, this one I think is a Small Emperor Moth.

And on I went, through forests and over mires on duckboards. The backpack, which probably weighed around five kilos, excluding 2 liters of water, felt great.

The bumblebees were buzzy. They had a lot of work to do with the heather.

In some places in the forest it already looked like fall. The draught of July had caused leaves to become yellow and fall from the trees and the blueberry leaves were in some places very red.

Arriving at Lakjärvi a little before nine in the evening. There are two shelters there, and I had contemplated staying there for the night, but the shelters were in the middle of very high spruces and it was too dark and depressing there. By the lake it was nice, though. To my surprise, there were other people out. A mother and daughter (I think) and their dog were already at Lakjärvi for the night, enjoying the excellent weather.

I walked a little bit back where I came from and went up to a small hill, Paltanvuori. With fifteen minutes or so to the sunset a little over ten, I started looking for a suitable tent place. I was less happy to discover that the deer flys are now out. Without a comb, they were hard to remove from the hair.

Nice colors.

Found the tent place after a total of 10 km of walking. With some stones on the tent stakes, this would be a nice tent spot.

The tent spot was nice, but I discovered a disadvantage of the Salomon Speedcross. The coarse pattern underfoot which ensures an excellent grip everywhere was not very kind to the thin layer of mosses and lichens on the rock, and I therefore had to tread very carefully.

The sun was about to set and I went to the highest point near the tent to enjoy the evening and make a hot drink. It was a nice and warm evening and not too many mosquitoes.

I did hear voices, two girls talking, which seemed to move around the entire hill. I wondered if they were lost. A while after the sunset, the two girls came to my spot and wondered where Lakjärvi was. I showed them the location on the map and adviced them how to get there and on they went. It seems to be crowded here during the summer. I already had met four persons.

Around half past eleven it started to get dark and I decided to go to the tent. The night was fairly silent, but there were some bird contact calls I couldn't recognize and surprisingly also a nightjar singing (if that is what you call it). Cranes could also be heard through the night.

I slept fairly well, but at one point during the darkest hours I was woken up by a barking sound quite close to the tent. Three times it barked and I'm fairly sure it was a roe deer. At some point I could also hear distant thunder. I just hoped it wouldn't come closer, since I was on the highest point in the area, and I would have no other choice than to move my camp in case of thunder.

When the morning got closer I woke and noticed that it was very humid in the tent. The tent was half open, so there should not have been any condensation issues. When I got out I noticed that everything outside was wet from dew and a little further down the hill the mist was thick.

I packed my stuff quickly without breakfast and started to walk again a little before seven in the morning.

A quick breakfast from the nature.

I took the trail on the north side of the Savojärvi lake. The weather was now a little cloudy and the temperature a very pleasant 16°C (60°F).

Even more people out. There are a few nice tent spot north of the lake as well, but I don't use them since the National Park rules do not allow it.

More heather color.

After two hour it was time for the real breakfast. I boiled water with the BushCooker and made coffee. Despite the rather brown water of the lake, the coffee tasted great.

I continued on the duckboards.

The duckboards were again used by others. This looks a little like a fox moth, but I'm not entirely sure.

Common Lizard.

I should get a better butterfly guide. I couldn't find this one in it, but some googling came up with a strong candidate, Ruby Tiger.

A short bit left.

Sneezewort.

The total of today was 8 km. Not much, but I did get home in time to make lunch for the family. The gear worked great. The Gossamer Gear Kumo backpack is nice and light and is big enough for a few days out, except during the winter. The details and solutions are well thought out and the workmanshop good. In fact, I liked it so much that I ordered its bigger sibling, the Gossamer Gear Mariposa, for use when I need more gear, like going out with the kids or on a longer outing.

The Salomon Speedcross 3 shoes are light and stable, but I did get a small blister on my left little toe. It has a tendency to fold under the following toe and I usually make sure that there is absolutely no hard skin on it that can cause problems, but I forgot it this time. Anyway, a nice outing it was.

* I got good advice from the following gentlemen:
Mark at BackpackingNorth
Roger at Nielsen Brown Outdoors
Korpijaakko
Hendrik at Hiking in Finland
Martin at Summit And Valley

I'll blame them later for any possible failures :-)

A later addition, the video from the outing: