The 82 km long hiking trail, the Bear Trail or the Bear Circle (Karhunkierros in Finnish), is one of the most popular hiking routes in Finland. Located in Northern Finland in Kuusamo, the trail takes you through some of the most stunning landscapes in the country, and you will see lakes, rivers, fells, rapids, forests, and many animals — including reindeers! It is incredible to see how the landscape changes as you hike the whole trail, and this is a great way to experience Lapland and the Finnish wilderness.

Despite its name, the hike is not actually a circle (kierros in Finnish). The starting point is in Hautajärvi at the Arctic Circle. Of course, you could do it the other way around and start in Ruka, which is a small town in Kuusamo. Ruka is a popular winter destination with ski slopes but is pretty quiet in summer. For me, starting in Hautajärvi was a nice choice, and especially the last day of summiting Fell Valtavaara felt like the ultimate challenge before ending in Ruka. If you finish the hike in Ruka, you can relax at a nice hotel, as Ruka is a larger town with the best hotels in the area.

How Long Does It Take to Hike Karhunkierros?

The recommended time for hiking the Karhunkierros is 3–7 days. I did it in four days, but I carried food for six days just in case. I had calculated that hiking around 20 km per day was reasonable, and I planned my overnight stops in places where you can set up a tent. I used this free map for planning my hike.

I felt it would have been impossible for me to do the hike in three days, mainly because of the locations of overnight stops and timing. I had timed my hike so that the last overnight stop was in Porontimajoki. That’s because after Porontimajoki, there weren’t many water sources available, and the last stretch of the hike meant going up and down hills all day. My overnight stays were in Taivalköngäs, Jussinkämppä, and Porontimajoki.

Overnight Stays

The Karhunkierros trail is very well maintained, and there are lots of free services you can use, such as wilderness huts for overnight stays and campfire sites. The wilderness huts are strategically located on riverbanks or lake shores so that water is readily available, and they usually have a gas stove for cooking and a fireplace to keep the hut warm during the colder months. If you would like to stay in the huts, you need your own sleeping pad/mattress and sleeping bag.

📖 Wilderness Hut Etiquette in Finland

To practise good wilderness etiquette in Finland, always make room for new arrivals. If you arrive at the hut early and plan to stay overnight but the hut gets full, it is common practice for the first arrivals to make space for the last ones. The idea is that those arriving late are usually the most exhausted, while the early arrivals have probably already rested and warmed up.

Also, keep the huts tidy: replenish the firewood you’ve used, prepare some kindling for the next visitor, and be considerate by keeping noise to a minimum — Finns truly value silence and peace. Always take all your trash with you.

Most huts also have guest books, which are fun to read. Hikers often write about animals they have spotted or trail conditions, so it can be both useful and entertaining.

I was fully prepared to be self-sufficient, carrying camping equipment so that I didn’t need to stay in huts with other people. It’s also recommended that if you do the hike during peak months (June, July, August), you carry a tent because the huts can be full. I did the hike in July, probably the busiest month as many Finns are on holiday, but the huts never got full when I was there.

If you carry your own tent, you can’t camp just anywhere you want; instead, you should use the marked campsites or pitch your tent near the huts. This is the case in all national parks in Finland. Because I only used the free map for planning my hike, I didn’t know the locations of the smaller campsites not marked on the map, so I just stayed near the huts every night. This way you won’t have as much silence or privacy because there will always be other people camping too, but the locations were very nice with a water source and other free facilities (such as dry toilets, tables, stoves, and gas cookers).

Weather Conditions in Kuusamo

I highly recommend doing the hike in the summer months, with July probably being the warmest and most reliable option. In June, it can still be very cold, and because the sun doesn’t set at all, it can be difficult to sleep. Even in July, there was still too much light to make my tent dark at night. In August, the nights start to get darker, but especially at the end of the month, it can also get cold.

If you’re up for an extreme challenge, you could do the hike in winter. However, I won’t go into details as most people are not used to those kinds of weather conditions, and it should only be attempted by very experienced hikers.

During summer, it’s essential to check if there is a forest fire warning. You can check it here, and this site is also good for the weather forecast in Finland. If there is a forest fire warning, making campfires is prohibited everywhere. Even without a warning, you can’t make a fire in the open. There are lots of marked fire sites you can use when there is no warning.

I was lucky to do the hike during a heat wave in Europe, and it was around 30°C even in northern Finland! I had prepared some warm layers and a jacket for my backpack but ended up leaving them out when the weather suddenly changed, and there was no need for warm clothes anymore. However, keep in mind that weather in Northern Finland can be very different, and even in summer, temperatures can drop to zero during the night.

 

Safety on the Trail

The Karhunkierros trail is very well marked, and it’s almost impossible to get lost. All you need to do is follow the orange markers (usually painted on trees, see the picture above) and check the signposts placed at 1 km intervals, showing the distance to the trail endpoints in Hautajärvi and Ruka. You’ll also see signs indicating the distance to the nearest huts and rest spots. A good outdoor map is always recommended, but I didn’t carry one. I used the free map for planning my hike and then simply followed the signs. Just in case, I also downloaded a map of the area in my Maps.me app, which also shows the trail. I never had to use it because, as I said, it’s really hard to get lost here!

Most likely, there will also be plenty of other hikers on the trail. So even if you hike alone, you don’t need to worry about being stranded in the wilderness for days if something happens. Make sure to pack a small first-aid kit, and in case of emergency, call 112.

Finland has excellent mobile network coverage, but during parts of the hike, my internet didn’t work. I usually kept my phone in airplane mode to save battery and quickly checked it in the evenings at camp. Even when the internet didn’t work, I still had mobile signal for calls, so I could have used it if needed.

I had planned to do the hike in four days but still carried food for six days. Bring at least 1–2 extra days’ worth of food just in case something unexpected happens.

There aren’t many dangerous animals in Finland. The only venomous snake is the adder, which you can recognize by its zigzag stripes, but bites are rare. If you want to be extra prepared, you can buy antivenom packs from a pharmacy. I didn’t see any snakes during my hike in Kuusamo. And even though the trail is called the Bear Circle, actually encountering a bear is very rare. In Finland, bears are usually scared of people and avoid humans whenever possible. Unlike in Canada or parts of the US, Finnish bears won’t come into your camp to steal food.

You won’t need to do any river crossings, as there are hanging bridges and duckboards along the way. The only exception might be in spring when the snow melts, as some areas may flood. Check out Karhunkierros Facebook page for updates.

Hiking Equipment

Less is more. I saw many people lugging around their super-heavy 70 L backpacks, and the only thing they complained about was the weight of their bag. I never had this problem — my pack felt light from the start. I wanted to be able to run with my bag if needed and lift it without issues. I carried a 45 L backpack and didn’t even pack it full.

For this hike, I went as ultralight as possible. My final pack weight (including food and water) was around 10 kg, and this covered six days’ worth of food and gas for nine days. I could have chosen a smaller gas canister, especially since I later realized most wilderness huts have gas stoves you can use. For cooking, I carried a small pot, spork, lighter, and compact stove. I also had a rag for handling the hot pot and cleaning up.

For toiletries, I packed one multipurpose trek soap (for dishes, laundry, and myself), toothpaste, toothbrush, hairbrush, mirror, small dry shampoo, lip balm, coconut oil, and nail clippers. I also carried toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and baby wipes.

I wore the same hiking clothes every day and washed them at camp each night. My hiking outfit (pictured above) consisted of a hiking shirt, shorts, bandana, sunglasses, and trail runners. At camp, I changed into long pants, a T-shirt, and flip-flops. Sometimes I also wore my rain jacket. I carried another sports bra (which I never used) and three pairs of underwear. For socks, I had two pairs, washing one each night. Since socks were often still damp in the morning, I hung them on my backpack, and they dried during the day. For colder weather, I would have added warm running tights (which can also be worn under long pants), gloves, a hat, a long-sleeved shirt, and a warm jacket.

Other handy items I carried included a Swiss knife, sleep mask (essential in summer when the sun never sets), a book, power bank, phone, camera, chargers, trekking poles, water bottle, and CamelBak. I also brought a headlamp, but I never needed it since there was light almost all the time. My sleep system consisted of a tent, sleeping pad, sleeping bag, and an inflatable pillow.

Before the hike, I bought a new sleeping bag, thinking it would be colder and that my summer bag wouldn’t be enough. I used the Marmot Ultra Elite 20 sleeping bag. Even though the temperatures at night weren’t that low, I didn’t get too hot with this bag. I can highly recommend it for Karhunkierros or any other hike. It’s lightweight, highly compressible, vegan, and rated for 20 °F (-7 °C). For me, nights were around 18 °C, and the bag still felt comfortable without overheating.

Food and Water

Finland’s supermarkets carry a large selection of almost everything you can imagine. I highly recommend shopping at Prisma, a reasonably priced large chain with an extensive range of products. They also have a website where you can see nearly everything they sell — with prices, pictures, and other details. The site is only in Finnish, but I’ll link all of my food items in case you want to check out these options.

I tried to plan my meals to be as nutritious and healthy as possible while still sticking to lightweight, dried foods. Everything I brought was vegan, too!

This is what I ate during the hike:

Breakfast: porridge with chia seeds, freeze-dried blueberries and raspberries
Lunch: Vegetarian multigrain noodles with dried fava beans and nutritional yeast 
Dinner: Italian pasta with dried soy 
Extra: Sometimes I added couscous and lentils to my meals if I was very hungry
Snacks: Clif-bar and smoothie (I had one Clif-bar and one smoothie per day, and I tried to have different flavors for each day)

Another large supermarket chain is Citymarket, which I found slightly more expensive, though it usually has a better selection. In smaller towns, you won’t find big hypermarkets like Prisma or Citymarket, but instead smaller supermarkets such as S-market or K-market.

If you’d like to buy more expensive trail foods (the “just add water” type), I recommend shopping at Partioaitta, the largest outdoor gear chain in Finland.

For the first two days, I also carried some fresh vegetables and herbs, which made my initial meals a bit nicer. Always pack 1–2 extra days’ worth of food in case something happens or you simply feel like eating more. I packed my six days of food into six ziplock bags — one bag for each day. This way, I knew exactly how much I was eating daily, and everything was measured so that each day’s food supply was the same. I also carried one extra ziplock bag for my trash.

You also have the option to buy a warm lunch at the Oulanka Visitor Center, located about halfway through the hike. Unfortunately, when I checked the menu, there were no vegan options available.

When it comes to water, I carried one 2 L CamelBak and one water bottle (about 0.75–1 L), so in total around 3 liters. I mostly used the CamelBak while hiking, and kept the bottle as backup in case the CamelBak ran out. I also used the bottle more often at camp. This amount was enough for me since the trail has plenty of water sources. The only time I felt short on water was the last day, when the sources were fewer — but even then, three liters was manageable.

I didn’t filter my water or use purification tablets because the water in this part of Finland is usually very clean. However, for the last day from Porontimanjoki to Ruka, I recommend carrying purification tablets or using a water filter bottle such as a LifeStraw or Katadyn BeFree. And if you don’t have prior experience drinking straight from rivers in Finland, it might be wise to use them throughout the hike just in case — there’s nothing worse than getting sick on the trail.

Check out Karhunkierros Facebook page before your hike, as they will update if there is something you should know about the water quality.

How to Get to Ruka, Kuusamo

Most visitors to Finland arrive in Helsinki. To get from Helsinki to Ruka, you can either fly with Finnair, rent a car, or use public transport. If you use public transportation, the best way is to take either a train or bus to Oulu and then take another bus to Kuusamo.

Onnibus is the cheapest bus company for long distances between major cities, but for the connection from Oulu to Kuusamo, you’ll need to check Matkahuolto. For more information about traveling in Kuusamo and Ruka with public transport, visit ruka.fi.

Where to Stay in Ruka

There are a few hotels in Ruka that are well located and convenient even if you’re traveling without a car. Ruka Peak and Scandic Rukahovi are worth mentioning if you are looking for a nicer place to stay and relax before and after the hike. Personally, I think nothing feels better than spending a night in a good hotel after days on the trail. Many hikers end their trek at Scandic Rukahovi, since it’s located right in the town center where the trail finishes — making it a popular place to meet fellow hikers, too.

For a more budget-friendly option, consider RukaTupa.

If you would like to sleep in your tent before and after the hike, there is also a camping ground called Iisakki Village Camping. It’s a little bit outside of the town center so you would need a car to get there.

Wherever you decide to stay, all of these options have one thing in common: they offer a sauna. And there’s truly no better way to end your hike than with a traditional Finnish sauna!

How to Get to the Starting Point in Hautajärvi

There is a bus called the Karhunkierros bus, which runs once a day between Ruka and Hautajärvi. The fare from Ruka to Hautajärvi is about 10 €, and you can check the most recent timetable here.

I had initially planned to take the bus, but because it was Saturday, there was no morning departure and I wanted to start hiking early. So, I decided to hitchhike to Hautajärvi. The first ride was easy to get — I had barely walked outside the town center in Ruka before someone stopped. The second ride, however, was more challenging, as I was in the middle of nowhere with cars passing only every 15 minutes. It took about an hour before a friendly driver picked me up and drove me all the way to the Karhunkierros Visitor Center.

At the Visitor Center, there’s a small café and shop, and you can also get a free map and useful information. I charged my phone, used the bathroom, and then was ready to start the hike.

Please, don’t hesitate to comment below or email me if you have any additional questions about the hike! Hiking Karhunkierros is really one of the best ways to experience Finnish nature and should be on everyone’s bucket list!

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