The best family-friendly hikes and walks around Lake Inari

Great view of the rapids.

In winter (we were there at the beginning of December) snowshoes are recommended. The path is not cleared. If no one has walked there before, the snow can be very deep. We didn't make it to the end because we weren't walking there without snowshoes. It's best to go when it's light.

The trip here is definitely worth it! Very beautiful church and a great path through the wilderness.

Bridge over the Juutuanjoki is part of the well-developed Juutua Trail, small gravel or mountain bike tour

After the Christianization of the Sami population of Inari, the first small church was built in 1647 in the winter village on the banks of Lake Pielpajärvi, where the semi-nomadic Sami people gathered during the cold season to trade and to settle their religious and legal affairs. The Swedish Queen Christina had the church named after herself and donated the bell and the priest's ceremonial robe. After the old church had been neglected for many years and had become dilapidated, the current church was built in its place between 1752 and 1760. The bell tower was added between 1760 and 1766. Around the church there were originally 30 to 40 church rooms in which churchgoers who had traveled from far away were accommodated, a rectory and several other buildings, none of which have survived. There was no cemetery, however, because the Sami traditionally buried the deceased on islands in Lake Inari. Around 1846, Pielpajärvi Church was renovated and given its current form. When the Sami people settled in Inari, the winter village on Pielpajärvi was abandoned. After the village of Inari became settled, a new church was built there and Pielpajärvi Church was abandoned in 1888.

Winter In the heart of winter, the landscape is shrouded in a blue dusk, but the full moon of the polar night makes the forests shimmer. Under the starry sky, arctic hares do not sink in the snow, for their paws have a broad fringe of stiff hair. For the Sámi, the stars used to be a compass that showed both time and season. They revealed which way to go, as they both show the directions and tell when conditions will brighten. The hare also has its own constellation in the sky. January is the month of the new year in Sámi, and it marks the end of the polar night. Midwinter is over, and we can see a trace of the rising sun on the horizon. Every day the amount of light increases, and in February the sun shines brighter and brighter, so nature gradually wakes up from winter dormancy.

Summer In mid-summer, the day is longest and the sun shines even at night. The period starting in July has been called the hay season, the time to make the hay used as animal feed during the winter. For the Sámi, the reindeer, fish and berries are the most important sources of food, creating the "food trinity" that is essential to the people. Sápmi's numerous river systems provide the nighttime fishermen with precious fish, these gifts of the water. Lake Inari, also known as the Sápmi Sea, has traditionally been a rich "fishing ground" and one of the region's most important waterways. There is also a path to Pielpajärvi Wilderness Church from Lake Inari and from Pielpavuono Fjord

Spring Summer June marks the beginning of the summer season, when bright and warm weather causes plants to turn green. All beings come back to life after a long and dark winter. With the arrival of migratory birds, summer is here. Even the bluethroat, the "nightingale of Lapland", returns to its familiar breeding grounds in the fallen birch areas of the Arctic. The bluethroat (Luscinia svecica) has several Northern Sámi names, with meanings such as language believer, bell bird and the one with a hundred languages. They tell of this excellent singer's ability to borrow warning cries from other birds. Popular Finnish names of the bluethroat include "chime bird", "the jingler of a pot hanger" and "blue-throat warbler".