Hossa

Hossa National Park was established on 17 June 2017 in Suomussalmi, in the Kainuu region, as Finland's fortieth national park and expressly to commemorate the centenary of the country's independence. It had previously been the Hossa Hiking Area, created in 1979 and the oldest of the seven designations of that kind established under the Finnish outdoor recreation act.

The landscape is one of moraine ridges and chains of very clear lakes, with pine forests on sandy soils. Its most spectacular formation is Julma-Ölkky, a lake set in a fracture canyon some three kilometres long that narrows to as little as ten metres between rock walls, which can be travelled by canoe or boat and has a suspension bridge that allows the circuit to be completed on foot. Lake Öllöri reaches some forty metres deep and its clear water is a diving destination.

The cultural value is equally notable. On the Värikallio cliffs are preserved the oldest rock paintings in northern Finland, with human and animal figures painted between 4,000 and 5,000 years ago, visible today from a metal platform above the water; at Julma-Ölkky itself there is also a small painting that is the most northerly documented in the country. The name Hossa comes from the Sámi term hoašša, which designates the rough horsetail Equisetum hyemale. The park has some ninety kilometres of waymarked trails, canoe routes and cross-country skiing, and it is the starting point of the Eastern Border Trail.