Right at the end of last year, in December 2024, I wanted to go out and do something on a beautiful day. It was the darkest time of the year and I only had time till 15.30, after that it got dark. The sun was out(well, mostly), and that's a rare thing in December usually.
I have been to Seli Bog numerous times before, but the first time was with deep snow, and the second time was in the spring. This time, it was cold and snow was on the ground, but not deep so it was like a middle ground.
All the photos look like these are taken during sunset. Actually, most of these are taken during midday. In December, the sun stays so low that it looks like sunset all the time.
During my several hours spent there, I saw no one else, I was alone in this wetland.
In this photo below, you can see a strong snowfall approaching. The sunshine makes the snowfall from the clouds look so cool, almost otherworldly!
Long straight path
At some point I did something that I never to when walking the bogs... I left the wooden pathway. Firstly, because it's impossible to walk on it with regular boots, too wet and secondly, it's dangerous because the ground might not be solid even if it looks like that.
This time the conditions were good though. It was cold, so the water was mostly frozen everywhere, but there was not much snow, so I could still walk and see where I stepped. On the wooden paths, you can only see a small portion of the bog, in reality, it's much bigger and you can never see it without leaving the trail.
Here are some shots I took off-trail while making my way around.
It's extremely easy to get disorientated when off-trail like this because everything around you looks the same and you have no reference points. The GPS helped me steer me back on the trail, essentially.
The sun started to go down and for me, it was time to head back to prevent staying in the pitch dark. It surely was a nice winter walk alone in the Estonian wilderness.
