Wednesday, 5. January 2005: Jyrkkävaara - Muorravaarakka (15 - 16 km)
6:00
I wake up because one more time the air went out of my mattress. Blow it up, continue sleeping.6:30
The alarm clock rings.6:50
I get up. The others are already active and Sami is even coming back from chopping firewood. Today everything goes much faster because not so many people are standing in each others' ways. Besides we don't cook any soup for the thermos flasks today, just hot water. Do the dishes, brush your teeth, pack your stuff. For some reason the others manage to do that much quicker than me. In the end all seem to be waiting just for me.9:00
Off we go. It's not entirely bright yet but we can see enough without head lights. We go back to the river. It goes pretty fast through the dense forest through which we were fighting our way so arduously yesterday - in the darkness and uphill. One day earlier another group has left the cottage with the same destination so that there is a track in the snow already. Hopefully that will save us from this tiresome searching for the cottage in the darkness in the end of the day.
We're pretty much following the river all day. There are hardly any steep hills to climb, hardly any overthorn trees to cross, excellent conditions so to speak.
After a while I take over the akio from Silja. I now attach the ropes directly to my backpack rather than to this weired leather belt. That feels much better and it doesn't cut into the meat any longer. I'm already sore around my waist because of that. I'm getting pretty warm at -3 °C. The pullover is soon wet and the gloves too.
After half of the time two show mobiles come against our way. They're coming from our destination. Now the track is even better, just slightly too narrow for the akio.