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Rietula loop trail

—•Hiking Trails

1.9 km

Route

P 1

Description

Luontoon.fi – Telkkämäen perinnetila+

Description

The Rietula loop trail is about 1.9 km of easy walking through Telkkämäki’s slash-and-burn heritage landscapes in Kaavi, North Savo. The path samples ancient and actively managed kaski clearings, deciduous woods, stone heaps from old clearing work, and the cultural layers Metsähallitus keeps alive as a living museum farm. Kaavi is the municipality, and North Savo is the wider region. For year-round planning—field seasons, public burn events, building openings, and how to time a visit with staff on site—start with Luontoon.fi’s Telkkämäki pages and the City of Kaavi’s Telkkämäki heritage farm overview. Along the route you pass Telkkämäki lähde, a spring people use as a pause point before the trail bends deeper into the reserve, and Telkkämäki pysäköintialue sits at the visiting end of the line with room to leave a car while you walk. Dry toilets are available near that parking cluster so you can combine a short hike with the farmyard visit without searching for facilities. Maatiaismuori’s long-running blog writing about Telkkämäki captures how the smoke, rye cycle, and meadow grazing look from someone who has followed the place since the 1990s. Museoraitti’s museum-route listing adds practical rhythm for summer openings, zero entrance fee for self-guided yard walks, and how to book a paid group guide when you want a deeper farm tour. Interpretation boards on the Rietula loop itself help you read burn scars, regrowth, and old field patterns in the terrain. The footpath also sits in the middle of a denser trail network: the short Telkkämäki hiking loop, Telkkämäki kärrytie, and the Northeast Savo hiking route – Kaavi section all meet the same service cluster, so you can stitch a longer day on foot if you arrive with maps and daylight to spare.

Length & route

The trail is about 1.9 km end to end on forest and meadow paths that stay mostly gentle but are not barrier-free—Kaavi’s guided walk publicity stresses the terrain is fairly level yet not fully accessible. Surfaces alternate between soft forest floor and short meadow crossings where slash-and-burn cycles keep openings sunny. Interpretation boards along the Rietula loop explain how to spot nauriskuopat, stone ruins from clearing, and the regrowth mosaic after burns. Lighting is natural only; winter maintenance is not provided on the approach road network, so snow and ice call for your own judgment.

Getting there

Telkkämäki lies north of highway 17 in Kaavi. Luontoon.fi gives the address Kaiturintie 419, 73600 Kaavi and brown signing from Kaavi church village and the Kaavi–Juankoski road (no. 569). The main car park for cars sits roughly 200 m from the farmyard; walk the last stretch on foot to protect the heritage buildings and to use Telkkämäki pysäköintialue at the trail end. There is no winter maintenance on the roads to the farm, so plan footwear and traction accordingly.

Good to know

Within the Telkkämäki nature reserve, hunting, camping, and open fires are prohibited, while berry and mushroom picking remain free for personal use. Heritage buildings stay locked outside event openings, but a small photo display in the barn’s side room and the outdoor trails stay open year-round; call ahead in summer if you want staff to greet you at the farmyard. Paid group guiding for deeper cultural interpretation can be arranged through the numbers listed on Museoraitti.

History

Slash-and-burn pockets shaped Savo’s settlement from the 1400s onward. Telkkämäki’s holding traces back to a torppa before the 1750s great land reform; the Telkkämäki parcel formally split from Mustolanmäki in the 1870s with Matti Mustonen’s household. Stone heaps, deciduous regrowth on old burns, and nauriskuopat still mark that economy visually. Metsähallitus has burned demonstration kaskis at Telkkämäki with traditional methods since 1993, including younger deciduous burns and, since 2000, needle-forest huuhta demos, keeping rye and turnip cycles visible for visitors.

Managed by

Kaavi

Official Maintenance

GPX data from: © Metsähallitus, 2024

Trail info

Marked Route

Route Signs

Open / Good Condition

Activities allowed

Hike / Walk

Activity

Terrain & conditions

1.9 km

Distance

About 45–75 minutes at a sightseeing pace with time at Telkkämäki lähde and the boards; guided farm visits advertised by the municipality often last 0.5–1 hour with roughly one kilometre of walking when only the core area is covered.

Est. Time

Dirt / Grass

Surface

Light Traffic

Traffic

Partial Shade

Shade

City of Kaavi – Telkkämäen kaskiperinnetila

Location

63.03816°N, 28.49340°E

Parking coordinates

FinlandCountry

North SavoRegion

KaaviCity

Hiking TrailsCategory

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Answers to your questions

Our data was researched from Kaavi, and other trusted sources, in March 2026. Our route / place GPX data comes from Metsähallitus / Lipas, last updated March 2026. Always check their official website for safety-critical updates.

Finland North Savo Kaavi Hiking TrailsRietula loop trail