Kaakamavaara Hill

Kaakamavaara Hill is located in the northern part of Tornio, near the small village of Palovaara, about 40 kilometres from the town.

Kaakamavaara has ancient shorelines and raised beaches, a reminder of the retreat of the continental glacier 10,000 years ago. The Kaakamavaara rock area is designated as a coastal formation of national importance.

There is no marked route to the hill. There is an old, easy-to-follow carriage road going to the top of the hill. A wide view opens up from the top of the treeless hill.

Kaakamavaara was, along with Nivavaara Hill, the first hill where the expedition set up a marker at the beginning of July 1736. The marker was a single spruce trunk with its base wedged between rocks. Later on, markers were built as cone-shaped structures, inside which you could place an angular instrument, a quadrant. The Kaakamavaara marker was also rebuilt later in the autumn.

The journey to the hill was arduous. Most of the trail wound towards the hill through the surrounding mires. The long tree trunks used as duckboards did not keep the feet of Outhier, Hellant and Sommereux dry. Outhier was knee-deep in the mire and had difficulty getting up.

The expedition members returned to Kaakamavaara in early September to take more angular measurements. Niemivaara Hill did not yet have a marker during the previous visit to the site. In September, the angle between Niemivaara and Iso-Horila Hills was measured at Kaakamavaara.

Kaakamavaara was the last point where the expedition took measurements. It was then that the autumn rains really surprised the expedition. Maupertuis also injured his leg after falling down in the rocky terrain. Fortunately, the injury was not serious, and he walked back on his own to Korpikylä on the Torne, from where he continued by boat towards Pello.

Sources:

Maupertuis, Pierre Louis Moreau de. “Maan muoto”. Maan muoto ynnä muita kirjoituksia Lapista. Ed. Osmo Pekonen. Väyläkirjat, 2019 (orig. 1738).

Outhier, Réginald. Matka Pohjan perille. Maupertuis Foundation and Väyläkirjat, 2011 (orig. 1744).

Finnish Environment Institute / Valtakunnallisesti arvokkaat tuuli- ja rantamuodostumat


A map

Guidelines for using the map
  • Red = Measurement point of the triangulation chain.
  • Green = Walking route.
  • Blue = Arrival from the main road (highway 21).
  • Markers: Tap or click to get more information about the destinations.
  • Zoom out: Shows the location in the triangulation chain.
  • Drop icon: Locates the user’s location on the map.
  • Measure tool: Measure distances between locations.

Open the map in a new browser window.


On the old map

Kaakamavaara Hill on the map drawn by Réginald Outhier (Carte du fleuve de Torneå, 1736).

Want a map for yourself? The map is currently sold as a poster (225 mm x 707 mm) in the shop of the Museum of Torne Valley (address Torikatu 4, Tornio).


Information

WGS84N 66°08’26.9″ E 24°11’51.7″
WGS84N 66.1408, E 24.1977
ETRS-TM35FINN 7338434, E 373549
UTM (WGS84)335W 373548.760 7338432.967
(Estimated location of the measurement point.)

189 m

1.5 km

Kaakamavaara is located halfway between Tornio and Ylitornio, about 40 kilometres north of the town of Tornio and south of the municipal centre of Ylitornio.

When driving in from the south on Highway 21, turn right after the village of Karunki onto Palovaarantie road. Drive along it for about 13 kilometres.

Driving in from the north on Highway 21, turn left at Korpikylä onto Mustajärventie road. After about 7 kilometres, the road joins Palovaarantie. Turn left at the junction. Drive on Palovaarantie for about 6 kilometres.

There is no marked trail to Kaakamavaara. There is, however, an old carriage road that goes by the top of the hill. It is about 1.5 kilometres from Palovaarentie road to the top of the hill along the carriage road. The carriage road first goes through an herb-rich forest. The rest of the trail goes through a rocky terrain with sparse woodland.

The Church of Tornio32 km
Nivavaara11 km
Huitaperi22 km
Iso-Horila (Horilankero)37 km
Niemivaara49 km
(Distance as the crow flies.)

From the 6th to 7th of July 1736.
From the 4th to 6th of September 1736.

The 4th of September 1736. “- – – the night was very dark, it was one of those not lightened by the aurora borealis. M. de Maupertuis walking on the points of the rocks, on which by day it is difficult to walk, put his leg between two rocks and fell. Peter and myself ran to him on hearing the noise, and found him in such a situation as to give us apprehension he had broke his thigh: we helped him into the tent, and we cut twigs of birch to serve as a mattrass for him. I supped by the fire with M. Celsius; we went to lay down in the tent beside M. de Maupertuis, and passed the night coolly enough.”

Réginald Outhier. Journal of a Voyage to the North (Journal d’un voyage au Nord), 1744.

The 4th of September 1736. “The top of Kakama is all of white Stone disposed in thin Plates, and separated by vertical Planes that cut the Meridian at right Angles; these Stones had so collected the Rain that had been falling of a long time, that, except the very points of the Rocks, there was not the least Spot that was not full of Water; and besides, it continued to rain upon us all Night long.

It was not possible for us to finish our Observations before the 6th; which cost us a second Night’s lodging upon this Mountain, as wet and cold as the former.”

Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis. The Figure of the Earth (La Figure de la Terre), 1738.

Pictures from Kaakamavaara

The pictures open in large size in the gallery by clicking on the picture.


The expedition on the map

Réginald Outhier has written a detailed description of the expedition’s journey from Paris to Tornio and back. The journey took two months each way and was made by boat and wagon. On the way back, the expedition was in a shipwreck in the Bay of Bothnia.


Measurement points and other destinations