The idea to construct a hiking path through Estonia was already conceived in 2000. Connecting the existing paths and stops with a single route, describing and marking them, and preparing additional stops if necessary, created a possibility to hike 375 kilometers from border to border.
Oandu-Ikla hiking route starts in the Lahemaa National Part in Northern Estonia, passes through six counties, two national parks, nine preserves and ends at the Estonia-Latvia border at Ikla. The hiking route was officially opened in 15 July 2012. The first ones to complete the route were Aigar Kallas, the chairman of State Forest Management Centre (RMK), alpinist Alar Sikk, hiking expert Tõnu Jürgenson, ultra-athlete Heleen Vennikas, doctor Julia Ivanova and director/photographer Kristjan Kaljund. At the different stages of the route, they were joined by enterpreneur and traveler Tiit Pruuli, actress Kadri Adamson, radio personality Kertu Jukkum, singer Gerli Padar, director of Eesti Kontsert Jüri Leiten, marketing specialist Katrin Klein, photographer Jarek Jõepera, chief manager of Statoil Kai Realo, militarist Hannes Võrno, general practitioner Anneli Talvik, and entrepreneurs Tõnu Ehrpais and Margit Härma. The route was completed in ten days by foot, bicycle, ATV, horse, and barge.

Hiking experiences on RMK hiking routes can be read from the hiking diaries on the RMK’s homepage www.loodusegakoos.ee/matkatee/matkapaevik

There are many boardwalks for hiking in bogs and for learning more about them in Estonia today. That has not always been so. The idea of carrying wooden boards into a bog and building a pathway of them to walk on seemed new and bizarre for many when the constructions for the Viru Bog study trail boardwalk began in 1977. Boardwalks had been built in bogs for the measuring devices of bog researchers and for accessing observation points but never specially for visitors to use.
The idea for the boardwalk came to Aarne Kaasik, long-time director of the Lahemaa National Park, during his visit to Finland where he became acquainted with the pathways there. Tõnu Reinvald managed the construction. Even the builders considered the novel endeavour rather odd and there were many sceptics in general that had doubts on whether anyone would even use the boardwalk. However, there were so many visitors that the first boardwalk fell apart and a new one had to be built. The last boardwalk built in 2013 is the fourth one so far. The Viru Bog study trail has become the most visited nature trail of Lahemaa – over 37,000 people came here in 2015. The Viru Bog boardwalk is also a part of the RMK Oandu-Ikla hiking route.

In 1972, Helve Käärik-Pai and the legendary forest and nature enthusiast Vello-Taivo Denksi designed the Paganamaa study trail established to celebrate the national assembly of the Estonian Nature Protection Association. It was one of the first study trails in the nature of Estonia that had been marked, fully developed and was fully equipped with information materials. The Paganamaa study trail became the example that was used to present the methodology of creating study trails.
There are three roundabout paths of different lengths (5, 7, and 10 km) on the Paganamaa study trail. The campsite and parking area were established in the pine forest by the lake Krabi Veskijärv. The layouts and descriptions of the study trails could be found there as well.
In nature, the trails were marked by white-yellow-white stripes on trees and rocks. The 19 points of interest of the trail introduced the lovely landscapes, nature and the local history of Paganamaa, presenting them as an integral whole. The description of the trail was also included in a pamphlet published by the Estonian Nature Protection Association. Hikers could request a student from the Krabi school as a guide to accompany them on the trail. To do this, people were on standby duty at the school even on the weekends of summer holidays. The school was also home to the local history room and upon agreement, you could sleep at the school’s forest district building.
The current RMK hiking route that passes through the whole of Estonia also partially runs by the Paganamaa study trail established in 1972.

There are many footprints left by the presidents of our country in both Jäneda and Nelijärve. Konstantin Päts, the first president of the Republic of Estonia, was the author and financier of the idea to build the Nelijärve Tourist Home, as well as the founder of the Jäneda Agricultural High School. Arnold Rüütel graduated in the 27th class of the school in Jäneda.
In 2004, the presidential hike, a popular social event, was held for the first time. About 1,500 people complete the trail every year, either on skis or with walking sticks.
Aegviidu has been a renowned winter sports centre since the beginning of the Republic of Estonia. Its activities intensified along with the establishment of the tourist home in 1938.
“Aegviidu, along with its landscape and modern tourist home, belongs to the class of winter sports centres of general importance. The landscapes of Aegviidu have pleasant skiing trails of 3–5 km. /–/ Nelijärve’s forest landscape has many long skiing trails cleared of trees that alternate with higher ridges, valleys and slopes. /–/ You can spend the night, dine but also lodge at the all-around modern tourist home. The tourist home has baths, showers and facilities for tarring skis. The longer skiing routes from Aegviidu to Jäneda or the northern Vargamäe offer skiers lovely forest paths.” (Turismi Teataja 5/6 1939)

Valgehobusemägi (White Horse Mountain), the highest peak of Kõrvemaa, is situated in the Mägede kame field. The hill stands 106.9 metres above sea level. The observation tower on the hill offers a view of the extensive forests and wetlands of the landscape.
Reportedly, there was a tower on the hill as early as in 1897. Although, at the time it was not an observation tower but a triangulation tower for land surveys.
According to folklore, the name of the hill comes from the death of a farmer’s white horse who perished when going up the hill with a load of logs meant for the construction of the tower. However, the origin of the name is also associated with the Kalevipoeg legends:
“Once upon a time, Kalevipoeg was ploughing with his horse by the Mägede village. He left the horse to eat and laid down to rest. Wolves came from Röövlioru valley and Hundiaugud pitfalls and killed Kalevipoeg’s white horse. The animal’s body turned into a mountain that is now known as Valgehobusemägi. Ridges that look like the legs of a horse lead down from the hill. A little further in the forest, there are furrows ploughed by Kalevipoeg.”
In 1997, Albu rural municipality government began to build the Valgehobusemägi ski and leisure centre with a goal to establish a year-round recreational sports centre for everyone interested.

Brothers Jüri and Hans Grossthal from Sürgavere in Viljandi County bought the large farm, the majority of which was formed by pastures, on the Kõrvemaa bog island in 1871. Hans Grossthal was the godfather of the writer A. H. Tammsaare and the prototype for his character Hundipalu Tiit in his book “Truth and Justice”.
Karl Mihkla writes in his 1938 article, “Realistic types of people and motives in A. H. Tammsaare’s works”:

“Similarly to the wise Hundipalu Tiit, H. Grosthal was also a fervent supporter of C. R. Jakobson’s radical views. When word about the publication of Sakala reached Simisalu, he went to relay the good news to everyone, stating with a heart full of joy, “Our people can only now start living. Look, soon Sakala will be published under Carl Robert Jakobson’s leadership”.”

In 1911, Hans Vielemann bought the farm. His son Gustav was killed along with his wife Rosalie on 24 June 1941 by a destruction battalion because they were considered supporters of the Forest Brothers. The farm buildings were burnt down.
In 1978, the cowshed and threshing barn of the farm were built into a hikers’ hostel. The path leading from Simisalu to Tammsaare’s hinterlands by the former bog bridges through true wilderness to Matsimäe had already been marked down in 1972. It had been designed as a circular path, going back by the bog islands on the right bank of Jägala river in order to show the hikers a comparison of drained bog landscapes. However, redesigned nature was not enticing and the other side of the path was taken over by nature.