Karhunkierros Trail emergency & health guide: hospitals, rescue, 112 and park rules

Emergency numbers

Install the free 112 Suomi app before you go: when you call 112 through it, the operator sees your location. Visitors can use it with a foreign number in international format. Emergency text messages to 112 work only for people with impaired hearing or speech and only from Finnish numbers. Tell someone your plan, write your name and route in each hut’s guest book, and check the Finnish Meteorological Institute for forecasts and wildfire warnings.

Rules to know

• No permit, fee or booking is needed. The open wilderness huts are free and first come, first served, for one or two nights; carry a tent, because they fill up in July and August. Groups of more than five should use their own shelter.
• In the original part of Oulanka National Park, in Kitkanniemi and in the Valtavaara-Pyhävaara Nature Reserve you may camp only next to the marked huts, rest areas and campfire sites. Hammocks are allowed if they do not damage the trees.
• Make fires only at maintained campfire sites, with the firewood provided. During a wildfire warning open fires and twig stoves are banned; only the cooking shelters with a chimney (Kiutaköngäs, Harrisuvanto, Jyrävä), the hut stoves and your own gas or spirit stove may be used.
• Restricted areas: Pähkänänkallio and Koivumutka are closed from 1 April to 15 August, and Juuman vuomat from 1 April to 31 December except on the marked trails. The Karhunkierros runs along their edge, so stay on the trail.
• Water: boil surface water for 5 minutes or use tablets or a filter, and use your own container rather than the hut bucket. The tap on the outside wall of the Oulanka Visitor Centre gives clean water outside winter. There is no flowing water on the last 15 km from Porontimajoki to Ruka.
• Hygiene: in June 2025 Metsähallitus closed every hut and toilet on the trail for a week after a stomach-flu outbreak. Wash or sanitise your hands before eating and after the toilet, and do not wash yourself or dishes in lakes and rivers.
• Pets must be on a lead and may enter huts only if the other people there agree. Cycling is allowed only between the Oulanka Visitor Centre and Taivalköngäs in the snow-free season. Fishing needs the state fisheries fee and a local permit.
• Drones: almost all of Oulanka lies in the ADIZ border zone, so even hobby pilots must file an RPAS flight plan with Fintraffic ANS, and flying that disturbs people or animals is banned.
• Litter-free hiking: carry out everything you bring, including gas cartridges and batteries. There are recycling points at Oulanka Camping and on the Pieni Karhunkierros. Bring toilet paper for the dry toilets.
• Transport: in 2026 the pre-booked Karhunkierros Express ran from Kuusamo airport via Ruka to Hautajärvi (25 May – 30 September), and a daily bus left Ruka Valley for Hautajärvi at 08:45 (1 June – 30 September). Book on Matkahuolto at least 24 hours ahead: buses run only with bookings. Long-term parking at Hautajärvi costs €10 a day.
• The trail is meant for the snow-free season (end of May to October) and has no winter maintenance. In winter the slopes are icy and snow hides weak river ice; never walk on the ice of the Oulankajoki.

Since 14 April 2026 the official start and end in Ruka is the Saarua parking area in East Ruka, not Ruka village: the old route through the ski area was moved for safety. Check the Metsähallitus Karhunkierros page on luontoon.fi for current notices before you set out.

Nearest hospital for each stage

Hospitals

Health centres

There is no doctor or clinic on the trail, in Hautajärvi or in Juuma. The nearest round-the-clock care is the emergency unit at the Kuusamo health centre (Raistakantie 1 A, about 30 km from Ruka). Salla health centre, about 40 km from Hautajärvi, handles urgent cases on weekdays only. For advice that is not an emergency call the medical helpline 116 117 (24/7, free) before you go anywhere.

Pharmacies, cash and supplies

• Pharmacies:
• ATMs:
• Shops: Ruka
• Bus stops: Hautajärvi, Ruka

There is no pharmacy on the trail, in Hautajärvi or in Juuma, and Finland has no duty-pharmacy rota. Ruka Info in the Kumpare shopping centre has a pharmacy point for common self-care medicines, and full pharmacies are in Kuusamo town. Bring blister plasters, insect repellent and your own medicines, and a power bank: the huts have no electricity.

Pharmacies, ATMs, shops and stops: © OpenStreetMap contributors. Hospitals and health centres checked online.