Day two: into the rain, far away

On Sunday, our party had become larger, as also the participants from Faroe Islands had joined us. We set out on a trip to Oulanka National Park, which lies near Kuusamo, about 200 km northeast from Oulu.

The journey went uneventfully, and after a few hours of sitting in the bus, we arrived at the Nature Centre of Oulanka around noon. The first item in the program for the day was a nature trip along a one kilometer path in the park.

However, this plan met with less than complete success, as it began raining just as we were about to reach the start of the path.

Due to this, we returned to the Nature Centre of Oulanka. There we had fish soup for lunch, and watched a slide show about the national park.

Taken at the Nature Centre, the photo on the left is from the exhibition displaying the nature in the area.

After the lunch, the rain had stopped. We headed for the Kiutaköngäs rapids, which reside about one kilometer from the Nature Centre. There was a path leading there, following the river.

On the right: a clearing at the rapids.

The photo on the right was taken at the rocky clearing visible in the previous picture. The water in the photo, as can be seen, flows to the right.

Next up were some exercises in a weather that seemed unable to decide whether to rain or not, accompanied by a number of local mosquitoes.

After this, we walked back the way we came.

Back at the Nature Centre, we continued with identification of observed plants. For the results of this exercise, and similar observations throughout the course, see appendix 2.

At this point, we had to call it a day, as the bus trip back to Oulu would take several hours.