This summer, the boat has not been able to make the familiar river hike. it has made in recent years. The restoration of the boat has taken a little more work than in other springs. It was also difficult to find a window of time when the water level was suitable for river cruising. First the river flooded and then the surface elevation dropped suddenly, unexpectedly. The rapids became rocky and do not offer the thrill of speed in such shallow water, especially for a fully loaded rowing boat that swims deeper than a kayak or canoe.

After the lake Ounasjärvi has opened up from the ice cover, it was time to get the wooden boat ready for rowing. One of the first tasks in spring is thus to apply a new layer of tar.

In this blog, I share some news of the Lake Ounas catchment area from the perspective of a rower, skier, winter net-fisher and data collector of the Finnish Environment Agency. More specifically, geographically the area of my focus is the upper Ounasriver catchment area and my observation point in Hetta. The news I have written here are words that, as an amateur natural scientist and poet, I mix and match, depending on the case. I freely combine accurate measurements with staring mesmerized into the stream and the fire.