After some snowfall and cloudy days a sunny day emerged from the horizon.

Temperature was also nice and warm, so I decided to take my camera out again as Joni from Havuja Outdoors offered a guided hike, hot pea soup and tea on the Kirveslampi trails in the southern part of the Leivonmäki national park.

I first landed to the Kirveslampi parking place…
(Address: Vartiamäentie 1073, 41730 Joutsa)

…and from there walked the Luupään lenkki (bone head’s trail) with couple people.

Someone or something had hidden a pine corn into a hole, probably made by a black woodpecker.

Weather was as beautiful as it can get. Sunshine was warm and tinted, not too harsh. And the path easy to walk.

Did I mention the light in the forest?

That low angle of the Sun just makes everything shine in a light of gold and amber.

This part of the park is not as popular as the northern side, so not much traffic around.

The ice was thick enough to handle weight of a hare, but still too thin for me even to think about “following the (white) rabbit“.

A view from a platform next to the pond about 30 meters from the previous hare tracks.

Route from the pond, made accessible for people with moving disabilities.

The Sun painted the forest with stripes of gold.

Even the small details flared into life.

I just love the warm light of a Sun down in the horizon.

And shooting against the light, causing my manual lens to flare, just makes the light dance.

Winter can be beautiful.

Path from the pond to the fire place.

A lake next to the path was so bright in the Sun’s warm light.

And did I say the light was just beautiful today?

Some wise words from someone left in a bag with full of frozen water.
(Translates about as: “how does day of my dreams differ from this day?”.

Some small creature hopped here.

And some others flew to say hi.

Arriving to the lunch brake after some 2 km of walking in beautiful weather.

Cooking place…

…and a grill…

…and a platform with a view over the lake.

And proper outhouses with wheelchair access.

Wider view of the place.

And this little fella followed us. Brought their friend also later to the lunch brake. – I might wonder if they have learned that humans leave things to eat for them? Could it be…?

We had a light lunch, some pea soup from a tin…

…with some tea and coffee.

A view from the shoreline.

After the tea and coffee we headed the last ~300 meters back to the parking place.

The path went up and on top of a ridge with nice contrasting colors of blue and amber all around.

From Kirveslammi parking at the south part of the park I drove to the Selänpohja parking at the northern part of the national park. – In the winter one could walk (or ski) the way, but there’s a lake in-between and the lake is not frozen yet.

At the parking place I was wondering should I walk the whole Mäyränkierros…

…and if one has difficult decisions to make it’s always good to have a proper meal before. – I really had not eaten any breakfast and at the previous camp site it was only a light soup meal, one tin shared by three people, so I was kinda hungry and thirsty, as it was already past 14:00.

After the meal and packing my gear I decided that I’ll walk first to the Lintuniemi and after I arrive I’ll make another decision about shall I continue to the Joutsniemi. – The others had gone their own ways from the Kirveslampi and I was all alone again.

Today I visited the southern parts of the Leivonmäki park the first time, but I’ve been here at the norther parts couple times before…

…and the Joutsniemi is a beautiful camping place and a sandy beach with a nice ridge piercing into the lake Rutajärvi. – And way more popular than the southern part I think.

The path was wide and had way more footprints than the previous paths.

But also the light was fading…

…so I was wondering is it worth of the walk to continue all the way to the Joutsniemi…

…or should I come back another day.

But the sunset was beautiful. Some wind made waves on the lake.

Amber of the skyline and some tree stumps.

And some other view from the shoreline.

And some more wonders of the nature with the fading in the background.

Past the halfway…

Parts of the lake were already frozen…

And the lingering light of the sunset was keeping me company.

Arrived to the Lintuniemi camping place and found some embers glowing in the fire pit.

With some bushcraft magic and ebin forge handling skills I was able to make a fire without using any tools. – Was nice to sit there alone watching the Sun fading behind the treeline.

The amber skyline is just something. And a BBQ grill. I really need to cook more often outdoors.

After sitting there for some time I decided to return to my car. As the Sun was already below the horizon the dusk was setting in and my camera needs the light to do it’s magic.

The length of a day is quite short at this time of year. – Sunrise at 8:48 and sunset 15:15, so the length of a day when the Sun is above the horizon is 6 h 26 min. – As it was already past 16:00 the light was fading quite fast, even tho the fresh snow made everything so much more bright at the evening and the night time what it had been couple days before.

Spent about five (5) hours in the park in total and about couple hours of driving to and from, so a decent amount of time spent outdoors for one day.