Hietajärvi Before the Snow: A Short Hike to a Lapland Lake in Early Winter

Winter’s icy, snowy fingertips have already brushed parts of the Lapland wilderness, but the whole region is still waiting for the thick, lasting blanket of snow to arrive. While thinking about this, I found a story in my memories and photo archives from a trip a few winters ago. That day I got to see the beautiful Hietajärvi lake in Enontekiö in the brief in-between moment when late autumn was turning into early winter.

Hietajärvi, Enontekiö

• Location on map
  • Ketomella parking area (Ounastie road, Enontekiö)
• Trail: approx. 3 km one way
• Campfire site: a hut-style shelter

It was one of those days when, if I hadn’t already made plans with a friend, the sofa at home would surely have won. The weather was the greyest of grey and a little windy too, and the complete absence of colour in the landscape made the day, already in mid-November, feel as if morning would never turn into day but slide straight into evening. And at the same time, it was one of those days when you end up thinking in the evening: I’m so glad I went. However bleak November’s colourlessness can be on a fully overcast day, moving and spending time in nature always wins over anything else. I have never once regretted heading out into nature.

Lake Hietajärvi, in Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park near the village of Ketomella in Enontekiö, is a summer paradise. The pale sandy beach and turquoise-clear water make a ridiculously beautiful sight amid the summer greenery, and why not also during ruska, the autumn colour season.

This time we trudged along an ATV track through a grey pine forest wrapped in its winter sleep. Tufts of beard lichen fluttered in the wind, and the treetops of the old pine heath whispered above us. There was barely any snow yet, so walking was light and easy. We kept hoping the weather might clear up even a little, and now and then we thought we saw a faint orange glow in the sky. It was probably just wishful thinking.

Three kilometres later we reached the lakeshore. Before us lay colourless ice, and beyond it a colourless forested hill rose against a colourless sky. The wind was frolicking on the ice. It had arranged a thin layer of snow to its liking and left parts of the lake still clear and bare. The dark, scraggly silhouette of a tiny islet jutted forlornly out of the water, and I recalled a warm summer day when I had waded out to that very island along an underwater ridge.

We did what absolutely has to be done on a hike in weather like this: we quickly built a fire to warm up and dug out our snacks and the tea kettle. I’m not much of a campfire person myself, but on winter days like this even I can’t resist the spell of a fire. In the endless chill and gloom, the fire is the heart of the whole trip.

Our only schedule was the coming of darkness, but we had set out in good time. We had time to sit by the fire and eat without rushing, wander back and forth along the shoreline, and still wander back to the car before dark.

From the dim, sheltered depths of the kota, it was also nice to watch the daylight shifting across the lake.

For a moment, the veil of cloud let a little more light through. A shy glimmer reflected off the glassy ice, revealing the clarity of the ice and the water moving beneath it. The moment below was the most colourful sight of our day, unless you count the glow of the campfire and my hiking companion’s neon-orange outdoor trousers.

I can’t judge the thickness of ice, and on top of that I’m one of those people who don’t like stepping onto the ice until at least a snowmobile, or preferably a tractor, has gone ahead of me. Only then do I start to believe the ice will hold. Still, standing on the shore, I thought how wonderful it would have been to walk out onto the ice and light up the depths of the lake with a lamp.

Conditions like these don’t usually last long. This time, too, a thicker snow cover was only days away, and soon the glassy ice was buried under a white blanket for the rest of the winter.

This article was originally written in Finnish and translated into English with the help of AI.

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