Aakenustunturi fell rises in western Kittilä, right next to Ylläs, in Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park in Lapland. Aakenustunturi fell has three high peaks, Pallilaki (565 m / 1854 ft), Moloslaki (530 m / 1739 ft) and Vasalaki (470 m / 1542 ft). The Aakenustunturi trail, Moloslaki Trail, goes through Vasalaki.
Aakenustunturi fell offers great views of the Levi fells and hills to the northeast, and the Ylläs fells to the west and southwest in Lapland. Between the chains of fells lie vast, colourful swamps and forests.
The length of the Moloslaki Trail is around 11.5 kilometers (7.1 miles) and the estimated hiking time is four hours. The trail is classified as moderately demanding.
Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park
Aakenustunturi fell is located at the southern end of Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park, to which it was added in the early 2000s. There are plenty of different routes suitable for summer and winter outdoor activities in the area of the national park. There are a total of about 500 kilometers (310 miles) of marked summer routes in the national park and its surrounding areas.
Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park is one of Finland's oldest and, at the same time, Finland's most popular national parks. The most famous hiking route is the Hetta-Pallas Trail, which can be continued all the way to Ylläs by summiting Koivakero, Äkäskero and Kukastunturi fells. Of course, you can also visit Aakenustunturi fell on the way.
Camping and fires are allowed in the special, recreational and cultural zones of the national park only in reserved and maintained sites in the vicinity of huts and shelters. There is no waste management in the national park, you have to bring your own litter out of nature.
How to get to Aakenustunturi fell and parking
The Aakenustunturi trails start from the Totovaara parking area, Totovaarantie road 165, Kittilä. Google Maps gave me the address as Totovaarantie road 190, though. The free parking area is huge, but the place is very popular.
Another option is to start from the Lake Pyhäjärvi parking area, which is located west of Aakenustunturi fell on the shore of Lake Pyhäjärvi.
At the edge of the parking lot, you can find info boards and a map of the Aakenustunturi fell area, with Aakenustunturi routes. Popular routes include the Totovaara fell trail, which leads to Haavepalo Lappish hut at the top of Totovaara hill.
The route of Aakenustunturi fell and Moloslaki Trail in autumn
Right at the beginning of the trail, on the edge of the parking lot, there is a signpost for routes leaving from the Totovaara parking area, to huts and other parking lots in the area. A stone ash path leads to a lush forest. The trail is almost completely covered with gravel up to Vasalaki, so it's fast to hike.
After a couple of hundred meters, the path branches off to the path that goes to Totovaara and to the path that leads to Aakenustupa hut. After about a kilometer from the parking lot, the trail starts to rise steeper. The old stony and beautiful path runs next to the new gravel path in some places.
After a kilometer of ascent, you reach a crossroads again. At this point, you can choose whether to go clockwise or counter-clockwise around Moloslaki. The Moloslaki Trail does not go up to the top of Moloslaki to the best scenery, as it runs around lower on the slopes of the fell.
A path to the top of Moloslaki was visible up at Vasalaki top. However, you should prefer marked routes to protect fragile fell nature. You can visit e.g., Pallilaki top via a marked route.
I went directly to Vasalaki top, because I thought I would visit Totovaara as well. At Vasalaki, my camera ran out of battery and I realized that I had put the spare battery in my daypack and not in my bigger backpack, so I hiked back to the parking lot, changed the camera battery, climbed the gravel path again and turned right at the Moloslaki signpost.
The trail goes around Moloslaki right at the forest line, but more in the dense forest. After the rain, the route is very wet: the trail turns into streams and the wet parts into mud. The stones are slippery in places and the rhizomes are very slippery.
After Käymäkuru, the trail runs more and less on rocky slopes. The spring marked on the map is one of the puddles, it's hard to distinguish which is a rainwater puddle and which one is the bubbling spring. Next to the trail lies a plane wreck and next to it there is a campfire place, which is not an official campfire site, however.
In the distance, the fells of Levi and the hills of Aakenus rise in purple shades. Next, the ascent towards Vaulokuru begins. Mostly the ascent is gentle, and the rocks are easy to cross. The last ascent along the edge of the small gorge goes smoothly.
At sunset, the sky is colored with glowing pink somewhere behind Pallilaki top. You might even see an aniline red rainbow against the pink sky!
There is another crossing on the saddle between the fell peaks. You could continue the journey to the highest point of Aakenustunturi fell, Pallilaki, by turning right, or follow the ring route of Moloslaki Trail by going down the gentle slope of Aakenustunturi. If the evening is already getting dark, it might be wise to continue towards the open wilderness hut.
Aakenustupa open wilderness hut
Aakenustupa is a new open wilderness hut for 6 people, built in 2021. The old wilderness hut is no longer in use, but the reindeer cabin has been preserved as a historical site and you can visit it.
In the hut there’s a stove, a table and benches and wooden beds on both walls. The lower beds can accommodate two, the narrow upper bed can accommodate one person. There is a firewood shelter and a dry toilet in the yard area.
Aakenustupa hut is located on a rather damp slope, where there are also trees, bushes and rocks. I couldn't find a single suitable tent spot except from the middle of the trail. Most of the trail was wet, too.
To take water, a stream can be found some distance towards Vasalaki (at least after the rain). The map also shows a spring near the old reindeer hut about a couple of hundred meters down the slope. I had carried water with me, so I didn't have to go looking for water in the dark and in the rain.
The stove in the hut is very efficient: with just a few logs it heats the hut so warm in the cool autumn weather that even in the morning it's quite warm inside. A pot of water also boils quickly. You should use wood sparingly in cabins and fireplaces - even though fire creates atmosphere on a hiking adventure, consuming firewood puts a burden on nature.
When leaving wilderness huts, you should clean up after yourself, sweep the floor, empty the cooled ashes, chop wood for the next visitors and check that the doors and windows are closed.
Vasalaki top
It is about one and a half kilometers to Vasalaki top from Aakenustupa hut. The first kilometer is gentle descending in boggy terrain. When it has been raining all night, the trail is very wet.
The last section towards Vasalaki turns left above the tree line at the intersection, from where you can go gently downhill to the right towards Totovaara and the Haavepalo Lappish hut. It is three kilometers from the intersection to Totovaara.
The ascent to Vasalaki top is steep in places, but easy on a wide trail. Halfway up the slope, two garden chairs invite you to rest in the landscape, although the invitation is not too tempting in the fog and rain. Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park’s high cross-shaped signposts can be seen far away even in the fog.
After a few hundred meters of ascent, you reach rocky Vasalaki top. In good weather, great fell landscapes open up from Vasalaki to the east and west.
The path of the Moloslaki Trail descends steeply from Vasalaki for about a kilometer to the intersection of the Moloslaki ring route. After that, the rest of the journey is the same trail as when coming from the Totovaara parking lot. When I arrived in the evening in good weather, there were dozens of cars in several rows in the parking lot, and when I arrived in the morning in the fog and drizzle, my car was all alone in the middle of a huge parking lot.
Other places to visit in the area of Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park:
- Pirunkuru and Kesänkitunturi fell
- Keimiötunturi in summer
- Lake Keimiöjärvi in winter
- Punainenhiekka day hut and Lake Pallasjärvi
- Saivonkierros Nature Trail
