In the picture, there is a grassy marsh meadow with a few small pine trees growing. In the middle of the marsh meadow, there is a grey wooden haystack and an old meadow barn. In the background, at the edge of the marsh, there is a forest.

The history of the Arctic Circle Hiking Area

The story of the Arctic Circle Hiking Area goes back a long way, as far as the Stone Age. The Raudanjoki River flowing through the area has, among other things, served as an important site for settlements, a fishing ground, log floating river, and route to nearby mire and riverside meadows where hay was made for livestock.

The history of the Arctic Circle Hiking Area

The River Raudanjoki has been a water traffic route for hunters and fishers throughout the times. There are many man-made settlements from the Rock Age along the river bank. The good hunting grounds and fishing waters in the area have drawn people to the area in search of a better life. The "kemiläiset" people who lived on the shore of the Bothnian Bay fished in the Naarmankaira waters from the 1600s onward and returning annually to do so. Other wanderers have also used the river as a travel route. Farm workers travelled down the river by boat to the mire meadows and river bank meadows such as Kivalonaapa mire meadow in the hiking area.

When wood started to be used by industry the River Raudanjoki got a new function: it became a log floating route at the end of the 1800s. The river was a log floating route for many decades and in the 1980s a storage area for timber was built at Vikaköngäs. When log floating was terminated in the area at the end of the 1980s the storage area no longer had a use. It was then converted into a recreation and fishing area with two campfire sites and a parking area.

In the picture, there is a grassy marsh with an old grey meadow barn in the background. In the foreground, there is a grey wooden haystack.

A haystack and a meadow barn in Arctic Circle Hiking Area.

Arctic Circle Hiking Area was established in 2001 and has become an official hiking area of the Finnish state in 2024.

A rocky and rapid river flows swiftly through the middle of the picture. The riverbanks are rocky and lined with green trees

The rapids of Vikaköngäs.

Two hikers crossing the Vikaköngäs suspension bridge in the Arctic Circle Hiking Area.

The Arctic Circle Hiking Area has become an official hiking area of the Finnish state in 2024.