Sipoonkorpi National Park in eastern Uusimaa is an easily accessible hiking destination in the capital region. From Helsinki, you can reach the national park in less than half an hour. Sipoonkorpi offers beautiful nature to take a break from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, hiking on forest trails and traditional rural landscapes.
On the trails of Sipoonkorpi National Park, you can admire varied nature, climb steep mossy rocks and walk through dense coniferous forests. Most of the routes also include streams, brooks and forest ponds or wilderness lakes and fields.
Byabäcken Nature Trail, when hiked as a ring route, is roughly the same length as Bakunkärr Trail. The route can be hiked all year round, but the path is not maintained in winter. The Byabäcken Nature Trail has been the slipperiest of all the Sipoonkorpi winter trails I have hiked.
Parking in Sipoonkorpi National Park
Sipoonkorpi National Park can be easily reached from Helsinki by public transport, either by bus or by train and bus, a distance of about twenty kilometers. Bus stops can be found on different sides of the national park. For the Byabäcken Nature Trail the nearest stops (Hindsby and Länsitie) are a good couple of kilometers away.
When arriving by car, there are several parking areas of different sizes. The closest parking are to the Byabäcken Nature Trail in the northern part of Sipoonkorpi National Park is Byabäcken I (Länsitie road 237), where there is parking space for around 20 cars. Just a bit further away is the slightly larger Byabäcken II parking area, and yet a little further away the even smaller Källängen parking area.
Sipoonkorpi's smaller parking lots fill up quickly on weekends and especially in nice weather. After snowing, the largest parking areas are plowed first.
I hiked on the Byabäcken Nature Trail on a weekday in mid-February. The parking area was empty, and I could walk in the forest in peace. There was very little snow in the entire area of southern Finland, and in Sipoonkorpi, especially the Byabäcken area, it was very icy.
The Byabäcken Nature Trail as a ring route
Byabäcken Nature Trail is 1.4 kilometers long, and the distance is 2.1 kilometers (1.30 miles) if you hike the whole round. The nature trail starts directly from the Byabäcken I parking area. The estimated hiking time is about an hour.
The route is marked with orange diamonds on tree trunks. There are many signs, and they stand out well even in winter. Even though you hardly get lost on the nature trail, it's good to have a map and compass with you when you're out in nature.
Around in the middle of the Byabäcken Nature Trail is the large Ängesböle shelter and fireplace site. In the area, there is a double lean-to shelter that is great for overnight stays, with a fireplace under the canopy in the middle and wooden beds on both sides. There is also a campfire place with benches in front of the shelter.
There are a total of three fireplaces surrounded by benches in Ängesböle. There is also a group of tables and benches, a log shed and a dry toilet in the area. Firewood is big logs that have to be sawn. An ax holder is also available to help. There is probably paper in the dry toilet.
The Ängesböle site is only a hundred meters away from the nature trail. Tents are allowed in Ängesböle. A short distance away is also the Bergström hut rental camp site, which has a well for drinking water.
You can walk the Byabäcken Nature Trail by stopping only in Ängesböle and returning to the parking lot the same route, by following the ring route without deviating for the fireplace, or by going around the entire route enjoying a break at the fireplace. Byabäcken is great for a quick relaxation trip even in winter, when the days are short.
Route description of the Byabäcken Nature Trail
The Byabäcken Nature Trail can be hiked with normal winter shoes if there is little snow. The path can be very icy and slippery in places, so studded shoes make it easier to walk in icy weather. If there is a lot of snow, you should take snowshoes.
The route of the Byabäcken Nature Trail mainly runs through dense forest, on high cliffs and along the road in a field landscape on the ring route. It is not allowed to pass through the fields because of the crops.
When hiked counter-clockwise, the first half before the Ängesböle fireplace site is shorter, about 600 meters (0.37 miles), the second half is around 1.5 kilometers (0.93 miles). There is an information board next to the parking area, where you can find a map of Sipoonkorpi and information about hiking.
From the parking area, you first descend to the the Byabäcken stream, over which there’s a wooden bridge. Byabäcken is part of River Sipoonjoki that meanders through the Natura area. Right at the beginning of the route, the fir trees are so tall and dense that even a sunny morning immediately turns into dusk. When the trail is icy, even the first slope descending to the bridge is a bit tricky.
Right after the bridge, the path climbs steeply upwards for a long distance. The winter sun twinkles between the trunks of the trees. In the middle of February, the birds are chirping in the otherwise quiet forest.
The trail continues flat, meandering among the fir trees. Soon there’s a nice rest place with a simple bench along the path. It's relaxing to sit on the bench and listen to the silence and peace.
From the bench, it's only a few minutes to the Ängesböle crossroads. Turn right to the fireplace site, the nature trail continues to the left.
Ängesböle is reached through a small open field where the sun shines brightly. A wooden milk cart is tied to the pole of Ängesböle's signpost. The site is located in a dense forest, where it is dark even on a clear winter day. There are plenty of seats for peak times, but I enjoyed the quiet forest while enjoying snacks by the fire.
From Ängesböle, you return to the intersection and continue the path around the cliffs. A beautiful big mossy stone peeks out on the path. You may hear a tireless knocking from the tops of the trees as the woodpecker taps the trunk.
Then you hear the babbling from a stream behind the snowbanks, as the path descends from the cliffs to the edge of the field. At the same time, you come out of the dark forest into a bright and open country landscape. The path leading to the road has fences on both sides, so that you don't go to the fields.
The field landscape is probably nicer in the summer when it's green, and it's also nicer to walk along the road when it's not icy. The beauty of the landscape on the seven-hundred-meter stretch of dirt road depends a little on the weather.
On Byabäcken Nature Trail, the silence, chirping of birds in mid-February, spruce branches goldened by the spring sun and an atmospheric lunch break in Ängesböle by the campfire were the most enjoyable things about the winter hiking trip.
Hiking in Sipoonkorpi National Park
In Sipoonkorpi, moving is allowed with everyone's rights. Everyone's rights do not extend to private yards, pastures and crops in the area. If you deviate from the path, go around the private areas with a sufficient distance.
You can camp in several places in Sipoonkorpi. Overnight stays are allowed in places marked for camping. Fires are only allowed in maintained fireplaces where firewood is available all year round.
Sipoonkorpi has no waste management. Bio waste can be left in the dry toilet, other garbage must be brought out of the forest. I picked up nine beer cans from the Ängesböle fireplace site in the garbage bag, and someone had also left a power bank next to the campfire (I left it on the bench as I thought its owner would come back to look for it).
In winter, ice fishing is allowed in Sipoonkorpi National Park, except by the Rivers Byabäcken, Ritobäcken and Hälsangsbäcken and Lake Storträsk.
Mobile phone network coverage is relatively good in Sipoonkorpi. In an emergency, call 112.
Other winter routes in Sipoonkorpi
It is only a short drive from Byabäcken to, for example, the Bakunkärr parking area. If the Byabäcken Nature Trail was hiked too quickly, continue your winter hiking trip with some of these ring routes:
- Knuters Trail 3.8 km (2.36 miles)
- Bakunkärr Trail 2.0 km (1.24 miles)
- Fiskträsk Trail 2.8 km (1.74 miles)
- Kalkinpolttaja Trail 4.8 km (2.98 miles)
Links
Nationalparks.fi – Sipoonkorpi National Park
Nationalparks.fi – Sipoonkorpi transport connections
