In this twelve post series I've told about over one hundred wilderness huts, about their origins, and with map links. After this it's time to write about something else... But first welcome to see 15 more hut pics! 🙂
Tag: history
Reasons for wilderness huts 11/12: huts built for hikers by voluntary work
Many cozy and personal wilderness huts are built by hiking associations or such. See some examples.
Reasons for wilderness huts 10/12: other reasons
In this post you'll find some more extraordinary origins for wilderness huts.
Reasons for wilderness huts 9/12: collecting hay
Imagine it's 19th century and you are living in the middle of forest. No road comes to your home, and there are no tractors or other oil-based helpers. Clearing a forest or a rich mire into a field is very hard work, and there is not much field area around your house. How do you feed your cows during winter? By reaping hay from bogs.
Reasons for wilderness huts 8/12: water mills
Water mill is a fascinating invention. There used to be thousands of water mills in Finland. Most of them are ruins now, but some are restored as sights, and some even serve as wilderness huts.
Reasons for wilderness huts 7/12: cabins for fire guards
Imagine the life of a fire guard. Alone deep in the middle of backwoods, and with a great responsibility. What better place to imagine this than a wilderness hut that used to be a fire guard's cabin! In addition the scenery is superb.
Reasons for wilderness huts 6/12: cabins for lumberjacks
Forests of Finland have been in use for a long time. In the era of two-man saws and axes there were hundreds of lumberjacks' cabins throughout Finnish woods. Some of them act as open wilderness huts nowadays.
Reasons for wilderness huts 5/12: patrol cabins for border guards
Border guard is one of those professions where you work in the field, deep in the wilderness. In the old days patrol cabins were necessary, but not so much any more. So, many old patrol cabins are open wilderness huts now.
Reasons for wilderness huts 4/12: gold digging
Did you know there has been two gold rushes in Finnish Lapland? Gold digging with spade and pan is a peculiar kind of activity that has left many interesting huts and other monuments in those two areas.
Reasons for wilderness huts 2/12: hunting and fishing
One early reason to build shelters deep in the wilderness was hunting and fishing. Here you'll find some examples of wilderness huts that were originally built for those purposes.