Walking time measured on the mapped line (TrailSplits time model, moving time; within 22 % on four in five test legs). Outside Switzerland our walking times often run short of the times route operators publish; treat them as optimistic. Climb measured on the mapped line, on terrain heights.
15.0 kmStage distance
594 mAscent, measured
4 h 46Walking time, measured
7Stage number
Over the hills to the Saarua parking area in East Ruka: 14 km by the section heading, which still says Ruka; Metsähallitus's list of sections gives 15.1 km. There is no flowing water on this last section: fill up at Porontimajoki. Older guides end in Ruka village.
Best season: End of May to October. Metsähallitus gives the hiking season as the end of May to October; July and September are the busiest months, and about 5,000 hikers walk the whole trail each season. The open wilderness huts stay open all year. In October 2026 the season is over at both ends: the summer buses stopped on 30 September, Napapiiri Café and its cabins at Hautajärvi are closed until 28 May 2027, and the Oulanka camping ground is closed until June. Before you go
Facts read from the operators' own pages and OpenStreetMap on 13 October 2026. A page can change after we read it, so confirm with the hut before you rely on a date or a bed.
2026 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2026 Open all year, Metsähallitus says: free, first come, and it cannot be reserved.luontoon.fi, read 13 October 20262027 1 January 2027 to 31 December 2027 Open all year, Metsähallitus says: free, first come, and it cannot be reserved.luontoon.fi, read 13 October 2026
Places
10 places in total two open wilderness huts of 5 places each
Booking
No bookingFree, first come; it cannot be reserved. Stay one or two nights at most. Carry a tent in case it is full.
Metsähallitus moved the trail's end from Ruka village to the Saarua parking area in spring 2026; the official length is now 81 km. luontoon.fi, read 13 October 2026
The southern end since spring 2026: the Saarua parking area in East Ruka. Older guides end in Ruka village, through the ski area. There is no stay at the parking area: Ruka village is the nearest place with beds; walk there or take the Village-2-Valley gondola, Ruka's trail page says.
Metsähallitus's open wilderness huts on the trail are free, sleep 5 to 20 each and cannot be reserved; stay one or two nights at most, and carry a tent in case a hut is full. There are no rental huts on the trail. Camping is allowed right by the huts and at the marked rest spots and campfire sites. The beds you can book are off the huts: the cabins at Hautajärvi, the Oulanka camping ground in summer and Basecamp Oulanka near Siilastupa. In season the buses to both ends must be booked ahead through Matkahuolto. Pack food for the whole hike.
Hautajärvi to Saarua
The whole trail in six days, every night at an open wilderness hut.
Loading the forecast for low point (313 m) and high point (488 m)…
Weather by month
Typical weather on this stage: at the lowest point (313 m) and the highest point (488 m). Select a month to see why it is rated as it is.
Monthly climate averages and daylight
Month
Weather
Poor
Poor
Poor
Poor
Poor
Good
Good
Good
Good
Poor
Poor
Poor
High point, day / night
-8°/-17°
-8°/-17°
-3°/-14°
3°/-7°
9°/-1°
15°/5°
18°/8°
15°/6°
9°/2°
2°/-3°
-3°/-9°
-6°/-14°
Low point, day / night
-8°/-17°
-7°/-17°
-2°/-13°
4°/-7°
10°/0°
17°/6°
20°/9°
17°/7°
11°/3°
3°/-2°
-2°/-9°
-5°/-14°
Rain, mm
40
34
33
31
53
68
86
68
58
56
52
46
Snow at high point
Likely
Likely
Likely
Likely
Likely
–
–
–
Frost
Possible
Likely
Likely
Daylight
4 h 19
8 h 08
11 h 32
15 h 16
19 h 08
24 h
21 h 20
17 h 04
13 h 18
9 h 45
5 h 57
2 h 48
Source: TerraClimate 1991–2020 monthly averages. Averages for the area at each point’s elevation (4 km grid, corrected for height). Not a forecast or a report of current trail conditions. Snow at the high point is estimated with a simple snowpack model from these temperatures and precipitation, not observed; steep islands and high summits can hold more snow than it shows. Daylight is for the 15th of each month. Hut, transport and park seasons are separate: check them for your dates.
Before you go
Prepare for the Karhunkierros
Arrange your stays, food and travel first, then check conditions again near departure.
Out of season now
On 13 October 2026 the summer buses to both ends had stopped: their seasons ran to 30 September, and the 2027 dates are not out yet. Napapiiri Café and its cabins at Hautajärvi are closed until 28 May 2027, open by reservation only, and the Oulanka camping ground is closed until June. Do not count on public transport or on buying food on the way: plan your own way to the start and home.
Metsähallitus's huts are free, first come, open all year and cannot be reserved: Savilampi (10 places), Taivalköngäs (10 to 15), Ansakämppä (20), Jussinkämppä (20, and 5 in its campfire hut), Siilastupa (10 to 12) and the two small huts at Porontimajoki (5 each). Stay one or two nights at most. Carry a tent: a hut can be full.
Since spring 2026 the trail ends at the Saarua parking area in East Ruka, away from the ski area; it used to end in Ruka village. The official length is now 81 km. Older guides, maps and signs may still show the old end.
Camp only by the huts, rest spots and campfire sites. Two rest zones in the park, Pähkänänkallio and Koivumutka, are closed to entry from 1 April to 15 August.
On 13 October 2026 no notice closed any part of the trail. The only one was about a side trail: the cable boat on the Keroharjun kuiskaus Trail had been taken out for the winter. Read the park's notices before you set off.
Google Maps journey searches, not confirmed services. A mountain endpoint may need a booked transfer or an additional walk.
To the start at Hautajärvi
Hautajärvi is in Salla, north of Ruka. In 2026, buses booked ahead through Matkahuolto ran there from Ruka daily from 1 June to 30 September, from Kuusamo and Ruka on Saturdays from 6 June to 8 August, and from Kuusamo airport by Ruka and the Ristikallio start from 25 May to 30 September; none runs until the 2027 season. Parking for the night at the start costs EUR 10 a day while the café is open.
Kuusamo airport is the nearest. The nearest railway stations are Kemijärvi (120 km), Rovaniemi (200 km), Oulu (270 km) and Kajaani (300 km); go on by road from there.
In 2026 the Karhunkierros Express ran from Ruka village by Juuma and Basecamp Oulanka to the Oulanka Visitor Centre, Monday to Saturday from 1 June to 30 September, booked ahead.
The trail ends at the Saarua parking area in East Ruka. Walk into Ruka village or take the Village-2-Valley gondola, Ruka's trail page says; in Ruka all buses stop at the roundabout.
Prepare every stage while you still have a connection, before you leave Kuusamo or Ruka.
Keep your route and maps on your phone for places without a signal. For multi-day trips, prepare them in the installed TrailSplits app.
Open this trail in the app.Install TrailSplits, then open this trail there. On iPhone, downloads in a browser may not be available in the installed app.
Choose your route or stages. Choose Prepare offline above. Wait for the route and maps to finish downloading.
Try it before leaving coverage. Switch offline, close and reopen the app, then use My Hikes to start navigation. Repeat for every part you will need.
Saving a bookmark is not a map download. Storage can be cleared by your device; keep a backup map for remote trips.
Route & sources
Route map & sources
Metsähallitus (Parks & Wildlife Finland) publishes the Karhunkierros as seven hut-to-hut sections, 81 km from the Karhunkierros Nature Centre at Hautajärvi to the Saarua parking area in East Ruka. It publishes no stage times, only each section's km, given with ours on every stage. The south end moved from Ruka village to Saarua in spring 2026, which made the trail about 1 km shorter: older guides and maps end in Ruka village, through the ski area. The line here is the route on OpenStreetMap (relation 1633747, "Iso Karhunkierros", from the planet of 11 October 2026): 80.6 km, cut at the seven section ends. It leaves out the other start, at the Ristikallio parking area (71 km to Saarua), and between Harrisuvanto and Siilastupa it takes the east bank past the Siilastupa hut, as the sections do. Our climb is measured on terrain heights, so short steep rises are smoothed out.
Official guidance and mapped-source comparison checked 13 October 2026. Map data is a route reference, not confirmation of today's path, weather or accommodation availability.