Frozen Toes Entertainment's video: Hiking in Finland - Evo Nature Reserve documentary

If you are planning to go hiking in Finland, the Evo Nature Reserve and hiking area could be one of the very good options. One of the largest continuous forest areas in Southern Finland is the Evo Nature Reserve and Hiking Area in the municipalities of Hämeenlinna and Padasjoki. Although the area is located quite close to large city centers, one can enjoy the clean nature and calming silence in a very diverse landscape. In its current form, the hiking area was established in 1994, but Evo's history as a valuable nature destination started over a 160 years ago, when in 1856 the Russian Emperor's Senate signed to establish the Evo crown park to preserve this beautiful forest area. Evo's terrain offers the hiker a beautiful forest scenery mingled with ridges and lakes. Water is a very visible element and so the paths are folding between the lakes and ponds, rivers, and streams. For those interested in fishing, it’s good to know, that basic rod and line fishing is allowed for all free of charge in all the lakes and ponds in Finland, unless clearly marked otherwise. In Evo, most of them are free, but there are few lakes and ponds where salmon has been stocked and fishing in those waters require a separate permission to be purchased. Because the area has such a long history, you can still see some traces of past lives of old timber jacks, like the old tar and charcoal making pits, or logging cabins. At the same time, you can observe the beaver dams, hear the whistle of a hazel grouse from the creek, or compare your own footprints to those of lynx. The forest is also a home to Siberian flying squirrel, which can be occasionally spotted. Evo is a great place for a day trip or even a few days hike. There are trails and nature walks more than 70 kms in the area, clearly marked with good signposts, route markings and info boards explaining the area's flora and fauna. There are also unmarked paths in the area, so if you are want to practice orienteering skills, you should take along a map and a compass. Alongside the walking trails there are many resting sites, where you can enjoy campfire along with the beautiful scenery. In addition to the resting and campfire sites, the Evo area also features many dry toilets, water tabs, wells and natural springs and outdoor cooking areas with ready-made fire wood, which make the nature experience more enjoyable and easier. As custom in all Finnish nature reserves and hiking areas, there are no trash bins in the forest, since every hiker is expected to carry their own rubbish away. If you want to stay overnight in the middle of the nature, you can pitch your tent and jump into the sleeping bag in one of the many free tent sites or lean-to shelters in the area, or if you have room in your budget, you can rent a own private shelter or logging cabin. Or if you prefer isolating yourself completely from the rest of the world, you can rent an entire lake with its villas for only private use for fishing, sauna and other recreational activities. There is a variety of services available in the Evo area. In addition to traditional fishing, mushroom and berry picking, you can experience for example Geocaching, rock climbing, snowshoeing, canoeing and horseback riding. Little less than fifty square kilometers of the Evo nature reserve and hiking area is not very large nature destination in the Finnish scale. For example, compared to Finland's largest Lemmenjoki National Park, Evo is more 60 times smaller. On the other hand, everything depends on a viewpoint. In comparison, almost exactly the same sized area with Evo is the Kowloon suburban in the city of Hong Kong, and more than 2 million people live in there, although it is not even a proper residential area, but full of shopping centers and restaurants. Of course, everyone can decide for themselves, but I’d rather go to forest in Evo! Music: "Sovereign Quarter" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/