Michael Ficht (Wüste Zeiten)

The last hike of 2025 is coming up. I've chosen a very special one for it, one that will serve as a memorable anchor in the German winter, even if today is now a very autumnal and partly rainy day. Hike one more time between the lakes on a Harju island, search for new information on a nature trail, and

It's raining! But "the mountain is calling," even if it's only 55 meters high. So, I'm not unhappy that I can hike on the still-summer ski trails. Wide, flat ground, albeit with frequent elevation changes, no trudging through mud or trudging through wet grass and bushes. Yes, I even decide to take the

The previous hike, the Eugmo Trail in the Larsmoleden hiking area, was already special in that it featured wood sculptures for over a kilometer along the trail. In Kortjärvi, just under an hour's drive away, I encountered six kilometers of ITE art along the trail. What is that?

ITE art is a well-established

The quality of this trail's accessibility is absolutely outstanding, thanks to its well-maintained infrastructure, including bridges, duckboards, stairs, gravel surfaces in places, and the like, as well as perfect trail markings. In addition, and I notice this just a few meters away at the rest area

300th hike in Finland!

Right next to the hotel, I set off onto one of those seemingly endless wooden paths that stretch across the entire beach area. It makes walking much easier than trudging through the fine dune sand and also protects the dunes. Right at the beginning, I discover a long, very narrow

The Ahvenlammen luontopolku offers an easily accessible nature experience: an entertaining, 5 km long route with plenty of variety – from around 30 information boards along the route pointing out interesting natural phenomena (unfortunately only in Finnish), to rest stops, both of which I visited, to

Actually, it's not an officially designated nature reserve ("luonnonsuojelualue"), as I had assumed based on the map posted. It's more of a combination of a protected area and a nature trail in the region. I met the owner of the land, Antti Hankonen, whose ancestors founded a farm nearby over 400 years

It's a foggy morning when I start my third and final island tour in Oulu. I've now worked my way from the islands a little farther from the center, where you can still see the Bothnian Sea, to the islands closest to the city on the mainland. All of them are small and mostly only accessible on foot or

On this hike, I won't be able to see the open Bothnian Sea because the islands of Hietasaari and Mustasaari (see Islands I) are located offshore from my tour. I'm aware of that. Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to a hike across six islands, which will be almost entirely a shore hike.



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Indeed, Oulu is a city with a special relationship with water – it lies at the mouth of the Oulujoki River into the Gulf of Bothnia and is dotted with numerous small and large islands. It's precisely these islands close to the city that I'd like to focus my attention on on my hikes. What's particularly