The landscape of the area is described in the Suomenmaa book published in 1929 as follows: “The landscape is as soft as possible – steep slopes and sharp shapes are rare”.
Purnuvaara is located in an area that belongs to the Iijoki headwaters and the landscape is marked by the so-called sugar-top spruces. In winter, postcard scenery can be found, among other places, from the top of Pulkkasenvaara and in the summer from the slopes of Purnuvaara, where there are still old storage sheds on the outskirts of the fields.
Soilujärvi
Soilujärvi, almost 25 kilometres long, is a narrow canyon lake that attracts recreational fishers.
Hyväjärvi
Hyväjärvi is a lake drained into farmland in the 19th century, which was originally a good five kilometres long. About 400 hectares were obtained by draining the grassland. In the 1970s, the approximately 15-hectare lake was used as a fish breeding pond and is the oldest natural feeding pond in Kuusamo.
Hyväjärvi lake meadows are protected as a provincially valuable traditional landscape.
Soilu powerplant
At the west end of the eight-kilometre long Soilujärvi was an almost 10 meter high rapid known as Hevonvitunkoski (horse pussy rapid). Since then, the sophistication changed the name first to Hevosenhännänkoski (horse tail rapid), Hevoskoski (horse rapid) and finally Soilunkoski.
The Soilu powerplant built by Koillis-Pohjan Sähkö was completed in 1960.