Aegviidu – Napu

Two days on the Oandu–Ikla hiking trail, 27 km from Aegviidu station to Napu, on 9–10 October 2026. We took the morning train out of Tallinn, walked south through rain-soaked pine forest and forest roads, cooked lunch at an RMK campfire site, caught a rainbow over the fields in the evening, slept in the shelter at Noku campfire site and crossed Kakerdaja bog in fog the next morning. The film is the whole thing with no talking and no music.

Getting there

Aegviidu is on the Tallinn–Tartu railway, about an hour from Tallinn by Elron train. The trail leaves straight from the station: cross the tracks, follow the RMK signs south. Check times and tickets on elron.ee; weekend morning trains fill up in autumn.

The route, section by section

Section	km	Ground	Notes
Aegviidu station → first shelter	0–5	gravel forest road, then trail	Flat, easy, the longest stretch of road walking. The first RMK shelter is a good place to shed a layer.
Forest trail through the pines	5–12	trail, some boardwalk	Autumn colours, quiet. We stopped for a snack under the pines at around 3 km in.
Campfire site and lunch	~12	RMK campfire site	Table, fire ring, firewood. We boiled water on the stove here.
Afternoon: fields, streams, the log bridge	12–18	trail, log bridge over a stream	The bridge at 9:36 in the film is the only crossing; it is slippery when wet. The rainbow came after the fields.
Noku campfire site	18	shelter by a small lake	Where we spent the night. Open-fronted shelter, firewood, lake water to filter.
Kakerdaja bog	19–22	boardwalk	The bog loop is the highlight. In fog you see nothing but the boards and the nearest pines. The boardwalk is slippery in rain and frost.
Bog to Napu	22–27	trail, forest road	Mostly forest road down to Napu, where a car can meet you.

Distances are from the published trail; the GPS track on this page will replace them when it is added.

The night at Noku

Noku campfire site sits at the edge of a small lake just before the bog. The shelter is a classic RMK open-front hut with a sleeping platform for about six. It was 4 °C, wet, and quiet except for the rain on the roof. We cooked on the stove, dried boots by the fire and were asleep by nine.

Kakerdaja bog in the morning

We left the shelter at first light and walked onto the boardwalk in fog so thick the lake at the far end only appeared at the last bench. The boardwalk is narrow, in places a single plank wide, and was slick with overnight rain. It is the reason to do this hike in autumn.

Gear

Sony a6700 with the Tamron 17-70 mm f/2.8 for everything static, a GoPro HERO11 Black for the walking shots, one tripod between us. Packs around 14 kg each with two days of food. Boots, not trail runners, for the bog.

Getting back

Napu is a hamlet off the trail with no public transport. We had a car waiting. If you have no car, continue on the trail to the next section or arrange a pick-up in Albu or Järva-Jaani.

The film

The full 17-minute film is at the top of this page and on YouTube. The chapters follow the sections above.