Long distance hiking: solo, off trail

More text and pics about my five weeks hike. Especially pondering about on trail vs off trail, and about hiking solo, and what about my lightweight equipment...

Best headlamps for a hiker

Last week I told about the principles of my headlamp test. Now I reveal the top lamps, and tell how they have performed during six years of heavy use.

Outdoor gear reviews

How is it decided what equipment to test in an outdoor magazine? And more interestingly, how is it decided how to test? What are the important factors?

Ski touring outside marked trails

Story about ski touring across wilderness areas in Lapland. More pics and less text this time.

Winter handwear

When it's really cold, what do you wear on your hands? When you are hiking, that is spending all the day outside, it's crucially important to have proper kind of handwear. Here's my choices.

Map apps

I like to navigate with paper map and compass. However, I have learned how super handy the smartphone map apps are. They show exactly where you are, which way is the trail you were following and so on. Here's tips to map apps, and advice on how to obtain free offline topographic maps for Finland.

Millennium hike, part 7: Tarvantovaara

Week seven out of nine... Do you know how to camp in -32°C, in snowy conditions? Here's some tips.

Millennium hike, part 4: Muotkatunturit

The two month expedition continues across Muotkatuturit Wilderness Area. Today's topics: weather, feelings, dreams, reindeer...

Millennium hike: Town day

We are now spending a rest day in town after having finished first of three three week legs across wilderness. Guess what was perhaps the nicest thing (after a shower)?

Millennium hike, part 1: Vätsäri (continuing)

I started to tell about a two month backpacking expedition in the beginning of November. This is the third post about this hike. We are hiking through Vätsäri Wilderness Area and eagerly waiting for snow to fall, but...