SCANDANAVIA And KARELIA - Heading East over to Norway Itself, We Arrive at our Next Wild Place Destination, -Scandanavia.

While some of it, Primarily the Southernmost Parts, are Not Purely one of the World's Wildest Places, -So Much of the Rest of it is! The Great Majority of it!, as a Matter of Fact, is! It's a Large, Colder, Ruffer, More Obscure, "Sidewing" of Europe! Its Far More Open and Wild!, than Most of More Typical Europe. Typical Europe is of course Not Known for Things such as the Great Spacious, Clean, Unspoiled, Outdoors or Wilderness! As such, Europe for the Very Most Part, is Not considered one of the World's Great Wild Places! And Greater Europe is so Not being Covered here.

But Some Atypical Parts of Europe certainly Are! Are to be Counted Among the World's Great Wild Areas! The Alps, Pyreenes, and Scandanavia!, are Chief among them! Though Small when Stacked Next to Greater Europe as a Whole, -Some, -Scandanavia being a Perfect Example, are Themself Quite Large! The Swiss and Austrian Alps will be covered Later under MOUNTAINS. The Great Scandanavian Outdoor Wilds!, will be covered here under COLD. Even Europe!, Still has some Wild and Untouched Areas! Of All Places! In Europe, it's Precisely *Because* Scandanavia is COLD, that it has Remained WILD!

Greater Europe was Once a Magnificent Wilderness!, Thru and Thru! I Understand that Western Man and Civilization had to Live, Grow, and Develop there! We Had to Tap and Tame that Wilderness, Make Use of It. If it could have been Done with Less Carelessness and Disregard, It could Now be at least a Little Wilder, than it Now Is. A Better Outdoors Place! But I Know that this is Monday Morning Quarterbacking, and it's Easy to Monday Morning Quarterback After the Fact! Europe couldn't Avoid Becoming what it Very Much now is!, -Nor could even my Own American East! But in Both Cases, -We Could have Retained at least a Little More Wild, Clean, Outdoors!, -than we Did! At least Much of that is Water Over the Dam now. The Question now is Mostly, -"What Do we Do Towards Best Stewarding and Preserveing the *Rest* of our Remaining Wild Areas?" And we Still Have Plenty!, -Worldwide! The World is Still a Very Wild and Empty Place! Lets Keep it that Way! Lets Enjoy, Safeguard, Value, and Appreciate!, -What we Still Have Yet Much Got!

With the Exception of the "Europeanish" Southernmost Regions, Quite Few People Live up in Scandanavia! Of those that Do, Many have a Very Frontiersish, Feel and Flavor! Both in They, and in their Vast, Wild, Scandanavian Land! They are "Europe's Canada"! Or "Great American West"! They are "Canadish", Right Down to the Midnight Sun *and* Mid-Noon Darkness, of the Scandanavian North! Of course there are Cultural and Other Differences with Scandanavians and Canucks, -But so Much Between the Two of them, is Very Much the Same! (Hockey, BTW, is a Little to No Difference Similarity! -for a Little Bit of Lite Comic Relief.) Scandanavia is Europe's Northern Frontier Backwater! May it's Coldness and General Ruffness continue to Discourage All but the Few and Most Hardy, from Coming here! Let Scandanavia Remain Scandanavia!

While even All of Scandanavia may Not be Fully Undeveloped and Wild!, the Countries of Scandanavia, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Russian Karelia area just East of Finland, -are nonetheless Very Empty, Natural, Free, Unspoiled, Spacious, and Wild! It so Deserves at least a Very High Honorable Mention here! But Absent the Stockholms, Oslos, and Helsinkis of it's Far South, Scandanavia as a Whole, would Rank on the Honor Roll !, with Any of the Others!, on This Roll of Earth's Wildest Places! Scandanavia has a Few Cities and such, and European Ones at that. But Otherwise, We'd be Very Remiss, to leave it Off the List, just over the Likes of that!, on it's Southernmost End! We will Not be covering areas like Stockholm here! A Fine City!, but we're Talking of the World's Greatest Wild Paces here!, Not the World's Greatest Civilized Areas or Cities. We just Can't Leave that Greater, Far Wilder!, Portion of Scandanavia Out! And so This Addressing This, in this Post. Lets now Talk About Scandanavia!, and Scandanavian Survival!

Scandanavia's Upper Portions go Well Above the Arctic Circle! Scandanavia as a Whole, is at an Alaskan Latitude! It certainly Qualifies as a Northern, COLD Place!

Norway is the Westernmost of these Scandanavian Lands. It is Mountainous!, almost Alone among Scandanavian Countries. And Heavily Forested!, as are the Other Scandanavian Countries too! Norway Alone Faces, the Angry Atlantic!, in Scandanavia's West. Via it's Steep, Rocky, Forested Mountains, Cliffedges, and Fiord Filled Seacoast!

Cold Survival, Mountain Survival, Forest Survival, and Sea Type Survivals, -Apply here!

Next Door Sweden, the Middle Portion of Scandanavia, -is Very Much the Same, Minus Norway's Fiords and Mountains. ( With the exception of those Swedish Mountains in Sweden's Western Parts, which form the Border with Norway.)

Sweden also has a Long Seacoast. But it is "Inland" to the East, in the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia. And it is Far Smoother!, with essentially None of the Norway type Inlets and Fiords! So Sea Survival would Apply here in Sweden, and Nearby Finland just over the Interveneing, North Running, Gulf of Bothnia. Sea Survivals come into Play in these Two Eastern Scandanavian Areas, as well! If you're in Scandanavia, even well "Inland", -You Can't get away from the Sea! Thats just a Scandanavian Fact of Life! The Sea is so Much a Part of the Overall Scandanavian Way! The Finns and Karelians in Scandanavia's Far East, are Least so this way of All. But Never the Swedes, Danes, or Norweigans! Never the Icelanders!

Finland and the Finns are Not Culturally Scandanavia. But Geographically they are! They are as Much a Part of the Scandanavian Wilds!, as Any Other! In Fact, They and Their Vast Lakes and Forests!, are an Exemplary Topmost Part of Such! And Iceland, while Many Mid-Ocean Miles Off the Scandanavian Tableland (Norway / Sweden / Finland-Karelia), is as Fully Scandanavian!, as the Pope is Catholic! It's been Settled by Viking Norse Scandanavians, Thats as Scandanavian as they Come! Similar to Hawaiians being for the Most Part Indistinguishable from Continental North Americans, -So Too are the Icelandics, from their Close Scandanavian Brethern! Iceland Greatly Merits it's Own Mention, as One of the World's Greatest Wild Areas! And So has been Covered, previously. The Scandanavian World / Sphere extends as Far West as Greenland, -Almost to North America! In that Greenland is a Danish Possession, and Aside from Inuit Eskimo and Other Natives Already and Still There, it's been First Settled by Scandanavian Vikings. Now Denmark, How Does it Figure into the Scandanavian Picture? It is 100 % Scandanavian, but this Small Area, is *in* that Southernmost, "Europized" Area. And thus Not a Part of the Great Scandanavian Wild Areas. It's Not even on the Scandanavian Tableland, but a Bit South. Just South of Norway and Sweden, Across the Straits, on the North European Mainland Itself. It is Scandanavian, and of the Sea! But it is Not Part of the Great Scandanavian Wilds! Clean, Tidy Scandanavian Farms and All, Yes! Environmentally Friendly and Conscious, Yes! A Part of the Great Scandanavian Wilds?, -No! And It will Not be so covered here.

While Norway is it's Mountains, Sweden and Finland are Scandanavia's Great Flatlands! Sweden's Western Portion, while certainly Heavily Forested, have some Cleared Areas as well. Some level of "Grasslands Survival" can Come Into Play here. Finland's Eastern Portion of This, is even More Untouched Forest! Most of it is Still There, Untouched and Uncleared. Though a Good Logging and Lumber Industry certainly Does Exist in Finland. But it is Even More Forested, than is Sweden. (Itself Well Forested!)

The Main thing interfereing with Finnish Forests, is it's Many, Many Lakes! It's an Equal to Canada or Minnessota's 10,000 !, in this Regard! As in the Canadian Shield, the Glaciers have Scoured these Out of the Bedrock, -Leaving Oodles of Freshwater Lakes in their Wake! Forest, Fishing, and Lakes Survival, -Comes so Much into Play!, here and Thruout Scandanavia's Wilds. ( Mountainous Norway still has so Much of This, as well! )

Glaciers once Thickly Covered All of Scandanavia! The entire Tableland is yet Measurably Rebounding from This! It Continues to Rise Upward!, from the Removal of All that Onetime Overburden!

Norway Calls For Cold, Mountain, Forest, and Seacoast Survival !

Sweden Calls For Cold, Forest, and Seacoast Survival !, with maybe some Grasslands Survival thrown in as well !

And Finland Calls For Cold, Forest, and Seacoast Survival ! But also with the New Addition of SWAMP Survival ! Not Only Streams and Lakes!, but Bogs and Swamps Galore!, Abound in Finland!

As well as in it's Karelian Cousin just to it's East! This is an Area that was actually a Part of Finland Itself, Before the Soviet Rushans Took it as their Own. It is about as Big as Finland is now. Karelia's North is a Semicircular Arctic Peninsula known as the Kola. Some Mountains Exist in the Kola. It is Best Known for Rusha's Two Major Arctic Ports, Murmansk and Archangel. (The 2nd I Think's Not on the Kola, but Still in Karelia.) But Other than that, Karelia is just Overwhelmingly the Bleak Karelian Wastes! BTW, Anything that can be said for Finnish Conditions and Survival, Can also be said for Karelian Survival and Conditions! Their Lakes, Forests, and Landscapes are so Similar!

Further East from Scandanavia and Karelia, is Bleak, Siberia Like, European Arctic Russia. Which Meet Up with the Northern Urals and Siberia Itself, in it's East. We've Come some Full Cicle, among Earth's Wildest Places, COLD. Meeting the Urals once more.

On Swamp Survival again, Most to All Things Commonly Known, from the Better Known, World of Tropical and Subtropical Swamp Survival, also Apply up here! But with a Coldland Twist! Swamps can also Provide you with a Food, Fish, Water, Fuel, and Shelter Materials Source.

Finland's and Sweden's Many Freshwater Lakes and Streams are Filled with Fish! So Do certainly Know and Practice Fishing!

The Scandanavian Forests are also Filled with Game! Avail Yourself of these Techniques and Skills as well. They are Full of Fire and Shelter Materials too!

Survival in the Real Scandanavian Wilds, would essentially entail, First and Foremost, Cold Survival! -Keeping Warm, Keeping Dry, Keeping a Fire Going, Making and Keeping your Shelter Sealed and Up, Food, Etc.

Food is Reasonably Plentiful, and can be both Land and Sea Based. Fresh Water is Plentiful as well.

Skiing, particularly Cross Country, as well as How to Use Snowshoes, would be Very Good and Useful Things to Know!

If One Seeks Rescue and Wishes to Extricate themself from the Scandanavian Wilds!, then one shud generally Work their Way South, but also Often Eastward or Westward toward the Nearest Coast, -Within such general North to South Trends.

Sweden has Many Eastward Flowing Rivers. They are Great Fresh Water and Transportation Resources! They Lead you Directly East to the Coast!, and they often Provide you with a "Conveyor Belt Path" Right Over to there!

These can be Both a Helpful Advantage, and a Hindering Drawback! They can Lead you East, toward the Bothnian Coast! Beware of Rocks, Rapids, and Shallows, though! Once on the Swedish Coast, then you may Want to Continue Working your Way Southward.

But Herein Comes the Rub of the Hindering Disadvantage! There Comes the Matter of Having to Ford or Otherwise Cross these Many, now perpendicular Rivers. And this is Usually Worst along a River's Mouth. Which is exactly what you've got!, there along the Coast! You'll just Have to Ford, if Shallow and Slow Enuf, or Cross by Boat or Other Floatcraft. Know How and Where to Best Ford, Pole Walk Across, and Etc. Sometimes there may be a Handy Bridge or Ferry Nearby, Other Times Not! You can even Have similar Crossing or Fording Problems Further Upstream, though this Holds Better Prospects than at a River's Mouth.

If you Alternatively Forgoe the Coast to Avoid this sort of Problem, Then you Don't Have the Advantage of the Coast's Guiding Effect South. Nor Better Food Sources or Rescue Prospects there! You'd just Have to Make Sure you're Heading South, by some Other Means! In Sweden, thats Not as Sure or Easy as Following South along the Coast!

Thoughtful Judgement Calls, are of course a Major Part of the Survival Process.

Rivers and Coasts are also where the Outposts and Settlements are! This Bodes Better for your Rescue or Extrication. Settlements also Tend to be along Lakeshores, especially in Finland and Karelia.

Scandanavian Countries also have Many Hiking Cabins!, as well as Well Marked Trails, and the Like! Use these to Best Advantage!, if you shud Come Across Any!

In Norway, Get Down Out of the Mountains! And Head toward one of the West Coast Ports or Fishing Centers. Or Head Down their Eastern Side, to Sweden! Beware of Cliffs and Other Dropoffs while Doing so! Generally Work your Way South here too. Do this Anywhere you may be, on the Main Scandanavian Tableland!

It may Take you something of a While, to Get to an Outpost or Settlement. But Once you Do!, Scandanavian SAR ans Such is Good to Very Good! At this Point, your Survival Worries shud Begin to be Over!

Until Then, -You're of course Gonna Have to Survive! This has been Generally How you would Have to Go About Doing That!, Here in the Great Scandanavian and Karelian Outdoors and Wilds! [color:"black"] [/color] [email]ScottRezaLogan[/email]