Nature
The town of Kemijärvi is located on a neck of land region bordered by the River Kemijoki, and Kemijärvi, Kuumalampi and Pöyliöjärvi lakes. The waterways and dozens of fells provide the landscape for Finland’s northernmost town. Kemijärvi has 396 lakes and ponds. Pyhä and Suomu are the best-known local fells.
Pyhätunturi belongs to the Pyhä-Luosto National Park. Pyhätunturi is a Lappish quartz mountain, or so-called residual mountain. It is a seven kilometre-long range of fells. Pyhätunturi is one of the world’s oldest mountains, with a grand old age of around 2,000,000,000 years, comprising quartzite that was mainly formed by the sandy shores and bed sands of the ancient sea, where oscillation ripple marks and current bedding may be seen. The special characteristics of Pyhätunturi are its diverse nature and cultural history. The Pyhä-Luosto National Park has, for instance, hilltops and ravines with a thick cover of fragmented rock, streamside groves, old forests, deep fell gorges and aapa bogs, which provides a diverse habitat for instance for a number of bird species. The region is renowned for the Pyhä-Luosto tourist resort and the National Park Visitor Centre.
Typical landscapes of Pelkosenniemi are low-lying riverside regions, riverside villages, 300 – 400 metre-high gently sloping hillsides and vast aapa bog regions rich with birdlife. In the southwestern - northwestern section of the municipality, rises a 35 kilometre-long fell range of the Pyhä-Luosto National Park, the highest summit of Pelkosenniemi being the Noitatunturi Fell.
Suomutunturi is renowned for the Suomu Ski Resort and wooded landscapes, which vary from dry lichenous regions to lush shrubs and bogs. The diverse cultural history of the region includes, for instance, old Lappish settlement areas, deer hunting, Käsmänperä and Tonkopuro small holding village era, bustling waterborne traffic to Kemijärvi, road-less properties, hostelry activities, bird populations and brown trout rivers beyond compare, summer barns and large forest logging sites.