Hiiumaa hiking trail 234+3 km
- Start Date: 2022-07-31
- Finish Date: 2022-08-05
- Direction: Heltermaa-Ristna-Sarve(-Heltermaa) / Counter-clockwise
- Distance: 234+3 km / 145+1.9 mi
- Duration: 6 days and 30 minutes
Hiiumaa hiking trail or Heltermaa-Ristna-Sarve hiking trail is a 234 km long trail on Estonia's second biggest island Hiiumaa and is maintained by the State Forest Management Agency (RMK).
It starts from the harbor and circles the entire island, finishing just 3 kilometers from the harbor, which you're most likely to hike anyway. It features wild ecosystems of the island changing from one end to the other.
Some pictures: https://vgy.me/album/4ozfL77k
Eesti keeles: https://muidumatkaja.blogspot.com/2022/08/hiiumaa-matkatee-234-km.html
The Challenges
The most challenging things to me were the amount of spiders on the trail and often the absence of water near trail. On the north coast of Hiiumaa the forest consists mostly of pine and is relatively dry. This was the favorite habitat of the big black spiders. They were huge compared to Estonian standards and the webs were blocking the trail every few steps. This was also why I skipped few kilometers in total and hiked along the coast. Regarding water there were many sources, but as it was quite hot outside I had to carry full bottles most of the time.
Pace
- Kilometers Per Day Average: 39 km
- Average Wakeup: 6 AM
- Average Bedtime: 10 PM
This was my first weeklong hiking trip and my estimates were somewhat off due to that. My rain equipment was not apropriate and that caused me to stop early on one of the days. I remember the next day the trail was also just full of blowdowns and slowed me down.
At the same time I think 39 km a day is pretty good considering my pack weight and my physical conditioning. Since then I have already plans to sleep less and hike more to one day be able to hike upwards of 45 km a day.
The People
On this trail I saw just a few people. The first were helpful workers at the harbour's restaurant, who showed me where to go and answered few of my questions.
Near the middle of the island I met a driver on a small road who asked me where I was going and was scared when they heard I planned to walk to Ristna. They didn't even hear the part where I said I planned to hike back to Heltermaa aswell. Looks like this trail is not yet popular and people around it are not aware of the trail.
Last people I talked longer to were this older Polish couple who biked around Europe. They arrived half an hour later to Luidja in the rain as I did. When they heard I didn't carry a stove, they made some tea and offered it to me aswell. I was really thankful for that hot drink!
Other people I talked to were during hitchhiking. People were curious of what I was doing and wished me luck. Kassari was having a home-cafe day and just before the sea-crossing some people who had seen me hiking earlier wished me happy trails and were enthusiastic about the hiking trail going past there, which really made my day.
The Animals
I encoutered many bugs and spiders (that I mentioned before). Worst of them were truly the spiders, but horseflies are up there on a second place. Mosquitos didn't bother me a lot and I think it was due to the wind which blew most of the trip. Horseflies however couldn't care less about it and attacked as often as possible.
Regarding animals I saw a wild hog with it's children running away from me; some deer prints on the road and lastly an European grass snake (Natrix natrix) which was cool to see.
Weather
Most days blessed me with dry, warm and sunny days which made hiking a bliss. Even though the sun was often overheating me, I much prefered it to the rain. Thankfully it rained only one afternoon which made me stop early for camp.
The highest temperatur was 26C and the lowest at night was 11C. Humidity stayed around 70-80% most of the time.
Food
I had planned to cold-soak for breakfast and dinner, but I soon grew tired of them and yearned for tastier food. Even the bars were not my favorite which most likely caused some calorie deficit. In Käina I sent home some of the food and bought tastier things to finish my hike with. This was a great teaching moment to me as now I will plan my food way better.
Days
Day 1 - 33 km
I took the earliest bus from Tallinn at 8 and with the ferry ride (1 h and 15 min) I arrived around 11:30 and started my hike. The first day mostly is roadwalks, but few kilometers from the start you cross one of the alvars of Hiiumaa. The route continues on gravel roads and occasionally steps into the forest aswell. The nature however is pretty and this means it’s a simple first day. In the evening I passed Kärdla, which is the largest city on the island. I stopped by at the store and finished my day just a short walk away from the city at Autobaasi designated campsite.
Day 2 - 39 km
Early next day I continued on gravel roads until Tõrvanina campsite where the path turned into the forest for around 15 km. It was a small path in the pine forests covered in a lot of bluberries and heather. Weather was nice and as it was windy (it’s an island) I didn’t have to worry a lot about mosquitos. Saw a few big spiders and walked on overgrown sand dunes. Before reaching the end of Tahkuna peninsula, the trail passed by old Soviet military artillery constructions and then you take a short detour to Tahkuna lighthouse. The person working the cafe and the ticket booth let me fill my water bottles and I climbed the lighthouse. As soon as you leave the lighthouse, you’re back alone in the nature, now going south towards the middle of the island. Here there were MANY spiders and cobwebs between trees and I always had to have a stick ready to clear the trail. Ate dinner at Ränkaja campsite and pushed forward for another 10 km to get out of the nature reserve and be able to set up my tent under the forest.
Day 3 - 36 km
Few kilometers after my campsite the trail crossed into the first bog. This also meant mosquitos. Luckily it didn’t last too long and soon I was walking along forest roads towards the first hut called Kapasto. Rested and ate breakfast there, before continuing through tall grass. Met a lady who lived there and gave her shivers when I told I was hiking the entire trail. Had few longer roadwalks on gravel again, but also some harder plant growth to whack through. My plan was to get to Palli for the night but a kilometer before Luidja campsite it started pouring rain and I decided to cut it short and finish at Luidja.
Day 4 - 32 km
Woke up super early to crush some kilometers but the terrain was difficult. The morning started out with a beachwalk but soon turned to climbing over fallen trees. Finally I reached Palli campsite where there were quite many people car camping there. I dried my tent and started the most difficult section for me. When I thought Tahkuna had had a lot of spiders then the start of Kõpu peninsula was even crazier. Bare in mind im part-time scared of spiders and there was a web every 10 meters that you had to stop and clear. I was panicking a bit and after Mägipä campsite I skipped some short sections in favor of walking on the beach. I was almost ready to give up following the trail when reaching Hirmuste campsite few kilometers later but luckily for me the terrain changed a bit and there were fewer spiders and I pushed forward. Visited Ristna lighthouse and 6 km later the RMK visitation center in Ristna, where I filled my bottles and hiked towards Kaleste campsite.
Day 5 - 36 km
Today was mostly spent on forest trails. In the morning I visited Kõpu lighthouse (which is the 3rd oldest working lighthouse in the world) and hiked along the hills towards the middle of the island again. Passed by Vanajõgi, which is a small river with steep banks and really cold water. Filled my bottles there and pushed towards Tihu hut. When I made it there I was really dissapointed however, as it was very small, dirty, dark and open to bugs. So i walked few more kilometers out of the nature reserve and set up my tent under the forest. As I had walked through tall grass I checked for ticks and found like 5 of them crawling on my clothes and 2 already stuck to me. I don’t seem to have gotten any diseases luckily.
Day 6 - 35 km
A lot of roadwalks again on gravel. Somewhere around lunch i hitchhiked to the second biggest town Käina (3.5 km from trail) where I resupplied and ate a alot. Back on trail i walked across Kassari where I met many friendly people who were enthusiastic to learn I was hiking the entire trail. Coolest thing on this day was the sea crossing. It was around 100 meters of walking through shallow water (up to my knee) and then another 100 meters to hike across a swamp. The first part was definitely a highlight, not so much the swamp part. Walked few hundred meters away from the shore and set up camp next to the road outside the nature reserve once more.
Day 7 - 20 km
Mostly roadwalks again. Passed pretty alvars on my way to Sarve and walked a lot through one of the bigger ones still surviving in Hiiumaa. Last kilometers were back on asphalt, but I was just really glad to be finishing. The end happened quickly and out of nowhere the last signpost appeared. Took some mandatory pictures, dried my gear at the campsite and then hiked 3 more km on the coast to the harbor.
In conclusion I was happy with the trail and my hike. Glad that it had so much forest rail bits, as other Estonian trails favor walking on roads more.
- Muidumatkaja