Today was all about being outside. First stop was the tour shop where they gave you an extra pair of socks and big winter boots. They say your feet stay warmer with a bit of room to breath. They also put us in blue full cover snow suites and gave us a full head cover with helmet.
From here it was to our snowmobiles. The route was full of roads for snowmobiles, dogs and cross country skiers. Intersections even had large fancy signs with kilometers to the next town. But on our route to see the reindeers there was not a soul but us.
We pulled up to a nice farm with reindeer tied up loosely to trees like you would normally see a horse. Little smaller and fuzzier than a horse but otherwise thats the image I saw. Overall they were even cutier standing there in the quiet wintery wonderland.
We mounted up two per sleigh held on a single reign with a single reindeer who took us for a quick ride around the park. Ours started off quick and then decided to stop.
He just waited for the guys behind us to catch up then took off again. Almost like cat and mouse, but no mater how much we tried the reigns he was doing his own thing.
We found out there are no Caribou in Finland which would be wild reindeer. Although the reindeer roam wildly on the off season they are all owned by registered ranches. They allow the reindeer to give birth in the wild and the baby live “wildly” until they are three. At three they are trained for pulling a sled which takes 3 years or so.
After the reindeer we hopped back on our snowmobiles and rode over to lunch. Lunch was in the middle of the woods surrounded by snow and trees. There was a single t-pee with a fire place in the middle ware we roasted sausages. We had some hot chocolate and enjoyed the warmth.
Last stop was a Husky farm. There were 5 week olds, 5 month olds all the way up to around 10 year olds. At around 10 they retire to homes in the area. The dogs love to run and I guess have three options for a 12 dog sled. The front guys are the smart ones that have to listen to the commands from the musher. They are usually female too so that was a fun fact. The ones in back are the hearty ones, they have to make the sleigh go where the guys in front want. The ones in the middle are usually the younger ones in training along side an older one to show them the ropes. They just help pull the weight but don’t have to think at all. After the ride we had some warm juice in a yurt with another wood burning fire place.
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