Karhunkierros
FILive- 78
- km
- 4
- stages
- +1 272
- m ascent
- −1 186
- m descent
Stages, times and the profile follow the direction you pick.
Difficulty
Easy
avg +318 m/day · 19.5 km/day · hardest day +490 m
Derived from distance and ascent, not terrain grade — not a SAC or T-scale rating.
Karhunkierros — the Bear's Ring — runs south from the Hautajärvi visitor centre near the Arctic Circle to the fell resort of Ruka in Kuusamo. Most of it is in Oulanka National Park: pine forest and bog, the Savinajoki and Oulankajoki river valleys, the Kiutaköngäs rapids and the long gorges the path follows on boardwalks and suspension bridges. The climbing is modest; the ground is roots, rocks and duckboards. Open wilderness huts (autiotupa) and lean-tos (laavu) with fire places stand every few kilometres, so the walk can be split many ways — the four stages here use the huts. This line follows OpenStreetMap's main route; the alternatives are left out.
Your own day-by-day draft. The stages below are the trail's published ones; your plan is set by the days you have.
Overnight network: dense
10km
Longest stretch with no mapped overnight
km 18–28
31 overnight places
20 lean-tos · 8 shelters · 3 emergency
+6 more within 2 km off route
Statistics
- 487
- m highest
- 143
- m lowest
- +1 272
- m ascent
- −1 186
- m descent
- 19.5
- km/day
- 4
- stages
Hardest stage Porontimajoki autiotupa → Ruka +490 m
Stages
4-stage division of Karhunkierros (Hautajärvi → Ruka, OSM relation 1633747 main route walked --order path) on the 2026-10-24 line; nights at the Metsähallitus wilderness huts Taivalköngäs, Jussinkämppä and Porontimajoki; 2026-10-24 · updated 2026-10-24
Good to know
- Season
- June–early October
- Daylight
- 24 h 00 mid-June · 9 h 16 mid-October
- Managed by
- Metsähallitus (Parks & Wildlife Finland)
- Overnight: the open wilderness huts are free and shared — first come, and nobody is turned away; carry a tent or bivvy for when a hut is full. In the national park, camp and make fire only at the marked sites.
- Season: snow-free usually from June to early October; mosquitoes peak in midsummer.
- Getting there: the start (Hautajärvi) and the end (Ruka) are far apart by road — arrange transport before you set off.
- The figures are measured on this line with Copernicus GLO-30, a surface model: under forest the climbing reads a little high.
Route & elevation: OSM relation 1633747 "Iso Karhunkierros" (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), fetched 2026-10-24 · elevation Copernicus DEM GLO-30, bilinear from the 2×2 cell neighbourhood · 2942 points · imported 2026-10-24
Elevation figures · full-res GPX, 10 m threshold
© OpenStreetMap contributors · Terrain: © Copernicus DEM GLO-30
Plan your nights on Karhunkierros.
The planner lays out your days by where the roofs on the trail are, and shows where you need another option.