Liesjärvi National Park

Liesjärvi National Park is a versatile outdoor recreation destination. Visitors can hike through the fairytale-like Ahonnokka old growth forest and over the grand Kyynäränharju Ridge, which cuts through lake scenery. Liesjärvi National Park is a good day trip destination.

Liesjärvi National Park is located in the Häme Lake Uplands. This area is a rugged backwoods surrounded by fertile fields. Shores and beaches dominate the scenery. They encircle four adjoined lakes and a couple mire ponds. Even though the park is small in area there are almost 50 km of forested shore-line. Adding to this already varied terrain are Kyynäränharju, a sandy shored ridge which separates Lakes Liesjärvi and Kyynäräjärvi, and around 40 islands and islets.

A significant part of the forests in Liesjärvi National Park are more than a century old. Ahonnokka and Isosaari, the most pristine old-growth forests in the area, have been protected since the 1920s. There also are plenty of young and middle-aged forests, as a large part of this area was used for commercial forestry before the National Park was established.

The park’s best-known natural attraction is the low Kyynäränharju esker with its sandy shores. This slender isthmus approximately one kilometre in length separates Lakes Kyynäräjärvi and Liesjärvi. The two lakes are only connected by a narrow channel which hikers can cross along a bridge. The maze-like lake landscape and pristine shores are some of the most important protected values of the national park. The eskers were crafted in late Ice Age as the ice masses were melting.

Korteniemi Heritage Farm gives you a chance to try your hand at traditional farm work, meet livestock and experience how people lived 100 years ago. The farm is a real park ranger’s estate from the 1910s, and several indigenous species of livestock, including cows, sheep, chickens and a rooster, are still kept there in the summer. Old Finnish crops are grown in the fields and vegetable gardens using traditional methods. Rye is still cut with scythes, dried in stooks and threshed with flails.

MORE INFO: www.nationalparks.fi/en/liesjarvinp/