Sunday, October 22, 2017

Kirkkonummi Caves


I said that I only knew four caves in Kirkkonummi. I should have checked the Suomen Luolat book, however. Or even my own archives which said I've been to five...

There are actually the following eleven caves in Kirkkonummi, based on the book, Retkipaikka, and my own research:
  1. Korkberget, the big one on the shores of Humaljärvi. The most complex and quite possibly the longest cave in Finland. There are also several smaller side caves, roof caves, and underground crack caves. The book missed the scale of this cave. Main cave's coordinates are N 60.16211° E 24.45271°. There's a map.
  2. Högberget, the erosion cave, includes I think several other small boulder caves. One of the side caves was listed in the book. The main cave's coordinates are N 60.106870° E 24.486241°. There's a map and separate article about drawing this map.
  3. Gruvböleberget, a roof cave under a cliff in the nice forests between Kvis and Gesterby. Coordinates are N 60.14565063° E 24.48011821°. There's a map.
  4. Kasaberget, in Strömsby. The coordinates are N 60.078306° E 24.381000°. There's a map.
  5. The Majvik small roof cave. Not listed in the book. The coordinates are N 60.161911° E 24.544294°. There's a map, and a separate article about drawing this map.
  6. Viinakallio (or the Boose Cliff Cave) in Veikkola. Coordinates: N 60.25240969° E 24.48060409°. There is a map.
  7. Vuorenmäen kulkurinluola or the Mountain Hill Nomad's Cave, also in Veikkola. Coordinates: N 60.269348353° E 24.430606378°. There's a map.
  8. Kakarberget Cave, yet again in Veikkola, but more of in the middle of nowhere. The nearest place is "Laitamaa" or something like "out-of-center country" in English. Coordinates: N 60.243448028° E 24.496705969°. There's a map.
There are also a few caves that we have some information about, but they cannot be visited or their location is not known:
  1. Ormberg, or the Snake Mountain Cave. On a closed military area. Coordinates: N 60.042016737° E 24.364661980°.
  2. A secret 2x1x1m cave in someone's yard in Hirsala, perhaps somewhere around here per the only partially released coordinates. The possible location is within a 1km2 square, with the coordinates pointing to the centre of the square. But there aren't too many houses in that area...
  3. Skevabackgrotta, that the book lists as unchecked cave in Långstrand lands. The entrance has collapsed, so it is not clear that the cave exists or can be found any more. And there is nothing on the Internet about this cave, a rare occurrence that you can't really find even the word. The approximate coordinates are given as N 60.109438997° E 24.473290786°.
There are also some small under-the-rock places that are not in my opinion classifiable as caves, but I wanted to note them as well:
  1. Kalasberget small roof cave. Coordinates: N 60.16030955° E 24.46814904°. There is a map.
In summary, I found more places to visit! A couple of weeks later, I have visited all but the three ones that are on military area or whose location is unknown or that have collapsed. (And I can't believe this is it, there must be more small caves that haven't been listed.)

This means that I now have drawn maps of all (reachable) caves in Kirkkonummi! Woohoo!

By the way, here's what Google had to say about Skevabackgrotta:


Photos (c) 2017 by Jari Arkko

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