Grüe­zi and ter­vepä ter­ve, our dear rea­der! Did you know the­re is a Fin­nish children’s song star­ting with the fol­lowing words: “If you want to go into the woods right now, you will be sur­pri­sed for sure”? What’s so sur­pri­sing in the forest? Song tells a sto­ry about a group of ted­dy bears play­ing around, pea­king from under­ne­ath tree bran­ches and froli­cking around on the forest floor. This makes them all very tired and alrea­dy qui­te ear­ly in the evening they need to go to bed.

Spen­ding time out­doors has undoub­ted­ly a gazil­li­on posi­ti­ve effects on you. For examp­le, spen­ding time in the natu­re redu­ces stress-levels, lowers blood pres­su­re, impro­ves appe­ti­te and hel­ps you sleep bet­ter, only to men­ti­on a few. If spen­ding time in the natu­re is so over­all posi­ti­ve for your health, how about spen­ding an over­night in the wilderness?

Sum­mer time is always easier for cam­ping enthu­si­asts becau­se the nights are war­mer, and amount of natu­ral light makes ever­ything slight­ly more effort­less. In Switz­er­land, you can go for a long hike around the moun­tain hiking trails, natu­ral­ly wil­ling to mini­mi­ze the amount of gear nee­ded to take along. A tent is surely a pri­va­te opti­on, but the moun­tains and their wea­ther can vary drasti­cal­ly in even a short peri­od of time.

As an alter­na­ti­ve for a stay-over plan at the moun­tains a gre­at opti­on is to stay at Swiss Alpi­ne Club (SAC) cabins loca­ted around the Swiss Alps. The­se type of ‘Hüt­te’ over­night faci­li­ties pro­vi­de the hiker an easy opti­on for shel­ter in a group accom­mo­da­ti­on. Din­ner and bre­ak­fast are also pro­vi­ded by the cabin kee­pers. It feels cozy to enter the dining room with other hikers, chat­ting for the day’s next leg.

The­se SAC cabins pro­vi­de the nee­ded res­ting place for tho­se wil­ling to con­ti­nue from along the road. Howe­ver, ope­ning times vary bet­ween the cabins so remem­ber to plan your trip well in advan­ce. Many alps offer accom­mo­da­ti­on ser­vice as well, and their bene­fit is defi­ni­te­ly their own pro­du­ced meat and cheese variety.

In Fin­land, one can con­si­der the same tent opti­on when plan­ning a natu­re trip out­doors. A legal con­cept cal­led everyman’s rights give the right to enjoy the natu­re and camp almost whe­re­ver you wish, as long as you are not dis­tur­bing any house­holds or lea­ve lit­ter behind. A quick tip: Fin­nish forests pro­vi­de tons of edi­ble goo­dies such as ber­ries and mushroom, not to men­ti­on ponds and lakes full of fish. Choo­se the place for your tent clo­se by the­se tre­a­su­res, pro­vi­ded with a faci­li­ty to make a fire, and pro­vi­de yourself with a super­food din­ner by the bonfire.

Win­ter brings a chal­len­ge for any out­door tra­vel­ler. Cold is mana­ge­ab­le with warm clothes but moving around requi­res eit­her (forest) ski­es or snow­shoes. In a meter-deep snow moving around brings out anyone’s sweat equi­ty, thus lea­ving a ques­ti­on mark, whe­ther to put on war­mest clothes avail­ab­le or not. A pro­per shel­ter is nee­ded for an over­night stay, in order to chan­ge clot­hing and pre­pa­re food. Minus 30 degrees Cel­ci­us is a chal­len­ge for stay­ing put, belie­ve us!

You can find Fin­nish wil­der­ness cabins around hiking rou­tes which are pro­vi­ded with a fire­place and fire­wood, but else than that you need to bring along with you. No run­ning water nor electri­ci­ty makes the stay rather authen­tic. Defi­ni­te plu­ses for fin­ding a place so authen­tic like this wil­der­ness cabin are the total peace from anyo­ne else, no light pol­lu­ti­on to be seen and a cozy night’s sleep after a cold trip outdoors.

Are you rea­dy to test how it would feel like to con­quer one of the­se wil­der­ness cabins? This win­ter we will take peop­le to a remo­te cabin by snow­shoeing, to expe­ri­ence the real Lap­pish still­ness and peace­ful­ness. Dare to come along?