2009-02-18 67 21

The hashpoint was in the forest near the village Ullatti.

the ru

Distance traveled: 389 km (1.5 on skis)
Phone call(s): 4
Muffin(s) eaten: 0.5

My relationship with 67 21 has been strained ever since my aborted 2009-01-17 expedition. This turned out to be a fine day.

I started out around seven in the morning, drove south along E10. Most of my recent hashes have been along this road, nothing out of the ordinary happened. I was unsure what road actually led to Ullatti so I ended up driving some distance in the wrong direction. I've been on numerous road trips and have plenty of maps - why are none of them in my car?

Anyway, I got on the right road (394), passed through Ullatti and parked near a bridge. About 700 m to go, so I put on my skis. The terrain in this area is very uneven, but the way to the hashpoint was almost entirely flat.

I was hoping to beat my previous Coldest Geohash. At first the thermometer would only display -20 C. I assumed it was picking up some of my body heat, so I left it alone on the ground for a while. It finally dropped to -22.9, 0.1 degree below my previous record.

When I checked the thermometer back at the car, it had recorded a minimum of -24.4 degrees somewhere along the way. The accuracy of these cheap thermometers is questionable. I did some partial geoflashing to get myself into dry and warm clothes, then had some hot fruit soup.

On the way home, I took some photos of Ullatti. I also drove through the villages Leipojärvi and Sakajärvi, but didn't see anything of interest. Trivia: almost all place names in this area are of finnish or sami origin.

I also went to the Aitik copper mine. Since I can't get inside the gates, I just took a photo from the parking lot. I stopped by the bakery in Puoltikasvaara to have some tea and a muffin. The Muffin wasn't very good.