Arctic by Cycle: Arctic Post Road MTB Route

The route got an epic update in 2023 when two new single track sections, 50km in total, were added and the total amount of single track increased significantly. Also after riding the route again 9/2023, we decided to split the Norwegian part into little shorter days in here to have the recommended riding pace more balanced. The extra 50km of single track and more balanced daily progress add two riding days to the plan updating the route riding time from 6-8 days to 8-10 days. Some can ride the route much faster of course, but this is our semi-party pace at the moment for a group of moderately fit and technically skilled riders carrying a good single malt.

Day 1, Äkäslompolo village to Mustavaara campfire hut (61km, 873m of climbing)

The first riding day has an epic start in the old growth forests of the southern Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park. A wide and partly gravel trail climbs gently between the higher fells of the part till the historic wilderness Café of Kotamaja. From here on the through mountain biking starts on a much narrow and technical trail north. The first hike-a-bike of the day is soon after the wilderness café with a steep and rocky incline to a side of a fell, where an occasionally painfully rocky gentle downhill continues multiple kilometers to the Kutujärvi wilderness hut. After the hut the trail gets significantly easier and smooth again. The turquoise Äkäsaivo spring pond is worth a quick visit and there is a campfire hut with firewood as well. The total amount if single track in the start adds up to 18km.

After the single track section a narrow gravel road continues north alongside the National Park going by the tiny and old Pahtavuoma open wilderness hut around 38km from the start. There is room for a couple of tents by the hut, if necessary.

The rest of the day is easy riding as well, first on fast lakeside gravel road and then on pavement toward the options for spending the night. The Arctic Sauna World with four different saunas at the Hotel Jeris is strategically located at the end of the day, whether you decide to enjoy the luxuries of the hotel and its restaurant or head further on to camp at Mustavaara campfire hut. Though the Hotel Pallas is only 8km further along the route as well. To push the day any longer, you would be entering the rough stuff and the high fells of the national parks, which should be tackled with clear mind and fresh legs…

Day 2, Mustavaara campfire hut to Pahakuru open wilderness hut (47km, 1000m of climbing)

The restaurant of Hotel Pallas offers a great breakfast, before the climb to some of the highest fells in the country. The first ascend is a smooth non-technical, but steep gravel path, which turns into a continuous boulder garden on top. The 7km natural trail between the rocks is 100% rideable with good mountain biking skills, but without the necessary skills, it’s mostly hike-a-biking, which is luckily rewarded with some of the best views in the country. The wilderness shelters are great for a break, cover from the elements, or for the night with firewood and other facilities.

The route avoids the most challenging parts of the national park single track, by getting down from the fells to the road and going back up again when the routes get easier again. After the rough stuff, marked black on the route map, the riding is technically easy on the wide gravel path. The high-speed descent to Vuotisjärvi is fast and fun, but be on lookout for hikers and other cyclists on their way up… At Vuontisjärvi, at the bottom of the fell, there are a couple of lodging options.

After the 12km of fast progress on a paved side road, a smooth quad track to Lake Hietajärvi starts. The turquoise spring lake with its sandy beaches is an excellent spot for the night, but there is a reward for climbing back to the highlands and reaching the Pahakuru open wilderness hut: a wilderness sauna. Actually, the sauna is located another 2km down the trail, but Pahakuru is as far as it makes sense to reach by bicycle. Better to camp at Hannukuru and make an evening visit to the sauna by walking. The national park is the most visited in Finland, so don’t expect to go to a sauna alone…

Day 3, Pahakuru open wilderness hut to Hetta village (26km, 750m of climbing)

Day 3 looks easy and short on paper, but it’s mostly slow going on physically and technically challenging terrain. The route is 100% rideable with good mountain biking skills and good fitness, but for most, it occasionally involves long stretches of hike-a-biking. Sioskuru open wilderness hut and rental hut are great places for the night with some good camping around too. The views from the last and one of the highest fells of the Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park, Pyhäkero (713m) are fabulous and the gravel singletrack again fast and flowy. Hetta village has a full set of services, with guesthouses, a supermarket, organized camping grounds and restaurants. This is also where you'll need to stock up for the following three days/120km to Kautokeino, given that you'll follow the pace here.

Day 4, Hetta village to Pöyrisjärvi open wilderness hut (42km, 955m of climbing)

After the high fells of the Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park riding get a little easier, eventually, but not that much yet between Hetta and Näkkälä dispite the route stays at lower elevation. From Hetta, the route continues on natural trails on old quad track, occasionally carved rocky and muddy by quads. Näkkälä välitupa open wilderness hut is located between the villages of Hetta and Näkkälä, from the times of the post road. The terrain changes during the day when pushing on toward the north from boreal forest to treeless arctic tundra.

The Pöyrisjärvi Wilderness Area, starting soon after the Näkkälä village has fantastic smooth riding for miles on end, if not sometimes soft to keep the momentum. The old ridges, shaped by the previous ice age, dominate the landscape, with pits of soft sand here and there, as light patches in the arctic miniature vegetation. Pöyrisjärvi open wilderness hut is located by the beautiful Lake Pöyris and has fantastic camping around too.

NOTE 1! The last couple of kilometers before arriving to the village of Näkkälä had been found in very poor condition in July 2022 and the route is getting much rougher before that as well. Quads had carved the trail really rocky and muddy, which made the Hetta-Näkkälä section partially a hike-a-bike... The rough section is now marked on the map with black.

NOTE 2! This day looks on paper much easier on paper than it really is due to the rough Hetta to Näkkälä section and then because of the partly soft and sandy track to Pöyrisjärvi. It's a good full day on a bike for many, easily. If you really want to keep the day light or just need to crock on much further north to sleep, the village of Näkkälä can be reached on the main paved road as well, which saves you a couple of hours of riding time and tons of energy.

NOTE 3! Visiting the deeper Pöyrisjärvi lake and wilderness hut is a detour from the main route and skipping it shortens the route more than half a day. Though this slow detour is also one of the highlights of the whole route with some landscapes and nature not found anywhere else in the north.

Day 5, Pöyrisjärvi open wilderness hut to Suolopjavret north camp spot (47km, 640m of climbing)

There is only 18km back to the original route from the Pöyrisjärvi wilderness hut, but it's easy to spend a half-a-day on this one by stopping to take photos and sucking in the 360 degree views from the high morraine ridge in addition to multiple creek and bog crossings. Parts of the route is also very sandy and uphills steep, so hike-a-biking cannot be avoided either. This section is epic, but slow.

Once back on the main route again the old post route crosses the Finnish-Norwegian border north of the Kaamusjärvi, which has great camping by a sand beach. On the Norwegian side, the route continues as a great double-track till the Šihccajávre fjellstue. The river mouth crossing to Šihccajávre fjellstue can be challenging especially early and late season, as well as after heavy rain, but it is still likely safe to wade as it has zero current. The river mouth crossing usually has a sand bank as well, where the water depth stays at knee deep, but it moves around and it's easy to miss too, so better to be prepared for 80-90cm deep crossing. Overall, the crossing is much easier what it looks.

The owner of the Šihccajávre fjellstue can be reached by Facebook and there might be a possibility to organize a boat ride across the river mouth as well if you plan it in advance, so that the people can keep eye on the river mouth and come to give you a lift at the arrival. The Šihccajávre fjellstue offers lodging and they have a lovely old sauna for rent as well, so it’s a great location for the night, despite the riding day staying on the shorter side.

From the Šihccajávre fjellstue the route stays 8km on a wide 4x4 road, before it gets on a quad track again for the old postal route toward Kautokeino village. The tricky part of this route section is 500m off the 4x4 road in a form of a river crossing. The river is narrow, but it has a short but 60-70cm deep section to cross. No way avoiding to get wet, but it's safe to cross. After that the quad track is most of the time good riding with short boggy sections here and there, especially after heavy rain. The best spot to camp is located 47km from the Pöyrisjärvi wilderness hut, which you should head to as finding level and dry spot to camp is not as easy anymore as it was at the Pöyrisjärvi wilderness area.

Day 6, Suolopjavret north camp spot to Cabardasjohka river side camp (42km, 620m of climbing)

From the campsite, there is only 30km to to go the Kautokeino village, which may not seem that far, but can easily take 3 cycling hours due to slow terrain. 22km is on a partially slow quad track and the remaining 7km on the paved main road. Kautokeino has all the services except a bicycle repair store, so it's a great place to stock up food till Maze (75km and 1.5 cycling days away) for the following days and have a burger & beer. There are a couple of good lodging options too.

From Kautokeino valley the route climbs up to the hills again and passes through the runway of the old Kautokeino airport. 10km of quad tracks eventually lead to a nice river side campsite, though there is decent camping here and there before the best spot marked on map as well. Though you should head to this one, if you can.

Day 7, Cabardasjohka river side camp to Mazejohka river camp (46km, 830m of climbing)

Soon after the Cabardasjohka river side camp the route reaches the main road, which is followed a couple of kms, before the old postal route continues again. Between Kautokeino and Alta, at the Arctic ocean, the current main road was luckily not built on the old post trail, which is a varying condition 4x4 road at the moment and therefore nearly completely traffic-free. Parts of the road are hard packed and fast, but in parts the road is really rough with baby-first sized boulders with loads of water damage here and there. After rain the road is also full of puddles, which can make the road more an obstacle course more than a highway. Some make it through with dry feet, but the most wouldn't.

Another factor in this area is the wind speed and direction. The area is usually extremely windy and proper wind cover is rare. Getting a headwind on Finnmarks highland can slow you down to walking pace and finding a campsite with good wind cover is extremely difficult. There are multiple camping options marked on the map on this section, which have at least some wind cover if things get nasty. The prettiest camp spot of the whole stretch is certainly by the Mazejohka river camp, though in that spot there is no wind cover whatsoever…

Day 8, Mazejohka river camp to Valljegurra camp spot (28km, 840m of climbing)

The mission of the day is to hit the opening hours of the supermarket Oves Varesenter at Mazi. Check the current opening times here, but in September 2023 the shop was open only from Tuesday till Friday 10am-4pm & 7-8pm and on Saturdays 10am-2pm. Masi is located at much lower altitude on the bottom of the Masi Valley, which often feels warm and calm after the heavy cold winds of the highland.

From the Masi valley, the route climbs back to the Finnmarks highland gaining more than 430m of altitude during the following kilometers. Valljegurra camp spot is really pretty by a pond, from where a little creek with small waterfall starts and it's an ideal spot if you want to split the distance between Mazejohka river camp and Jotka fjellstue half. 28km & 840m day might sound short, but the climbs after Masi are steep and technical, which drain you more what you propably assume.

Surely you can also put the days 8 and 9 together and ride straight from Mazejohka river camp to Jotka fjellstue doing the whole 71km at one go. Though that makes a huge day with way more than 1000m of climbing in mostly technical rocky terrain. That's what we did last time though, but paid it with midnight arrival to the Jotka fjellstue after nearly 9 hours on the move... That's why we are cutting the day in half here now.

Day 9, Valljegurra camp spot to Jotka fjellstue (36km, 400m of climbing)

From the Valljegurra camp spot onwards the riding could not get much better. The rolling fells are an absolute joy to blast down, if not occasionally little techy and hars if you don't have a suspension, and there is more decline than incline which you can feel as well. The has fantastic views to the far away fells and ponds with occasional small river crossings and boulder gardens to force to keep your guard up. The last stretch to Jotka is on the most used track on the highlands, which makes it rocky, but still rideable with ok momentum. Still the last kms are slower what you would expect.

Despite being located in a somewhat remote location, Jotka fjellstue has fantastic foods, beer, and wine as well as a fantastic Norwegian breakfast with their self-cold-smoked arctic char from the lake next door. Also, a sauna is available with an in-advance booking. To be 100% sure to access the services - dinner included - send them an email well in advance to let them know that you're coming over. Camping is allowed on the yard free of charge, but sleeping in the old, but well-kept fjellstue, built by the order of the King to support the travelers on the post route, is a splendid choice as well. There are rooms for rent in the upstairs of the main building too.

Jotka fjellstue also functions as a basecamp for some of the most competitive huskies in the world and you're likely to see the trainers taking care of the pack and putting them ready for the days training late morning till midday.

NOTE! The right-hand side main door is the entry to the restaurant of the Jotka fjellstue, don't be shy to step in and grab a cup of hot coffee from the flask. Just report what you've had at check out and they'll add it to the bill. Card payments accepted now, so the cash or bank transfer is history now!

Day 10, Jotka fjellstue to Alta City (63km, 775m of climbing

The climb out from the valley of the Jotka fjellstue is one of the steepest on the whole route, but just around 100m in elevation. From there the rocky double track reached the river crossing just a few kilometers later. The crossing was doable with dry feet, jumping from rock to rock, in late August and late September in 2020, being max knee-deep. After a 6km stretch of asphalt, the single track/ quad track continues again till the end of a ridge on the edge of the Finnmark plateau with a view of the Arctic Ocean. There is a flat area to camp by a pond on the top with magnificent views of the valley and far to the ocean, but no wind cover at all.

The 4x4 track down from the plateau is steep with loose rocks until the route reaches an old mining site and gets on a better-condition coarse gravel road leading lower to the valley. The final descent to the near sea level and the River Alta is on pavement followed by more than 10km of partly hand-built single track on the banks of the river.

NOTE! 2022 spring flooding had carved off the river bank here and there, so can be some rerouting on the river bank not yet marked on the route map...

There are great organized campsites by the river with small cabins as well in Øvre Alta, though the route continues all the way to the downtown of the Alta City, to the start and endpoint of the Finnmarksløppet race, with multiple restaurants and pubs to choose from.