April tends to be a moody month when it comes to weather. Cold and warm days come and go unpredictably, along with rain showers and wind. Planning hikes is often troublesome. But I managed.

I decided to skip the first weekend because of the unpredictable weather. The second weekend had me return to a place I visited two times before – once in the late summer of 2013 and once in 2020. This time, I mostly repeated the 2013 version. This trail connects three hills that were, millions of years ago, active volcanoes.

Unfortunately, it was quite cloudy, so the impression from photos isn’t as good as I’d like. The hike started with a sharp ascension to the first hill, then descending back to the village and moving to the next hill, with a few glances back.

The trail then led near a reservoir that was finished in 1996 and expected to take over a decade to fill – but then the 1997 flood came and took care of that in a couple of weeks.

The second peak gives a much clearer idea of its origin, with a bowl instead of a peak where the caldera once was, and a reddish brown tint of the soil, affected by volcanic elements.

To one side is an overhang where the volcanic minerals can be seen directly.

And a short distance away, in a former quarry, basalt columns can be seen.

After that, we moved to the third peak, which also faced mining attempts in the past, exposing what the hill is made of.

In this case, it’s typical for the church on the peak – easily spotted from a distance as the peak is grassy to a major degree, but a close look shows it has seen better days.

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A week later, I went on a solo hike. This was after a rainy day, so I was prepared to face some harsher conditions, especially mud. In a change typical for April, the morning was quite bright, with the only sign of yesterday’s rain being the wet grass.

To reach the main point of interest, the trail had me take turns ascending and descending four times before I neared the first formations.

The fresh leaves along with the bright morning gave the forest quite a vibrant feeling.

However, some remaining fallen trees, along with the damp soil, made the trail tricky. And limited the angles from which I could try taking photos. After making it downhill from this formation, I had to go up again, to reach the next one.

From there on, the mud became more prevalent, especially as I was nearing the final rock formation.

And more so after, which slowed me noticeably. But, as I only had one goal left – to make it to the nearest train station – I tried to focus on the fresh spring woods rather than the mud on the trail. With mixed success.

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The third (and final) hike of April was another return – to an area I visited a lot in the early 2010s, but not as much since then, though I returned to nearby places here and there.

Right at the start, we had to improvise a bit – the trail was to get us across a river using a footbridge, but the September 2024 flood had taken it away. So we scrambled up the slope of the road overpass and made a small detour. In the photo below, the footbridge once was between the two powerline poles. Right now, it lies on the riverbank some half a mile downriver.

From there on, it was a calm walk through the woods, gently uphill towards the pass and, eventually, towards a highland hamlet.

Our main goal was a small lake located in the middle of a peat bog, accessible on a wooden footpath, which can be a charming place, but also quite crowded during the main season, so getting a decent photo is a challenge that takes a fair amount of luck. In that, at least, luck was with me.

Once back on the main trail, it took us through the woods at first – and clearings later, as this area was also hit by strong winds recently and the uniform spruce woods can’t resist the combination of wind, drought, and bug infestation well. That opened up some nice views, at least until the reforestation efforts yield some results in a decade or two of growth.

The trail downhill was without a problem as it was cleared some two to three years ago, so all we needed to do to finish was to make it to the town below, where our meeting point was near the old fort.

And with that, my April hikes were over. I have some nice things in schedule for May, so I’ll keep hoping the weather cooperates and I can bring back some nice memories and a few photos to share.