In the summer of 2021, I was lucky enough to travel with my family to Kilpisjärvi in the far north of Finland to hike Saana Fell. The town is situated on the lake of Kilpisjärvi. The border between Finland and Sweden runs through the lake, and the road to Norway runs through the town. It’s possible to hike from the town to Three Country Cairn, the spot where all three countries meet.
Our reason for choosing Kilpisjärvi was it’s proximity to Saana Fell, which is one of Finland’s most famous mountains due to its distinctive shape. Most fells in Lapland are like large anthills from a distance, but Saana is different. It’s very rocky and practically bare of vegetation on top.
The Story of Saana
Saana is sacred to the Sami people. In the legend, Saana was a giant, who grew enamored of the lovely Malla, but another giant, Pältsä wanted Malla for himself. Pältsä called on witches to stop the marriage, and they sent freezing winds into the midst of the wedding party. Thus Saana and Malla both froze into mountains, but not before Malla’s tears made the lake of Kilpisjärvi.
Hiking Saana Fell
Saana today is incredibly popular with hikers, seeing roughly 25,000 hikers every summer. It’s a long climb up and up, with a few “false peaks” before you reach the top at 1029 meters. The climb up from the base is 2.8 km (1.7 miles). From the trailhead at the Retkeilykeskus (the camping/hiking center), the hike to the peak is 3.9 km (2.4 miles). (There are other trails you can take to the Saana Trail, but this is where we started.)
The hike around the base is shaded, with lots of shrubs and dwarf birch trees – these birches don’t grow any larger in the arctic climate. The path is quite rocky. Once you hit the Saana Trail, which climbs up the mountain, the path first a whole lot of steps then all rocks, with no vegetation beyond some lichens. It can be difficult to see the trail, but it’s marked with posts and some written signs. The trail goes more or less in a straight line, though.
At the peak, there’s a book visitors can sign, but we didn’t bring pens, so we had to skip signing. On the way back, we had to pay careful attention to our steps due to the loose rocks on the trail.
Advice for Hikers
Marked trails are open year-round but the Nature Preserve is closed from May 15 to September 1. It is recommended to stay on trail for this hike.
The trail is very rocky, so wear sturdy shoes. Mornings can be foggy and wet. And dress warmly – temperatures in the area, even in summer, are rarely above 60° F. We hiked up early, in the fog, so for better views, start a little later, but there will be significantly more people on the trail.
Regarding crowds, we hiked in late August, which is a bit of a slow period in terms of Lapland tourism, but as we were descending in the late morning, so many people were climbing up! We started our hike at 8am and had the mountain almost entirely to ourselves until we started on our way down.
Other Hikes Near Kilpisjärvi
Saana Nature Trail – This is a 5.2 km (3.2 miles) loop starting from the Malla Strict Nature Reserve’s parking lot. There are signs along the trail with information about the history and nature of the area.
Hike to the Three Countries Cairn – This trip includes a boat ride, then a 6 km (3.7 miles) hike to/from the cairn. Or you take the boat out and hike about 17 km (10.6 miles) back to Kilpisjärvi.
Kilpisjärvi
I can’t end this post without mentioning the town of Kilpisjärvi. We stayed at Tundrea Holiday Resort & Restaurant, where we had our own cabin. There aren’t a lot of places to eat, so we had our meals at the resort’s restaurant both nights. There’s a small market across the road, where you could easily grab food supplies and cook your meals in the cabin.
I remember we were so excited to see a reindeer along the side of the road as we were driving in. Then we stepped outside of our cabin and reindeer were everywhere. They were at the stream. They took over the playground. They stopped traffic on the road.
