AT A GLANCE
Why go?
Lake Elkiänjärvi — entered on Google Maps in its plain-ASCII form as "Elkianjarvi" — is a small, remarkably shallow lake set in the farmland-and-forest countryside of Suo-Anttila in Luumäki, South Karelia, roughly 170 km east of Helsinki. It is not a resort or a postcard highlight, but a quiet, local lake: about 1.8 square kilometres of brownish, gently lapping water ringed by spruce woods, a handful of islets and scattered holiday cottages.↗
What makes an unexpected detour worthwhile is what lies around its shores. On the rocky slope of Vaskivuori sits an ancient rock painting, and within easy reach run the trenches and concrete bunkers of the Salpalinja, the Second World War defensive line whose 1941 fortifications actually cut this lake in two. For travellers drawn to Karelia's understated nature and wartime history rather than its grander sights, Elkiänjärvi offers a calm, off-the-beaten-track stop.↗
A shallow lake in the Luumäki countryside
Elkiänjärvi lies at 57.6 metres above sea level and drains through the short Käräjoki into the Urpalanjoki waterway. By lake standards it is tiny and very flat-bottomed: roughly 2.2 km long and 1.5 km wide, with an average depth of under a metre and a maximum of about 1.7 m. That shallowness, plus its four low islets — the empty Suurisaari and Paskasaari, and Ukonsaari and Martinsaari, where a few holiday cottages hide among the trees — gives the water a sheltered, almost pond-like stillness in summer.
