Experience the Autumn Colors and the Perfect Tranquility of Lapland: Sallivaara Hill, Lemmenjoki National Park
The trail selection in Lemmenjoki National Park mainly consists of quite long routes suitable for hikes. However, it is also possible to explore the park on shorter day trips. One of these somewhat shorter and easier trails is the Sallivaara Trail, which is still six kilometers each way – making it a total of 12 kilometers round trip. Now you get to see what the trail looks like in autumn and what kind of magnificent view opens up from the summit of Sallivaara!
Start and end point on the map
Route length 6 km / one way
Wilderness and day huts at the destination, no rest spots along the way
The starting point of the Sallivaara Trail is at Repojoki along Kittiläntie road from Inari. The remote location of the trailhead – an hour from Inari and almost two hours from Kittilä – keeps the trail relatively quiet, and you rarely see cars crowding this parking lot. That was also the case this time, even though it was a Sunday during the autumn foliage season. There were a few cars in the parking area, but on the trail itself, we only encountered one pair of hikers, and they were already on their way back.
We had checked in advance on nationalparks.fi that mountain biking is allowed on the Sallivaara Trail. So I waved goodbye to my spouse, who pedaled away on the trail out of sight, and I set off walking at a slower pace, guided by the signs toward Sallivaara.
The occasional sounds of the road quickly faded away, as the tranquility and silence of the forest embraced me. The trail is within the national park from the very beginning, and thus the surrounding forest is immediately beautiful and ancient. The old pines were especially enchanting from the very first steps.
The trail began as a narrow natural path, as shown in the picture above, but along the way, there were also boardwalk sections and quad tracks.
It was nice to walk at a leisurely pace, admiring the autumn in the Lapland forest and enjoying its scents. The trail was well-marked, with old tall wooden posts with slanted boards at the top serving as route markers (as seen in the picture below). I particularly enjoyed being able to appreciate the natural beauty without having to constantly check the map or worry about getting lost. There were some trail junctions along the way, but by following the markers, it was easy to stay on the right path.
It didn’t take long to notice that there were a lot of lingonberries. This significantly slowed down my progress, and I ended up eating far too many of them. Luckily, I also had a couple of three-liter freezer bags with me, so I was able to pick some berries to take along.
But lingonberries weren’t the only red things in the terrain. Although the peak of the fall colors seemed to have passed, and many of the birch trees had already shed their leaves, the dwarf birch and bog bilberry shrubs were still blazing in fiery colors in many places.
The terrain reminded me in places of the nearby forests of Karigasniemi, where I used to wander. Low birch groves, beautiful shrubs, and the ambiance of Northern Lapland in the landscape. However, in some places, the forest was taller and more robust, with some large spruces included.
Not long after the beginning, we crossed the Pajuoja stream via a well-maintained bridge. This was the only water feature along the trail, aside from the distant waters seen from the summit of Sallivaara later on.
There are no actual services along the trail, such as campfire spots or other facilities. However, a nice addition among the route markers were the kilometer posts, which indicated how far we had come and how much further there was to go. It was really nice to be able to track the progress of the journey.
The trail structures were also in good condition, except for the boardwalks right at the beginning of the trail near the parking lot, which were a bit alarming. They were very rotten, but luckily they were on dry forest ground, so it wasn’t necessary to teeter along them. And they didn’t last for long. Further along the route, there were a few boardwalk sections, wide and relatively well-maintained, though the marsh was quickly reclaiming them. Following the recommendation on nationalparks.fi, I had chosen to wear rubber boots. This time, sneakers would have sufficed, but in some places, it was clear that water could just as easily have been standing on the boardwalk. The rubber boot recommendation is certainly justified.
At some point, my spouse called to ask where I was. We were mentally prepared for the phone not working on this route, but we were still able to make a call. I was just stuffing lingonberries into my mouth with both hands when I realized it might actually be a good idea to continue on to reach the destination at some point.
Finally, I reached Sallivaara. My spouse had cycled back some way to meet me. Just before reaching the reindeer fence, there was a map of the area along the trail.
Having seen quite a few reindeer fences before, my eyes began to sparkle when I noticed that in addition to the fence, there was a lookout point available!
We walked to the reindeer fence and took a lunch break in the guide hut. Our lunch consisted of cold pizza and chocolate bars; we didn’t feel like making a fire anywhere. The hut, however, provided a nice sheltered spot for a lunch break with seats. As shown on the map above, there are many buildings around the fence area: there is a wilderness hut, a day hut, a guide hut, a water point, and more.
After our lunch break, we naturally began ascending to the summit of Sallivaara, as a far-reaching view is usually the highlight of any trail. The route leading between the huts was clearly signposted, and a long staircase helped with the initial ascent.
After the stairs, the route continued as a regular path, which wound slightly to avoid being too steep. Just before the summit, the trail disappeared from view, but the summit was very distinct, so it was easy to navigate toward it. The view from the top was truly magnificent!
We tried to squint to see if we could spot a wolverine or a bear roaming the marsh, but we didn’t see any movement. The wind just hummed, and in the distant horizon, there were some hills, fells, and water visible. Although the stubborn cloud cover didn’t allow even a single sunbeam to embellish the landscape, the view was still very beautiful and impressive.
After descending from the summit, we began heading back toward the parking lot. We agreed to meet at the car, and my spouse with his bike once again disappeared down the trail into the forest. I tried to walk briskly and resist the calls of the lingonberries because evening was approaching, and I didn’t want dusk to fall while I was still out in the terrain.
In my opinion, the highlights of the trail were the charm of the old forest, the tranquility of the path, and the view from the top of Sallivaara. Of course, the buildings were also charming, and the reindeer fence is an interesting curiosity. It’s worth mentioning that the guide hut, where we took our lunch break, had a lot of information about the history of Sallivaara in different languages.
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