Pyhä-Luosto Winter – Tunturiaapa Nature Trail (10 km)
Tunturiaapa nature trail is located in Pyhä, at the southern part of Pyhä-Luosto National Park. From the vast open mire you'll get great views of the peaks of the Pyhätunturi fells.
The Tunturiaapa nature trail is accessible all year round. In winter, you may admire the beautiful landscape with the northern lights, the dazzling evening sky, frost-covered trees or the bright blue sky against a backdrop of white-peaked fells.
The trail is mostly flat terrain and is quite easy in winter, too. Here's the route description and tips for a 10 km walk or snowshoe hike.
Tunturiaapa nature trail - winter route
The Naava Visitor Centre in Pyhä-Luosto is the starting point for the winter trails in Pyhätunturi area. The Tunturiaapa nature trail is accessible by foot, snowshoe and fatbike in winter.
The Tunturiaapa nature trail is a hiking trail of about 8 km. In winter, the Tunturiaapa snowshoeing trail is 13.3 km long in total. You can choose the trail parts that you want to hike, and combine them as a circular route.
The trail is marked by blue squares on the trees and blue plough sticks along the trail. There are also signposts and brown signs for the Pyhä-Luosto National Park at each junction.
You can find atmospheric rest stops along the trails. The rest stops have fireplaces, wood sheds and sausage sticks. There are also dry toilets at the rest stops. You should bring matches and your own toilet paper.
Tiaislaavu lean-to shelter offers the best views directly to the Tunturiaapa mire. The Isokuru Lappish hut and half-hut offer a sheltered place for a picnic break even in bad weather. Porolaavu lean-to is the third stopping point for the Tunturiaapa tour.
The 10 km Tunturiaapa nature trail as a winter route from Naava Visitor Centre
Pyhä-Luosto Visitor Centre Naava is located in the small centre of Pyhä. There is a large parking area behind the visitor centre and a smaller car park just across the road next to the national park's information boards.
From the Naava Visitor Centre, walk past the K-Market grocery store and along the Pyhäntie road, where there is a footpath. From the junction with Kerontie road you can smoothly enter the peace and quiet of the forest. If you visit first the Porolaavu lean-to, you have to walk along the road for about another kilometre.
The route runs alongside the cross-country skiing track for a couple of hundred metres until it turns right. There are so many signposts at the junction that you can't miss it. From here on, the snowy path winds its way through the lichen-covered spruce trees, climbing small, gentle slopes.
Soon you reach the next junction. The Tiaislaavu lean-to shelter and Tunturiaapa mire are on the path that turns left. The terrain continues gently undulating, but fairly flat.
From the forest you reach the edge of the bog, where a signpost points left towards Porolaavu lean-to. You could make a 1.5 km (+ 1.5 km back) detour to Porolaavu and return, or take the longer Tunturiaapa trail around the mire.
Tiaislaavu lean-to
Tiaislaavu lean-to shelter is about 100 metres from the junction. Tiaislaavu lean-to is very popular all year round, and there are often fires waiting for hikers. Tiaislaavu has a covered fireplace surrounded by long benches, a group of a table and benches, a wood shed and a dry toilet. The lean-to overlooks the spacious Tunturiaapa mire.
Just as I was continuing my journey from Tiaislaavu, a large group on their snowshoeing trip were hiking towards Tiaislaavu. The Pyhä-Luosto trails are so popular even in winter that they stay trodden and you don't necessarily need snowshoes at all.
From Tiaislaavu lean-to, the trail continues a short distance along the edge of the swamp under deep green fir trees. Soon the path turns left to Tunturiaapa mire. It is worth keeping carefully to the middle of the path, which has sturdy duckboards underneath. Stepping past the planks can send you stumbling deep into the snow, especially if you don't have those snowshoes on.
While the longer Tunturiaapa trail from Porolaavu lean-to is about two and a half kilometres, the shorter loop from Tiaislaavu is only a kilometre long. From the open Tunturiaapa bog, the route offers some of the finest views of the surrounding fells.
With good luck, the beautiful scenery of Pyhä can be even more beautiful with the northern lights above the Tunturiaapa, the dazzling evening sky, frost-covered trees or the bright blue sky behind the white-capped fells. In the dull grey March weather, you can at least enjoy the fresh air and the pleasure of exercise in nature.
From the bog you return to the forest, where there is a short staircase at the forest edge. From here you can return to Tiaislaavu lean-to and follow your own tracks to the visitor centre, go around via Porolaavu lean-to on the way back, or continue straight ahead into the forest and towards Isokuru gorge. The westernmost short stretch of the trail, and the route from there to the lower slopes of Ukonhattu fell and to Isokuru Lappish hut, is not accessible with fatbikes.
Towards Isokuru gorge, the terrain continues in gently rolling forest. Before the path from Noitatunturi fell, descend a short staircase down to a creek bed, and ascend similar steps from the bottom of the creek up the slope. There is also a flat bridge under the snow leading across the brook. If you step aside, you can get into deep snow here as well.
The crossing signs next lead you towards Isokuru ahead and to the right. After a while, you descend the long, steep stairs down into the gorge. There is no winter maintenance on the stairs. If there is a lot of ice on the stairs and only slippery steps, it is advisable to descend the slope right next to the stairs.
At the bottom of the gorge there is a signpost: on the left, Finland's deepest gorge, Isokuru and Karhunjuomalampi and the Naava Visitor Centre; on the right, the Naava Visitor Centre. Isokuru gorge has no winter trail, and there is an avalanche risk. This is explained in several languages on a large number of information boards. Visit Isokuru gorge only in summer and autumn!
Isokuru Lappish hut
The marked snowshoe trail continues to the right, taking a short walk and climbing a gentle slope towards Isokuru Lappish hut. As there was not much snow on the stairs and I was on a walking tour, I took a shortcut straight up the stairs to Isokuru hut.
Isokuru Lappish hut is a cosy place to sit by the fire and watch the evening sky turn orange through the windows. During the daytime hikes, you often get companion from the Siberian Jays. At the late night hike, you can often just listen to the crackling of the fire in the silence.
From Isokuru hut back to the Naava Visitor Centre, you can either walk along the edge of Kultakero fell or go to the junction of Tiaislaavu and return by the same route, first to the junction of Kerontie road and then along Pyhäntie road to the visitor centre.
In my opinion, it is more comfortable in the dark to walk a few hundred metres along the lower slope of the Kultakero fell, then turn right and walk downhill along the edge of the cottage area to the starting gate of the Pyhä-Luosto National Park and continue along the Pyhäntie road to the Visitor Centre.
Pyhä-Luosto National Park
Pyhä-Luosto National Park in Central Lapland is a great nature destination in all seasons. In winter, the slopes of Pyhä-Luosto invite you to go skiing on the slopes, and cross-country skiing and hiking on the trails in the white fells and forests. In summer and autumn, you can admire the most famous sights, such as Isokuru gorge, Karhunjuomalampi Pond, Pyhänkasteenputous waterfall, Uhriharju ridge and Noitatunturi fell.
Pyhätunturi was once a sacred place for the Forest Sámi. Many of the place names in the Pyhätunturi area contain references to the meeting of Christianity and ancient beliefs. Although Pyhä is a popular tourist destination, you can also find peace and quiet in the midst of the most beautiful nature.
The Pyhä-Luosto National Park is divided into three zones: a hiking and nature tourism zone, a remote zone and a restriction zone. The zones have different guidelines and rules, which you should read carefully before you go.
- Isokuru gorge is a year-round restricted zone. In order to protect sensitive vegetation and relics, access to Isokuru is only allowed on marked paths, cycling is prohibited.
- In the hiking and nature tourism zone, fires may only be set in marked fireplaces and only from firewood located by the fireplaces. During a forestfire warning, open fires are not allowed except in the huts and Lappish huts, byt not in the Karhunjuomalampi lean-to shelter laavu.
- Camping is allowed outside the restricted zone. In order to protect nature, it is recommended to camp in the immediate vicinity of the rest areas.
- Dogs must be kept on a lead within the National Park.
- Pyhä-Luosto National Park is a litter-free camping area - remember to bring your own litter with you.
