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.
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- Measure tool: Measure distances between locations.
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On the old map
Kaakamavaara Hill on the map drawn by Réginald Outhier (Carte du fleuve de Torneå, 1736).
Information
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
- Aavasaksa
- Baseline
- Huitaperi
- Iso-Horila
- Kittisvaara
- Niemivaara
- Nivavaara
- Pullinki
- The Church of Matarenki
- The Church of Tornio
- The rapids of the Torne