11 September 2021 | On this day, I was effortlessly lured to join a South Estonian hike 0n a trail that runs around a lake called Pühajärve in Otepää, Valga County. This happens to be my first ever trip outside Tartu and I am glad I shared this first with the first people (my batchmates from my program) I met here in Estonia.
Otepää is
Estonia’s winter capital, but visiting the place during autumn is not bad an idea
at all. The trail was exciting as it is, to begin with, offering a mix of adventure
(easy walk with a number of resting places), a touch of mystery (as portions of the trail were not very obvious without the aid of an app), and a sense of
relaxation (several swimming spots available). It’s a roll of all the good
things a nature lover would want – fresh air, peaceful environs, vibrant
sights, etc.), to be very modest.
Rendezvous was 0930H at the Bussijam, Tartu’s mediocre version of Harry’s platform 9 ¾ to several destinations outside Tartu. I got up at 0830H, enough for an hour of preparation excluding the ~15-minute walk from my dorm to the station and catch the 0940H trip. After an hour of bus travel, we arrived at the jump-off point in Otepää. From that point, we trekked for around 30 minutes more before reaching the actual start of the trail near Otepää Nature Center.
We opted for the counterclockwise direction in circumnavigating the lake following a paved Kääriku road, well-decorated with outstanding views of long grassland stretch on one side and a calm shy lake on the other. We continued walking for about 15 minutes before taking a wild left turn following a certain Murrametsa Matkarada trail sign. From a 2-meter-wide road, the trails shifted into a shallow rough path enveloped in multicolored grasses and towering trees. The trails were abundant in resting places, wooden bridges, and a variety of plants and mushrooms along the way. The trails are well-established and hiker-friendly. I even met a handful of families venturing out into the woods for some educational walks and mostly mushroom picking.
After 3.5km of lakeside and forest indulgence in the Murrametsa trail, we ascended back to the paved road of Kurevere, a portion of the Otepää-Kääriku road. The hike continued, passing by several campsites such as Kiigemäe lõkkekoht and the Koolirand campfire for occasional stops to take our lunch and snacks, respectively. We then ended up in Pühajärve rand after 14 km and nearly 3 hours of walking before finally deciding to walk back to the bus stop to catch the 1810H bus bound to Tartu. While several accounts claim that the trail spans around 12-14 km, my distance counter registered a staggering 16-km upon reaching the jump-off. Another hour of bus trip capped off this historic first of hopefully many more Estonian hikes.
After almost 2 years of lockdowns and travel restrictions I endured in the Philippines, this was the closest I have been to a body of water. And I was practically sold to seeing the very shores of this holy lake blessed by Dalai Lama 3 decades ago along with the mere thought of finally being free in all sense of that word. Aside from the ~50 photos to solidify another set of Euro-memories, one of my greatest takeaways was, being able to get to know more about these people I will be spending the next 10-24 months with – from their hobbies and interests back in their respective home countries, a wide range of intricate narratives of their winding journeys in finding their ways to this place, all over a grand exchange of stories about culture, food, music, among other interesting things.
