Päijätsalo, Finland

In July 2015, I visited Päijätsalo, an island in Päijänne, Finland's second largest lake. Päijänne is about 120 km long from south to north and about 20 km wide at its widest point. Päijätsalo is located (click to see it on Google Maps) in the municipality of Sysmä, about 90 km north of Lahti. Päijätsalo is on the eastern shore of the biggest open body of water, Tehinselkä, of Lake Päijänne.

The video above is shot the highest point of Päijätsalo, about 100 metres above the lake. The furthest point on opposite side of the lake is about 25 km to the west. The fact that this is one of the largest open bodies of water in Finnish lakes is indicative of the fact that Finnish lakes tend to be littered with countless islands and capes of various sizes. The largest lake in the country is Saimaa, about four times larger than Päijänne. The total area of Saimaa is about 4400 km2. But its largest open body of water is only 28 km long. The lake is an endless maze. From a national defense point of view, it is fortunate that the lakes in the eastern part of the country are like this. With all the bridges destroyed, they would be a logistical nightmare for an invading force. The shoreline of Päijänne is also very long and there are about 16,000 summer cabins on its shores.

In the middle of Tehinselkä, there is a small island called Koreakoivu. It was the home of a very significant hermit for decades. Toivo Pylvänäinen came to live on the island in the 1930's in a very primitive cabin and he was forced to move to a nursing home in the late 1970's. His livelihood was fishing. Rumour has it that Mr. Pylvänäinen had had trouble with women which led him to choosing to disappear even from his closest relatives. It is told that once in the 1970's when he was selling fish at the market square in Lahti, he was interviewed on the radio and his voice was recognized by people who knew him. Rapala Corporation, a fishing lure and tackle manufacturer that employs thousands of people, was founded by Lauri Rapala who was from the village of Rapala in Sysmä very near Koreakoivu. Lauri Rapala and Toivo Pylvänäinen were friends and they used to drink and work on their lures on the island together. Lauri Rapala was a family man so he decided to focus on the manufacturing methods of the lures and tackles and create a business out of it in the 1950's. The business was wildly successful.

Toivo Pylvänäinen was quite the character. He is told to have been glad to keep company for people who'd make a stop on the island when sailing past. When he was an old man, he slipped in his sauna and fell on the stove. He was forced to move to a nursing home. He is told to have tried to escape from the nursing home throwing his boots out of an open window and making a failed attempt at following them himself. Below is a video of Toivo Pylvänäinen visiting Koreakoivu for the last time in the 1970's.

Here's an interview of Toivo Pylvänäinen (in Finnish).