A May overnighter with the kids

May is a good month to go out with the kids. The nature is becoming much more interesting again after almost six months of fall and winter. The night temperatures are generally above freezing and there are no mosquitoes out yet. In June and July the mosquitoes might be to much for smaller childrens, since you need some motivation to endure the bugs. Hence, a May is a good time to go out for an overnighter with the kids.


The area chosen was Västerby, the forests of which I roamed in during my childhood and youth. Compared to the area where I currently live, there are a lot more lakes and the nature is otherwise also a little more varying. Nowadays there are lots of trails and no less than four open shelters in the area.


We started walking a little over five in the afternoon. With the sunset at 21:40 (I love the light this time of the year) we had plenty of time to find a good tent spot.

Brain mushroom (Gyromitra esculenta), one of the very few spring mushrooms in Finland. It has a delicious taste and is also deadly. By cooking it several times and throwing away the water, the concentration of the poison gets low enough for the mushroom to become edible.

Rowan about to get leaves. Now and then the weather is very warm in the beginning of May, leading to an explosion of green, but we also have years like this one when everything happens very slowly. I actually prefer it in the latter way, since it gives plenty of time to follow the small changes on the way to summer.

A short break to get some energy.

No shortage of energy now.

The water is still very cold.

A birch turning green.

And on we go.

Look!

Two hopeful anglers trying to catch dinner while dad sets up the tent.

Hope is turning into disappointment.

Plan B. Pancakes. This turned into a disaster after a while when I got a bad grip on the pot with the batter and spilled most of it.

The few pancakes made were tasty, though.

Sunset after a short while.

A little reading before going to sleep.

Good night.

The night was a little colder than expected and rather windy as well.

As planned, the sun started to warm up the tent in the morning.

Porridge only in the morning, since the lack of fish and the pancake disaster forced us to eat the morning sandwhiches in the evening.

The morning was nice, though.

On the move again some time around 9:30.

Something interesting found.

Elk poo.

Continuing.

That's it. A nice short overnighter with the kids. And a request to go again soon...

A night in April

Finally I got away on an overnighter again, although a fairly short one. April has mostly been spent with a flu, not allowing any strenous outdoor exercises. But this time the weather seemed fine and I felt good enough to give it a try.

I started at 18:30 from my backyard. The bike was packed with only the necessary stuff for one night and only a single sandwich for the evening and some coffee for the morning. No stove, but instead I took a thermos bottle with hot water.


Riding my local trails...


 
... before arriving at the 24 km road section.


There is still not much spring green,  only the early spring flowers like the liverwort.




Arriving at the trail that should lead to my planned camp site.


Bushwacking. The map showed probable sparse forest and fairly even terrain, but the reality was different. After a while I turned back, since this was no shortcut. A half hour was then spent looking for the tripod that was lost during the bushwacking.



The sunset was coming closer and I still wasn't sure about the campsite. I continued to the trail I had seen on the map. It was supposed to lead close to a nice spot with a good view of a bog opening up right in the direction of the sunrise. Unfortunately, the trail was overgrown and it was not possible to ride or even walk on it, so I had to choose another spot.


A while after the sunset I arrived at another spot and set up the tarp, after having ridden about three hours. I bought the cheap Alpkit Rig 7 tarp earlier this year and this was the first time I used it. I don't see this becoming my main shelter, since a month from now the bugs will be out and the Tarptent Double Rainbow will be my main shelter, but a tarp has other uses as well. And it proved to be worth it over the simple bivy bag this time, since there was a little rainfall during the night.

The evening was clear and nice. Most birds went silent when it got dark, but the Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) with its peculiar sound, held out a lot longer.


The night was quite silent, though through the night I heard the characteristic sound of the Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) flying over me. A couple of times I woke to some light rain showers and there was also some wind, but I had pitched the tarp in the right direction to give good shelter from the wind. It started to get light around five in the morning, with the sunrise being a little before six. The birds started to sing when it got light and I could hear the usual species. Nothing special, though. A few cranes arrived just as I got up around sunrise and I could also hear black grouses lekking.


Morning coffee. Coffee was my only breakfast this time, since I wanted to assess my fitness by riding with a good energy deficit.


Under the tarp.


At seven o'clock I started to ride.


Storm damaged on the trail.



A big one.


The Vajosuo bog looks even more depressing in black and white.




Turning back home, a ride on mostly roads.



After a while the I could feel my energy level bottoming out and for the last hour I was a zombie. The fairly strong headwind didn't make it any easier, either. I arrived home a little before eleven. Though this was a somewhat unrealistic test, since you still need some amount of carbohydrates to keep the fat metabolism going, I still feel that my fitness has taken a big hit during this winter, because of a lots of flus and almost no skiing due to the frostbitten toe.