2021

New Olympic Hiking Routes are Now Open in the Forests of Latvia

In co-operation with the Latvian Olympic Committee, eleven special Olympic hiking routes have been created in the territory of Latvia’s State Forests, and they call for the discovery of the forest as the largest sports and educational place in Latvia. Each hike has a variety of educational and sporting tasks that will fascinate both the young and the old. Olympic hiking is one of the activities of this year's Olympic Month, which encourages participants to appreciate sports activities in nature.

The routes created by LVM experts are circular, 3 to 5 km long. Olympic hiking routes lead both along paths and in wilder areas, they are not marked in nature, so you will need to use smart devices with the GPS function when navigating. Hiking routes have been created in Pīļezers, Vijciems, Kalsnava, Tērvete, Silakalns and elsewhere. There are 10 – 30 digital educational points with sports or educational tasks on each route; there is also an opportunity to open a virtual observation tower on each route to explore the forest treasures from above!

ROUTES ARE AVAILABLE AT WWW.LVM.LV/PARGAJIENI

Three of these trails are recommended by Olympic families: the trail in Vijciems is recommended by the family of beach volleyball player Mārtiņš Pļaviņš; the family of wrestler Anastasija Grigorjeva invites to visit Kalsnava, while the family of cross-country skier Patrīcija Eiduka encourages everyone to get acquainted with the Tērvete trail.

An opportunity to move and gain new knowledge

Your phone needs an Internet and GPS connection to fully navigate this hike. The 11 hiking routes on the LVM GEO map are highlighted in orange, whereas the educational points are marked with icons – fingers that press a button. When you reach an educational point, you need to click on it and open the “digital educational point” below, which describes both the task to be performed and additional information. By zooming in on the map, you can also see all the recreational facilities offered by LVM, where everyone is invited to create their own Olympic hiking route, including exercises in nature.

It will be easier to perform forest exploration tasks during the hike by previewing these video tutorials in advance:

The Olympic hikes are organized in commercial forests, so that nature walkers can get acquainted with forests of different ages and the forestry activities that are carried out in them – forest restoration, tending, cultivation and nature protection, which all are part of the endless forest management cycle.