2016-03-09 63 28

Location

In Ylisenvaara, Nurmes. The point lies in the snowy forest.

Participants

Tilley
Mrs. Tilley

Expedition

Our parking spot near a pile of timber.

I was in Valtimo having a skiing holiday with my family. We had also made an appointment to Joensuu, 150 km away, to discuss some job opportunities for Mrs. Tilley there. On the way back we had time to visit a hashpoint quite near our path, only about 10 km detour.

The hashpoint is in that forest.

The weather had been on the plus side the whole day, the streets of Joensuu were very slushy and full of water puddles from the melting snow. The main Joensuu-Nurmes highway was also slushy, with a big snowbank in the middle of the road making passing other cars difficult. From the main road we turned towards Salmenkylä. The village road was snowy and in mint condition, a real pleasure to drive after the wet highway. Our route winded between fields, forests and houses towards the more sparsely populated hills, the road becoming narrower and narrower. Mrs. Tilley noted numerous times, that "if the road becomes smaller than this, we're not continuing by car".

A convenient track leading to the point.

At the final intersection, where the road started a steep climb towards Ylisenvaara, there was a parked car. We stopped to ask the old man driving the car why he had stopped, and he replied that he had tried to get up the hill, but it was too difficult for his Nissan Micra, because the last night's 5 cm of snowfall hadn't been cleared from the road. Apparently there wasn't anyone living permamently on the few houses that were on top of the hill (or they hadn't had any business outside today). The ascent had a 30 m of elevation in 260 m of horizontal travel, that means an average 12 % gradient, and the first 100 meters were even steeper. Mrs. Tilley protested going up the hill, but I had more faith in our car's capabilities, switched on 4WD and put pedal to the medal. Effortlessly our car climbed the ascent and we continued the narrow road towards the hashpoint.

Changing shoes.

We reached the vicinity of the hashpoint soon. Turning the car around was a bit of a trouble, because there wasn't any dedicated turning spots to be seen. Probably there would have been one in the end of the road a few hundred meters away, but that wasn't a sure thing. I estimated that in the bend, where the plough had naturally made a bit wider path, there was enough space to turn our car, which has relatively small wheelbase. With careful maneuvering, it worked. Too bad I didn't take any picture of the tracks. The wheels stayed mostly on the path but the bodywork overhangs of course were constantly pushing the soft snow.

Hash-grins.

So, finally we could get to the actual business we came here for, the hashpoint! There was only 60 meters from the road to the point, but that was in 50-70 cm deep snow. So we put on our Muck Boots and started wading. Every now and then there was a deeper and softer spot where I would sink almost to my crotch, but the point was soon upon us. I wonder if the owner of the forest had predicted the dow opening value, because there was a cleared track leading right to the hashpoint, and the point itself was in a clearing.

Going back.

The nature was very silent, with the thick snow muffing all the voices. The sun was setting behind the thick layer of steel-gray clouds. We took some pictures for proof, and trudged back following our own tracks. Then we put some energy-slaves into work and swooshed towards Valtimo. A nice and refreshing hash-visit!