A new observation platform has been built in Niedrāju-Pilkas Bog

With the start of the active nature tourism season, visitors can now access the newly built wooden observation platform in Niedrāju-Pilkas Bog.

The 6-metre-high observation platform offers a beautiful view of the expansive bog landscape. The platform is located at the edge of the bog, on a strip of woodland between two parts of the bog. The previous observation platform had served its time and was dismantled last year.

Niedrāju-Pilkas Bog can also be explored by taking a walk along the approximately 1 km-long boardwalk trail. The beginning and end of the trail are located by the embankment of the former Smiltene–Valmiera–Ainaži narrow-gauge railway.

Developing and improving recreational sites in bog areas is one of the most challenging tasks in the development of tourism infrastructure, as it is difficult to transport building materials to the specific construction site in boggy terrain, as well as to carry out the construction work itself.  

Kaspars Judzis, a recreation infrastructure management specialist at AS “Latvijas valsts meži” (LVM), explains:

“As it is impossible to travel through the bog area using heavy vehicles, before the ground froze, the building materials were transported to the site of the new platform along the existing boardwalk on a specially designed wheeled platform that could be pushed by hand, while during the freezing period they were transported by quad bike.”

A total of 44 m3 of timber was used to build the new observation platform.

Latvia’s state forests offer more than 300 free recreational sites created and managed by LVM, freely accessible to everyone—observation towers and platforms, cycling trails, well-equipped campfire sites, shelters, boardwalks, and recreational sites by rivers and lakes.