Day 37: Inari to Vestre Jakobselv

MAY 10 - Leave our Inari cabin and head north on the E75. After about 50 km the terrain changes, with twisted, stunted birches replacing the dense pine forests, and more hilly topography. The landscape begins to look much more stark. There are a few deeply incised canyons and fast rivers further along. No luck with weather today, it is a constant drizzle all morning. Reach the northern border of Finland at the tiny town of Utsjoki. I expected at least some semblance of immigration procedures at the bridge across the Karasjohka, but all is silent in the customs office, so just blow through it and we are across.

Stop in Tana bru for some lunch, next to a spectacular bridge over the Tana River (the downstream name for the river we crossed at the border).

Cross this bridge and head north along the eastern bank. Mountains rise up quickly, and the scenery alters to something almost unrecognizable to what we have been looking at for the last few weeks.

Continue up past where the Tana empties in to the Tanafjorden, which in turn becomes the Barents Sea. There is a thin sandy spit here that can be driven along to the town of Høyholmen. Here we stop, and this becomes our northernmost point. At latitude 70.5⁰, it is north of Alaska, and about the same as the southern tip of Novaya Zemlya.

Turn back south to Tana bru, then east along the north shore of the Varangerfjorden. Come across a stone age site, of all things. The Mortensnes Cultural Heritage Site is a series of remnants of human habitation that extends from about 10,000 BCE to a few thousand years ago. The oldest sites (stone circles that were used to pin down the edges of animal skin tents) are the furthest up the slope from the sea, and progressively younger sites are lower elevation. This is in accordance with the rising land level during the time period (about 45 vertical uplift in total). Some stone tools were discovered here. The unusual feature below, which is thought to be sacrificial stone, is surrounded by 13 stone circles. There is evidence that the smaller stones were repeatedly covered in fish oil, perhaps to encourage the gods to give good luck at fishing.

Our room is in Vestre Jakobselv, up the hill from the main road. A huge apartment, more room than we’ve had anywhere on this trip. Get back on the road for one last thing...

First tank fill up in Norway. Gasoline here is 24.2 NOK per liter, or about US $9.38/gallon.

These are the shortest nights we will have. Today (May 10) it got ‘dark’ at 10:30, and daylight began again at 01:30. But there really isn’t much difference in the amount of light, since the sun doesn’t go very low below the horizon.