Karhunkierros Trail runs mainly
within Oulanka National Park. Services such as kiosks and cafés are situated
at 2-day-hike
intervals. The cafés and kiosks sell
foodstuff and hiking supplies. This means that you do not have
to carry everything with you.
The maintenance of Karhunkierros Trail and customer
service along the trail are managed by Metsähallitus and the town of Kuusamo.
Metsähallitus manages the portion of the trail which is within Oulanka National
Park and the town of Kuusamo manages the remaining portion running from the
village of Juuma to Konttainen.
Drinking Water
- The areas ground waters - in lakes and rivers -
should be filtered or boiled before drinking, as the water’s quality changes
from place to place.
- We recommend that visitors fill water bottles at customer service points.
Drinking water from rivers and lakes is at your own risk.
Waste Management
In Oulanka National Park and on Karhunkierros Trail each visitor
is responsible for the waste
that
accumulates during his/her stay. Please bring biodegradable waste, metal, glass
and hazardous waste to recycling points.
There are six recycling points,
but there are no waste bins for mixed waste. For this reason please consider
what you bring on your hike. Remove items from packages which cannot be burnt.
This is a good way to lighten your rucksack.
Firewood
Firewood is transported during winter to open
wilderness hut and campfire sites by snowmobile. They are
trunks
which must be sawed or chopped before they
can be used to get s proper fire. During summer firewood supplies are
restocked if need be.
Oulanka National Park is a very popular destination and therefore a large
amount of firewood gets used each year on Karhunkierros Trail. Please use
firewood moderately.
Toilets
There are 10 wilderness huts on the trail and all have a dry toilet by them.
Biodegradable waste can be put into dry toilets. The toilets are emptied
regularly when the container fills up.
Management of Firewood and Waste
A majority of Karhunkierros Trail is maintained by Metsähallitus. There are
couple of service calls in week in the area. From Juuma village to the
north of Konttainen the Karhunkierros Trail is maintained by Kuusamo Town
(www.kuusamo.fi).
- In the area of Oulanka National Park the trail is
maintained by Metsähallitus, Natural Heritage Services, Ostrobothnia-Kainuu.
Address: Torangintaival 2, 93600 Kuusamo, Finland.For more information
contact
Oulanka Visitor Centre, tel. int.
+358 205 64 6850.
- Kuusamo Town maintains the services along the portion of Karhunkierros Trail outside of
Oulanka National Park. For more information
contact Kuusamo Tourist Information Office (www.kuusamo.fi),
tel. int. +358 8 8502 910.
Connecting Trails
The section of the UKK Trail from Hossa via Kuusamo to Sallatunturi Fell follows the route
of Karhunkierros Trail from Ruka to Hautajärvi. The UKK Trail also
connects Karhunkierros Trail to Riisitunturi National Park.
Other Services in the Surrounding Area
- There are rental cabins near the Karhunkierros Trail
in the municipality of Salla. For more information contact
Hautajärvi Visitor Centre, tel. int.
+358 205 64 6870.- For information on lodging, shops, transport, car transportation, equipment rental
and other services in the Kuusamo area contact
Kuusamo Tourist Information Office (www.kuusamo.fi),
tel.
int.+358
8 850 2910. Information on
services in Kuusamo and at Ruka is available on the Ruka and Kuusamo
summer
travel website (www.ruka.fi).
Notices
Oulanka National Park is one of Finland’s most popular
National Parks. The area receives around 180,000 visitors yearly. This large amount of visitors
wears the hiking trails and causes them to be quite crowded especially during peak seasons.
We ask that hikers only use marked trails, so that the surrounding nature
will remain intact and so that new paths would not form in the area.
Overnight Stays
Open Wilderness Huts
There are 10 open
wilderness huts (owh) and day trip huts (dth) on
Karhunkierros Trail. Eight of these are within Oulanka National Park.
- Savilampi owh is on the bank of the River
Oulankajoki.
- Taivalköngäs owh is on the bank of the River
Oulankajoki.
- Puikkokämppä owh and Ristikallio owh, are on the bank
of the River Aventojoki.
- The new Ansakämppä was opened in February 2004 and is
located on the bank of the River Oulankajoki 1.2 km south of where the old hut
was.
- Jussinkämppä owh is on the shore of Lake
Kulmakkojärvi.
- Siilastupa owh is on the bank of the River Kitkajoki
at Jyrävä on Pieni karhunkierros Trail.
Myllykoski
dth (www.ruka.fi) is on the bank of the River Kitkajoki on Pieni
karhunkierros Trail.Porontimajoki
owh (www.ruka.fi) is on the bank of the River Porontimajoki.- Valtavaara dth is at the top of Valtavaara Hill.
Camping Grounds
- Oulanka National Park Camping Ground
is located on Karhunkierros Trail in the centre of the park.
Lodging in the Surrounding Area
- The Ruka holiday resort has an abundance of lodging places, such as several hotels
and rental cabins. For futher information on lodging possibilities at Ruka visit
the
ski centres website (www.ruka.fi) and see what
they have on offer for each season.
Equipment Rental
For information on equipment rental in the area visit the Ruka
and Kuusamo summer
travel website (www.ruka.fi)
Equipment
Karhunkierros is a pleasant trail to hike if you have basic knowledge of
hiking and survival skills. The most important things you will need are a good
map (Rukatunturi - Oulanka Outdoor map 1:50,000) and good advance information
about the area.
The open wilderness huts along the trail are often full
during peak season, so a tent and sleeping bag are good to have
with.
