2 Days on River Valamajoki & Jongunjoki
River Valamjoki is a beautiful wild river, coming from Russia. 20 km of pure wilderness paddling is waiting for you! Later on, Valamjoki is flowing into River Jongunjoki. Caused by its twisted arms with always changing rocky or sandy shores, islands of grass and homes of beavers, paddling on river Valamajoki is every time a new experience – depending on the amount of rain fallen during the days before. Later on, on river Jongunjoki, the water is flowing very slowly, only a few parts with short rapids and real flow. A great paddling-adventure for everyone who is not scared of getting wet!
Day by Day
Day 1 Arrival at Eräkeskus should be latest at 10h on the morning. Of course you are welcome to book an overnight just before the paddling-tour. We get a transfer by car and trailer to the Russian border, where we put our canoes or kayaks to water and start our tour. 19 rapids of 50 – 400 meters lengths we will find on river Valamajoki. Narrow parts, wide parts, forests and swamps on the riverside, rocks, sandy parts, homes of beavers, everything is found on Valamjoki. No buildings, no roads, no civilization, until we reach after 20 km the cosy wilderness cabin Valama, where we have overnight. In this little cabin, there are 6 beds, an oven, table and benches, outside a big open fireplace. Simple but tasty, this will be our dinner, before we go to bed in the cabin, or alternatively in a tent.
Day 2 A good breakfast gives us energy to continue. We pack our equipment and put our canoes/kayaks back to water. After a few minutes Valamajoki enters River Jongunjoki. This river is coming from north and gave name to the whole region. Jongunjoki is mostly easy to paddle on, a wide slow river. Only a few narrow parts bring some flow. There is only one more challenging rapid, Kaksinkantaja, 80 meters long, but 2 meters high, having level 2 in difficulty. We can optionally also carry our boats on land and avoid this rapid. wieder ein. Nach wenigen Minuten Paddeln auf dem Valamajoki erreichen wir den Jongunjoki. Our lunch we will have from open fire at a wind-shelter. The target is to reach Viitakoski, which is 25 km away, but if arms and shoulders get tired, we can get a transfer also after 10 or 15 km. Canoes and kayaks are put back to the trailer and then we get a ride back home to Eräkeskus, where you continue your individual roundtrip or spend a few more days with us.
Different Routing
During summertime with little rain and low waters, parts of the river Valamajoki are difficult to paddle on. Some parts we have to carry the boats short distance over land to avoid obstacles caused by fallen trees or branches or rocks. Some parts we have to exit the boat and pull it over low-water-parts with lots of stones. As alternative during those weeks we offer a start on river Jongunjoki up north at Aittokoski, On day 1 we then paddle on the river to the double-windshelter of Pälvekoski, where we have overnight. Next day we follow the river more south until we reach Lake Nurmijärvi and return to Eräkeskus. On this part of the river we mostly have a certain current, but no difficult rapids. It can be paddled by everybody.