In a nutshell
- Location: Kuusamo, Northern Osthrobothnia, Finland
- Type: Class I-II+ whitewater, plenty of flat water, a few short technical creeks (class IV-V), one death trap (class VI waterfall)
- Hike - Paddle -ratio: 50-50
- Trip length: 7-14 days, 120-150km
- Water level forecast: Oulankajoki measuring point
- How to get there:
- By car: Car might be your best choice since public transports run only during high season, but keep in mind that the distance from capital is over 800km.
- By public transport: You can get to Kuusamo with a bus from several locations. A separate bus runs to the essential areas of the park during high season (June & July). You can also take a taxi.
Oulanka National park is so far the most ideal place I've been packrafting. The park contains second largest river canyon in Finland, tens of kilometers of varying level whitewater and plenty of wilderness huts and other services to use.
For the record the largest river canyon in Finland can be found in Kevo Strict Nature Reserve zone but as a nature reserve it's not freely accessible. Moving is allowed only on a specific hiking route and usage of any kind of watercraft is strictly prohibited. Oulanka also contains the most popular hiking route in Finland, called the Bear Trail. This route attracts lots of tourists every year and during the high season the huts might be full, so make sure to have a tent too.
The best overall choice for a packrafting tourist trip in Oulanka is most likely the one we ran with a certain group in 2013. We rented a car and drove to
Basecamp Oulanka which is a small establishment near the park's border. We bought a sauna service for ourselves so we'd have some place to clean up and relax after the expedition and for that they let us use their parking lot. The Basecamp also works as a wilderness hotel which may be worth a shot if you aren't on a budget trip.
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| Jyrävä. Just don't, please. |
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| Lower meanders of Oulanka |
The actual trip starts with the river
Kitkajoki which runs to east towards the Russian border. If you are an experienced packrafter you may want to try running the rapids
Myllykoski (class III)
and
Aallokkokoski (class IV) but if you do, be warned. While
Aallokkokoski is very fast and aggressive it's nothing compared to the absolute death trap which follows after.
The Jyrävä waterfall is a class VI rapid which has and enourmous hole in it's middle step. Only a handful of people have been insane enough to run it down and survive: chances are that you are not among them so don't gamble with your life.
After
Jyrävä there's a small stillwater pool and after that starts the cool section. The most difficult (class II(+)) rapids are within the first 500m whereafter it gets easier. The river slows down gradually but retains a noticeable flow all the way until it reaches the Russian border.
Do not go into the border zone! Getting into trouble with Russian border patrol is extremely unwise. Instead the next move is to start hiking upstream the river Oulankajoki. Paddling against the current might be possible but you'll likely enjoy walking more.
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| The lake may provide you additional breakfast |
The goal here is to reach the Kerojärvi Hiking Route in the north. There's a somewhat direct dirt road leading to the starting point but walking all the way is literally a pain in the ass (been there, done that). If you're not short on money you could order a taxi to clear that distance but it's also possible to travel upstream by foot. There are several useful but poorly marked paths on the northeast bank of
Oulankajoki which you can use to ascend until a certain point, but in any case there's at least seven kilometers of dirt road you simply cannot avoid.
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| Small part of Elijoki is raftable |
After getting to the
Keroharju Hiking trail the route starts to feel like proper wilderness again. In the middle of
Keroharju trail there's a wilderness hut worth noting: it has a sauna. The lake
Kerojärvi beside it is good for swimming and fishing too. After the hut the trail get close to the tiny river
Elijoki which is raftable for a few kilometers to pond
Lautinkilampi. After that the river is way too shallow to paddle unless the water level is very high. It's best just to walk to the lake
Niitselysjärvi.
The river
Niitselysjoki has much more water but during normal flow there are still some sections that have to be portaged. Also keep in mind that there are no fireplaces nor any other services until you reach the lean-to of
Perttumakoski. Perttumakoski is a few kilometers downstream the next river,
Savinajoki. Starting from the lake
Viksjärvi the whole river is technically one long class I whitewater stream with a few small stillwater pools here and there.
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| Savinajoki is 13km long continuous class I WW thrill |
After reaching
Savilampi pond at the end of
Savinajoki the river joins with river
Oulankajoki and continuous whitewater ends here. You may want to check the
Oulanka canyon upstream before heading forward. There's also more whitewater and you can leave your belongings to nearby wilderness hut. The river runs right past it so you can reclaim them when you come back. Roughly four kilometers downstream is the waterfall of
Taivalköngäs which has two branches. The right hand side is class IV and the left side is more or less unraftable due to low water volume. Do not try to run either side unless you know what you're doing. The waterfall can be easily portaged through island in the middle of the stream.
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| Taivalköngäs, right side branch |
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| Kiutaköngäs during high flow |
Approximately nine kilometers from
Taivalköngäs is Oulanka Visitor Centre, camping grounds, biological station, cafeteria and much more. Make sure to disembark at the bridge crossing the river (there should be a safety wire too) or you'll run straight to class V
Kiutaköngäs rapid. The trail can be found on the south bank.
Kiutaköngäs falls in three separate steps of which the last one is class II+ which may be fun to try out but check it beforehand and watch yourself. Do not try running it alone.
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| Oulankajoki after Kiutaköngäs |
After
Kiutaköngäs the river runs swiftly but you won't encounter anything what could be called rapids. The hiking trail follows the river all the way to
Ansakämppä wilderness hut where the ways separate. This is also the place you must disembark in order to get to the Bear Trail route. Technically, if you insist on boating there's a lean-to downstream and a path connecting it to the trail. Just keep in mind that the climb is very steep and there may be no support structures. The Bear Trail route then leads you back to Basecamp Oulanka.
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| At the hills near Ruka |
There are also some alternatives. If you want a longer trip you can start where
Kitkajoki crosses the local road 950. The rapids before
Juuma are class I-II not counting the class III
Haarakoski. After the round trip and return to
Juuma you can also continue along the Bear Trail all the way to Ruka but there's nothing worth rafting except for one big lake (
Porontima). It's also possible to start at the point where river Oulankajoki and road 950 cross but making a trip from there without missing some essential parts may be hard.
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| Maaninkaköngäs, a smaller waterfall near Taivalköngäs |
As for suitable river discharge amounts 25 cubic meters per second is usually enough. If the flow is higher you can expect bigger waves but nothing tremendously dangerous.
Kitkajoki can be run around year (not counting winter of course) as the huge lake upstream maintains a continuous inflow. There's also some other smaller rivers in the area but they are generally not suitable even for packrafts unless the discharge in
Oulankajoki is at least 200m^3/s. The lower parts (downstream from
Ristikallio) of river Aventojoki can be run at approximately 100m^3/s flow and you can make a side trip from Taivalköngäs there. It's worth trying if you can handle class II+ waters, just scout the rapids before running since I can't remember the possible hazards any more.
If you're interested in any kind of whitewater you'll find it here. Oulanka has everything from float-down-and-drink-booze -currents to instakill waterfalls, wide streams with big waves and small creeks. The large network wilderness huts and clearly marked hiking routes makes Oulanka very easy to approach.
PS: Contact me if you plan on going to Oulanka, I'll want to join.
