RMK Hiking Routes

RMK is the state forest management centre, and alongside running the forests it maintains what is probably the best free outdoor infrastructure in Europe. Three long hiking routes cross Estonia and all three meet at Aegviidu, roughly in the middle. Together they run well over two thousand kilometres.

What you actually see

The routes are Peraküla-Aegviidu-Ähijärve, Oandu-Aegviidu-Ikla, and Penijõe-Aegviidu-Kauksi, and between them they take in coast, bog, pine forest, esker ridges and lake country. Waymarking is consistent and the terrain is gentle - this is a country where a hard day means distance rather than climb.

The part visitors underestimate is what sits along the routes. RMK maintains several hundred campfire sites, forest huts, lean-to shelters, dry toilets and stacked firewood, spread through the state forest and free to anyone. Some huts must be booked; most sites are simply used.

When to go

• May to June - long light, dry ground, before the worst of the mosquitoes.
• September to October - the best walking month, colour in the bogs, few insects.
• February to March - many sections double as ski tracks and the frozen bogs open up.
• Avoid early spring meltwater, when low-lying sections flood.

Honest expectations

The routes are long and flat. Anyone looking for alpine drama will find endless pine and birch instead, and the reward is solitude and forest rather than views.

The free sites work because people leave them as they found them - carrying rubbish out, using only the firewood provided, and not lighting fires outside the built rings. In dry summers fire bans are declared and enforced.

Nearby

Aegviidu is the natural entry point and is on the Tallinn-Tartu railway. Lahemaa National Park sits directly on the northern end of the Oandu route.