Pajtas-vaara is a fell, a rounded, treeless hill in the far north of Finnish Lapland, in the municipality of Enontekio, where the country narrows between Sweden and Norway. The name is Sami, and the land belongs to the Sami homeland, where herders have followed reindeer across the fells for a very long time. It is open, quiet and big, and on a clear day you can see for fifty kilometres.
The fells here are low, worn mountains, rising above the birch woods and carpeted with crowberry, lichen and dwarf birch. Above the tree line the ground is bare and stony. Lakes lie in every hollow, and rivers run slowly through the bogs. In the short summer the light never fully fades, and the midnight sun lasts from late May to mid July. In September the colours of ruska, the autumn leaf season, turn the slopes red, orange and gold, and the air is crisp and clear. Winter is long and dark, but the northern lights are often visible on clear nights.
The roads in this region are long, quiet and smooth. Highway 21 runs up the western border toward Kilpisjarvi, through Muonio, with the road to Hetta branching off to the northeast, and the stretches between villages can be fifty kilometres or more. The surface is good, and the main hazard is reindeer, which wander across the road in herds and stand on the tarmac as if it were theirs, which in a sense it is. Slow down when you see them, and wait. Speed limits are low in summer and lower in winter, and Finnish police are strict about them.
Fuel is the thing to plan. Enontekio, about thirty kilometres away, is the nearest village with services, and beyond it stations are few, and some close early or on Sundays. Fill the tank at every chance. Mosquitoes are fierce in July, so carry repellent. Food is simple, with reindeer stew, salmon soup and cloudberry desserts. Enontekio has small shops and a cafe or two, and in Hetta the hiking centre has more.
The best time to ride is from June to early September. Take your time, and watch the horizon.