Nuuksio National Park is one of my favorite places in all of Finland. Just a short bus ride away from the bustle of Helsinki, the national park is a microcosm of Finnish nature: pine forests, swamps, lakes, exposed bedrock carved during the Ice Age...
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Nuuksio_Cliff.JPG |
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Nuuksio_Moss_Stone.JPG |
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The pictures were taken in all of 5 minutes at the cliffs of Haukkalampi, a few minutes away from the park's main entrance. Few plants can survive under the dark canopy of pine trees seemingly growing from the rocks themselves, so thick sheets of moss cling to jagged boulders, cracked and splintered thousands of years ago by moving sheets of ice. While their sole architect is Mother Nature, the cliffs look like the forgotten ruins of an ancient civilization. Most of the park looks nothing at all like these pictures, but that just serves to make the scene even more haunting.
For a man-made version of a similar scene, see Philip Greenspun's pictures of the Parco dei Mostri.