June 28, arrival in Varessaare
Someone has walked his/her bear on the trail judging by the footprints.
The trail is muddy. Not as muddy as usually though because people have had water here up to their knees. The cabin is two kilometers through the forest from the car park. It has been exceptionally dry the last weeks and there's a general ban to make fire except in designated places. That's why I'll spend two nights at Varessaare and do not move around in the area as I intended to. I don't want to set the bog on fire. The other reason for staying put is my knee that can just about handle walking on level ground without much load on my back.
I don't pay much attention to the bear footprints because I'm busy killing mosquitoes. They all all here.
Muraka bog is located in Ida-Virumaa, an area that is usually associated with Russians and mining. But it also contains some of the biggest wetlands and forests in Estonia. Some call Muraka bog the most beautiful bog of Estonia. Some say that Kakerdaja is the most beautiful. Matter of taste (I'd say it's Kodru bog...). Anyway, it is supposed to have the most diverse landscape of all bogs. Some places are so wet that you should not attempt crossing them alone. Lot of birds and berries here and different types of forest around the bog.
Local nature celebrities Juhan Lepasaar, Edgar Kask and Fred Jüssi have made the bog famous.
No wooden walkways here and certain areas are off-limits in the beginning of summer.
No-one at the cabin. The cabin has been freshly renovated but someone has already broken a window. Despite that it looks cozy and well equipped.
I have some water with me but not enough for two days. So I go to check if some of the bog pools are close. They are not. The bog glows in the light of setting sun and breathes out swarms of tiny black flies. Three tall spruces mark Varessaare as an aid to navigation. Well, one of the spruces is actually a pine.
June 29
I get up at three to catch the sunrise. It's more convenient with sunrises in the winter.
There are clouds but they create a wonderful mirror landscape on the water pools. Beautiful water pools. This is actually their name, ilusad laukad. The air is thick with bird song and black flies. Perfectly peaceful for just sitting there and looking around (take something for sitting on unless you want your bottom wet). I take a couple hundred pictures and some water and head back.
A short nap after breakfast and then I wander towards Mäurassaare on the edge of the bog. Mäurassaare is one of the old farmhouses that used to surround the bog. Now they're all gone, at best you can spot some of the ruins in the undergrowth.
Bog is cloudy and moody now. A few white butterflies and some flowers. Elk and deer have also left their prints. I reach a semi-official trail. There's the sign of the nature reserve. So I continue back on the gravel, pass my car and take three liters of water from there. Now I have so much water that I leave some of it in the cabin for next people to come. Less mosquitoes in the forest now. Maybe I've been destructive to the population. Or has the wind blown them away.
I finish a giant book.
June 30, a detour to Selisoo
Cold and windy today, as predicted.
I sleep long and have a slow breakfast. My knee has had enough but I still make a stop at Selisoo (Seli swamp), the namesake of Seli bog in Järvamaa. There's an easy wooden trail and many pools.
Some other stops along the way to have a look at the forest. The nature reserve is surrounded by clear-cut areas. It's not allowed to cut in the reserve. Yet. The rumor has that the regulations of nature reserves are being changed step-by-step to allow cutting. So I take pictures of what's still standing.
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