Under the Spell of Moonlight: Discovering the Famous Beauty of Riisitunturi National Park at Night

Riisitunturi National Park is located in the municipality of Posio in Finnish Lapland. The area is true wilderness, dominated by the mighty forces of Lapland. In the national park, there’s a trail that can be walked in winter too, with proper winter clothing and equipment. On a clear Monday evening, the sky was bright and the moon nearly full. We set out to explore how Riisitunturi looks under the winter starry sky.

Trail: Riisin Rääpäsy circular trail

Trail length: 4.3 km/2.7 mi

Facilities: Open hut

Location on the map

Arriving by Car: Address: Patoniementie 180, Posio

Arriving by Public Transport: Not possible

The Riisin Rääpäsy trail can also be traversed in bright moonlight. Be prepared with proper windproof and warm winter clothing and shoes, along with a spare lamp and a hiking companion. A moonlit trek to the mountain, with good weather and proper gear, is an experience where performance takes a back seat and enjoyment plays a bigger role. We started after work when the evening had darkened sufficiently. We packed only essential supplies and spent a little over two hours walking. On paper, not a grand adventure, but the atmosphere and scenery were utterly magical.

The phone’s night photography setting is prone to shaking and slightly overexposes the picture. The actual scenery was a bit darker, yet bright.

The nearly full moon illuminated our journey all night. We brought a headlamp just in case, but never felt the need to use it. Some details might have been clearer in the light of the lamp, but traveling with just the night lights was fine. We also eventually left our snowshoes in the car, trusting that the popular trail had snow packed hard enough to support us.

Throughout the night, we traveled the Riisin Rääpäsy circular trail counterclockwise, as we wanted to climb to the top of Riisitunturi only at the very end. Our first stop was therefore the Riisitunturi wilderness hut, which was completely empty on a weekday Monday. The atmosphere in the hut varied from magical to gloomy and safe. The moonlight created a unique landscape view, which was also clearly visible through the window.

From the parking area to the wilderness hut and all the way up to the summit of Riisitunturi, we were able to walk just with our own group. Nothing or no one moved around us that we could see. Only the wind whirled the snow and blurred the trodden path, so at times we tested the path’s firmness by sinking into the snow outside its edges. The path, compacted by all the winter travelers, was solid enough for walking, but just beside it, the snow gave way, plunging the walker knee- or thigh-deep into the drifts.

From the edge of the mountain, we already noticed a faint glimpse of the Northern Lights in the northern sky, and the phone’s night photography mode added a bit more color to them. We explored the patterns of the starry sky, although the bright moonlight prevented us from seeing the Milky Way, for example. The constellation Cygnus pointed us in the direction of the galaxy, even though it couldn’t be seen. The evening was cold with the breeze, making us wonder why anyone would ever have tried to settle permanently in such an environment. The Northern Lights, no matter how beautiful, don’t keep anyone alive.

The journey to the mountain went smoothly along the compacted path.

Descending from the summit of Riisitunturi back to the parking area, we then saw several Northern Lights photographers and other small hiking groups heading to the summit. Some of them had headlamps on.

Finland’s nights are magnificent both in summer and winter, and the environment takes on an entirely different ambiance when you walk in it during the night lights.