I left Karesuando, which is in Sweden on the border to Finland, on September 15 and crossed the bridge crossing the Muonio River which materializes the natural border with Finland. No border controls here, cross the bridge and you're in Finland! This is the very northernmost part of Finland in the municipality of Enontekiö, an important part of Finnish Lapland. This is a narrow strip of Finland so within a few hours, you get into Norway and then have to cross the entirety of the northernmost part of Finnmark (Norwegian for Lapland). Here I got to drive through Katokeino, probably the largest center of any Sámi reindeer herding district in Norway. After that, it's through Alta and on to Nordkapp.
At 71° 10’ 21” of Latitude North, Nordkapp is the northernmost
spot on mainland Europe and so also the northernmost spot in Lapland. This has
been really high on my bucket list for a very long time. I never got to it
because you don’t just happen to “get to” Nordkapp. It is literally out of the
way.
We are here in the Northernmost part
of Arctic Europe, it is actually the end of the road and you are here overlooking the Barents Sea, part of the Arctic Ocean. Also known as the “end of the habitable world”, it is a place
of almost incomprehensible beauty. It surely is an indescribable beauty to this author so I am not even going to try. Here are some pictures, they don’t either do the place justice but I feel the pressure to show something... (click to enlarge):
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| 71 degrees north is as long as this goes on land... |
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| View of Lappiljävri in Finland. The literal translation would be "Lapp Lake". |
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Entering Norway that lets you know that
you will be sharing the road with snowmobiles |
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Katokeino, the largest reindeer herding center in Norwegian Lapland.
Here on the signage, they not only add the name in Sámi, but the Sámi
version is also first, as it damn well should be everywhere in Lapland! |
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| To the right the church of Katokeino. |
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| A view of Alta River. |
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| The hills just south of Alta... |
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| ...still south but very close to Alta. |
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Partial view of Alta Fjord - I don't have an objective
wide enough for a full view. |
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Reindeer herd on the tundra at Gukkesguravarre. Did you know that the
word "tundra" comes to us from the Sámi language? |
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| View of a river as I get close to Olderfjord... |
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| ...same river different view. |
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A traditional Sámi hut. The most common one was the "Lavvu"
(similar to the tipi) but these semi-solid structures had their use too.
Some of these would be exclusively for cooking, others for
temporary shelter on the reindeer migration... |
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| ...a larger and more elaborate one that would serve as a shelter. |
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A fishing station in Porsanger Fjord. This is the land of the "Sea-Sámi".
They were Sámi that mainly lived off the sea (fishing and hunting sea
mammals) while reindeer herding was a supplement. The land Sámi
would mainly live on land mammal hunting and pastoralism with
fishing being the supplemental activity. |
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| A smaller Fishing station on Porsangen Fjord. |
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| Lone reindeer on Porsangerhalvøya... |
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| Still on Porsangerhalvøya a cow and her calf. |
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| Closing in on the "ends of the inhabitable world"... |
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Getting to the end, Máhkarávju (in Northern Sami) or Magerøya
(in Norwegian). This is the northern peninsula at the end of which,
after another 5 - 6 miles, the road comes to an end at Nordkapp. |
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| The dramatic cliffs of the north. |
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| To the immediate East of Nordkapp. |
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| Nordkapp overlooking the Arctic Ocean. It is materialized by the globe. |
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