JOTKA MTB ROUTE
LOCATED IN SAMI LAND & REINDEER HERDING AREA
DISTANCE
48 km
% UNPAVED
100 %
DAYS
1-2
days
% SINGLETRACK
100 %
TOTAL ASCENT
580 m
DIFFICULTY (1-10)
7
HIGHEST POINT
45 m
% RIDEABLE
97 %
The Jotka MTB Route, connecting the Jotka fjellstua and Suossjavri fjellstue, is an great but in parts challenging single track connection across the Finnmark's highland from the Jotka Fjellstue to Suossjavri Fjellstue, at the Kautokeino-Karasjok main road. It has two potentially tricky river crossings and a few wet sections, so it should not be attempted early in the season or after multiple days of heavy rain. Great camping and some of the best grayling and arctic char fishing guarantee that the route makes a fantastic bikefishing route as well.
The 48km and 1-2 day Jotka MTB Route connect the Jotka fjellstue to Suossjavre fjellstue on rough double tracks, following another old postal connection across the Finnmark highland. During the summer of 2020, we scouted multiple different route alternatives south from Jotka and found this to be the easiest and the driest of the route alternatives reaching the Kautokeino-Karasjok road.
It seems a little odd and lonely stretch of trail, but it earns its place on the Arctic by Cycle as a logical shortcut as a part of a longer arctic tour that visits Alta and simply just being a wonderful 50km mountain biking trail with fantastic fishing of grayling, arctic char and brown trout.
It could be also combined with the Jotka-Alta section of the Arctic Post Road MTB Route, making a 116km Finnmark highland traverse from Alta to Suossjavre. Like the Arctic Post Road MTB Route, similarly, the Jotka Trail requires good physical fitness and moderate mountain biking and bikepacking skills. Though it can be done as a day ride as well, making going lighter, easier, and faster, too. The route is ideally ridden with a mountain bike with as big tires as you can fit and a full suspension rig or a fatbike, in that matter, is not overkill at all in this route.
Read more about what the route has to offer as well as our take on riding the route in the Trail notes below…
Photos: Taneli Roininen
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Deep wilderness crossing from the Jotka fjellstue to Suossjavre fjellsute on single and quad track on magnicicant Finnmark highland
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Jotka fjellstue is an oasis in the wilderness with local delicacies, a well-kept old mountain lodge, a sauna as well as beer and wine. Especially their breakfast with self-cold-smoked arctic char from the lake next door is hard to beat…
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World-class fishing of grayling, arctic char, and brown trout make the area ideal for bikefishing
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Smart shortcut on a longer all-terrain arctic tour avoids the need to visit Kautokeino, on the way from Alta to the northernmost part of Finland.
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Northern lights can be seen multiple times a week in autumn, if the sky is clear at night.
