Mount Lauhanwuori
Lauhanvuoren Kansallispuisto, Suomi
Description:
Climb to the top of Mount Lauhanvuori, a rare high point in these plains of Western Finland. Mount Lauhanwuori rises so high above the surrounding plain that at the end of the Ice Age it was a lonely island in a sea of meltwater. The ancient coastlines of this island can be distinguished today: they are indicated by the waves of boulders, rings bordering the slopes of the mountain.
Lauhanvuori is also interesting to geologists, since the local underlying rock consists of sandstone, which is rare in Finland.
Climbing the observation tower at the top of the mountain you will see the green waves of the modern sea of trees. On a clear day in the distance, you can see the pipes above the roofs in the towns standing on the shore of the Gulf of Bothnia, 60 km from here.
The valley below is full of springs, streams and swamps. One of the curious features of the Lauhanwuori forests are trees that have undergone an unusual process of formation and are called “spruce families”. They consist of a father tree, whose lower branches grew into the soil, and then went up in growth and formed three children.