Cliffy Bog and the Hidden Entrance

Exploring a colorful cliffside and discovering a hidden entrance

My partner and I had some time just for the two of us, so we headed to the Päijänne National Park by boat. We have been there many times, but there are so many islands that we always find something new. This time we had no plan at all — we simply stopped whenever we felt like it.

This cliffside stole my attention with its reddish mossy tufts. I couldn’t resist, so I launched my paddleboard (which always comes with us on the boat’s roof so I can paddle closer to interesting spots) into the water and paddled over.

round-leaved sundew / Drosera rotundifolia / pyöreälehtikihokki

I knew it was a peat moss. It can be green or red, or anything in between. Once you’ve seen it on the cliffs, it’s easy to recognize again from a distance.

I paddled to the only good spot to stand and stepped onto the rock to observe the colorful rockface. It was full of details and different species, like that peat moss, crowberry, marsh labrador tea, heather, different lichens and so on. But my biggest wonder was to see round-leaved sundew (Drosera rotundifolia) growing there! How could that swampy plant live on a cliff? It is a carnivorous plant that lives in a bog and traps small insects.

And then, I glanced at my paddleboard and noticed it was gone. An ankle leash had been detached while I concentrated on the mossy floor, and now the board was too far to reach.

If it were warm summer weather, I would have just swum over and grabbed it. But now the water was chilly and I was wearing a jacket. My partner had boated to the other side of the island to fish.

But the board was drifting to stones a few dozen meters away on the left, so I started climbing up the rock quickly. It was really hard, partly because I didn’t want to tread the puffy bogmoss, but the cliff was also steep. I got up and headed to the rocky shore. The scent on the island was breathtakingly filled with marsh labrador tea. Like I was on a bog! But this wasn’t a bog — this was the rocky island’s cliffside. While I rushed, I saw beautiful caterpillar on the moss bed. And some really weird-looking mushrooms. But I just slogged through for that escaped board.

I reached the paddleboard just in time and tied it to the thin tree. Now I could finally relax and take my time to explore.

The caterpillar was a fox moth (Macrothylacia rubi, Finn. heinähukka), and it probably had the softest possible place to hang out. That bog moss bed was at least thirty centimeters thick.

The mushrooms were Collybia cirrhata (Finn. loisjuurekas), and at first I thought something was stuck in a spider web, but they really were just mushrooms. They grow in groups on the decaying or darkened remains of other mushrooms. I think they’re awesome and whimsical!

Collybia cirrhata / loisjuurekas

marsh labrador tea / Rhododendron tomentosum / suopursu

Marsh labrador tea (Rhododendron tomentosum) scent might cause a headache. It has been used as a remedy for many diseases, but nowadays it is known to be neurotoxic and not recommended for internal use at all. It has also been used as a pest repellent.

There are no animals that eat it, and even ants avoid it and reroute their path if a labrador tea twig is left on their way. Labrador tea has a bright red autumn color that caught my eye.

My last similar cliffy island visit also had bog moss and marsh labrador tea, but no sundew. I’ve been looking for what this kind of biotope is called, but I haven’t found any term for it yet. It’s an interesting question for me and I really want to find out. If you have any idea, please leave a comment or send me a private message.

Even though I was only halfway up the island, the views were breathtaking. I felt so happy to be there. That’s not a place where anyone can easily go, and I’m grateful to have the opportunity to see places, views and vegetation like this.

Just as I was about to return to my paddleboard, the bog moss beneath my foot gave way suddenly. My entire leg sank into a hidden hollow, and I felt the soft, damp cushion of moss collapse around me. I screamed a bit — had I stumbled into some creature’s secret burrow? I soon realized it really most likely was some animal’s den. I sat there for a while, my leg still hanging in the hollow, trying to figure out what it could be. I still don’t know which animal would make a den so close to a steep drop into the lake and ignore the strong scent of labrador tea.

When I got back to my board and paddled to the boat, my partner handed me a hot cup of coffee, served straight to my paddleboard. Still lazily paddling, I sipped my coffee and headed toward my next adventure.

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