Wk 07 Reindeer Land
Location: 68º09'N 25º46'E
Pokka, Sápmi, Finland
Weather Conditions: Sunny with clouds, 10°F (-12°C)
It's a... It's a... No, it's not a wolf... It's a - It's reindeer calf - a small square body on some really long legs! It was not just Mille that couldn't figure it so we decided we better get outside to check out why Jupiter, Goodie and Disko were continuing to make warning barks. "It was slowly moving down the trail towards me even as I waved my arms to make it turn around before it would literally walk itself straight into the midst of the Polar Huskies. The dogs still could not figure it out. Jupiter had his hackles raised and was barking shifting his gaze from me to the animal. I have to admit that I was sort of giggling while making sure I was praising Jupiter for being so alert. I finally ran a little crazy, swinging my arms and legs in the air," says Mille. The reindeer calf agreed it would be better to run on his longs legs the opposite way down the trail, hopefully back to its herd. | ||||||||||||
 | We had just crossed into Finland, leaving Märta's house in Sweden that morning. After many hugs, some coffee and yes, more delicious home-baked goodies, we jumped on the sleds waiving our goodbyes and 'tack so mÿcket' (thank you much!) over our shoulders. Her son, Bössa, was ahead on his snowmobile leading us out onto the ice road. North that is. The plan according to the expedition route was to continue east and then south. However, the balmy temperatures and daily snowfall adding to the landscape of already waist-deep sticky wet snow, Paul had been busy researching every other possible option to come up with a route ahead that would keep us from going any further south. He succeeded! This meant we had to dogsled on the road for a while, go through the parking lot of a small Finnish souvenir place to cross a highway into Finland, and then just 2.5 miles later again cross the highway into Sweden! By afternoon we finally crossed the very river that we had been watching from Märta's kitchen window leaving Sweden behind for now. It's not like you could tell or had any sense of being in a different place and you were in a different country. There was no border, no border patrol, no fences - just the same landscape of beautiful lakes, forest and of course reindeer fences. | |||||||||||
Actually, we have to say that the fence system and 'how to keep the reindeer within their area' is pretty fancy here in Finland. But then in Lappland, this region of Finland, reindeer far outnumber the people. Anyone can her reindeer in Finland, not only the Native Sámi can herd reindeer here. |
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We met our first big herd of reindeer being herded down the trail in the community of Hetta that we were passing by about mid-day. Hetta sits up on the bank where the river had widened to a lake, and like most of the communities we have traveled through, it has a beautifully kept cross-country skiing track that people use daily for exercising. To groom the trail they either use a snowmobile with something like barrels on the front or a huge machine that we don't know the name of. The one here in Hetta was large, loud and has big blinking lights. Along with all the other sounds and smells of a community, we thought the groomer was what made Disko and crew charge ahead at a high speed down the trail. Paul and his team were rounding some trees on land when he went from Polar-Husky-fast-trot to a full out Polar-Husky-wheeehaaa-lope: a large herd of reindeer standing completely still were just ahead. The reindeer herder on his snowmobile had rounded them up in a tight-nit group and he obviously became rather terrified by the site of the charging team of huge huskies. Paul, first threw his weight into the snow hook and then jumped into the team demanding a screeching stop. He then signaled for Mille to move around and soon both teams were on the trail leading down the lake around the herd. Another herdsman brought more reindeer from behind our teams to join the larger herd still standing completely still, gawking at the moving Polar Huskies. |
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| That same night, Paul spoke with team member Aksana and they agreed on a location at a road crossing on our trail to meet. It was just outside a tiny community where Aksana was going to meet us with her backpack to 'jump on the sled.' Literally! We have been carrying about four weeks of supplies on the sleds and still have lots of toilet paper to go! That said, the temperatures did - at last - drop this week making us finally dip with appetite into the butter, cheese, oatmeal and chocolate supplies. Even our daily fuel ration of 55 ounces (1625 ml) were being dipped into the last couple of nights when we hit -30˚C (-22˚F). | |||||||||||
Make sure to join this week's chat with Brian Benson on the topic of what resources we use and how we get these resources on Wednesday, March 26 at 10:00 AM CST . Speaking of toilet paper, if you are making paper in your classroom, please make a post about that and anything else on the topic of resources, or your sense of place in 03: Earth Zone! |
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 | The Polar Huskies obviously don't need the food that we do. In fact, they need very few resources to supply us their amazing power. Some loving, fresh snow for water and about 2 1/2 lb of dog food each day. This week they have been motoring running an average of 25 miles a day. On Thursday we pushed on where a Sámi herder we met on the land was gathering up reindeers that had separated from the herd. He told us that one of the 'Open Huts' were just ahead with firewood stacked and water running in the stream! | |||||||||||
Open for all people that travel on the land, the hut is part of a system of old log homes throughout the region of Lappland. It is small, rustic and simple, but sure heats up very quickly in the glow of the fireplace. "Today these cabins are for all travelers and part of Finnish wilderness tradition. But back in the day, many of the large ones were actually homes of the loggers working on the land," says Aksana. "And of course, they have always been used lots by the Sámi out on the land as well.” |  | |||||||||||
We have not seen many signs of logging. Well, actually, we may have, but when dogsledding this time of the year everything is covered in at least a meter's (yard) worth of snow. It makes it hard to tell if it is marsh land, a swamp or an earlier logged area we are going through. But despite the snow, and even as of late the cold temperatures, we are certainly seeing plenty of open water! Be it on the lakes, on the flowing rivers as we dogsled alongside the banks, or in the form of slush. Yes, slush is just what it sounds like - snow soaked in water (the slush here obviously not being with a 'flavored water'). It forms on top of the ice when there is a hole somewhere where the water can flow onto the ice and yet still underneath the snow cover. That is, until you step in it or run across it with a heavy sled! We did 'get wet' once when just the backend of Mille's sled dipped into a hole in the ice that was covered by the deep snow as we went below a bridge. It was a reminder to make sure that the cable cutter for the main line attaching the dogs to the sled is at hand, and the throw-ropes sitting on the handlebars of the sled should a sled go through indeed. |
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| The Polar Huskies have crossed much slush and carefully navigated open water before. What they have never tried before are the 'fancy' reindeer bridges and gates that connect one reindeer area with another. Just like a cattle ranch often has cattle guards to stop the animals from running outside the ranch area, so the Sámi have built something very similar here in Finnish Sápmi. Five to six foot fences (1,5 - 2 meter) are crossed by tall bridges built from round timbers placed with at least 1-foot spaces (about 34 centimeters) so a snowmobile can indeed get across, but a reindeer would know better than to try that. With no other way around, we finally had to ask the Polar Huskies to go up and over bravely led by Disko and Freja. Once the sleds were on top, we would unhook the two wheel dogs (the dogs running in the position closets to the sled) before running the sleds down the steep side of the bridge. To our great relief, some of the bridges do have a gate of timbers that we could move instead of climbing our way up and over the bridge. The most surprising form of gate consists of a gate frame with long narrow timbers hanging tight next to one another. One assumes, well we did anyway, thinking that snowmobiles move through them, that the timbers are fairly lightweight. Hmm, they are not. The Polar Huskies cleared that one with great finesse whereas we two-footed (Paul and Mille) had some bumps on our foreheads! | |||||||||||
No matter if they are bridges, gates or fences, Polar Huskies are very excited about running through the forests and across lakes and swamps; constantly on the look-out for reindeer. Any little cracking branch MUST be a reindeer! Not least because the reindeer are so well camouflaged moving through the trees. Yesterday, as we came into the small community of Pokka running on a trail uphill alongside the road, we did see some very fast moving reindeer, and the Polar Huskies were asked to sit completely still with not a sound! "I came up the hill following Mille on the front team when I realized she had the team sitting facing some large reindeer bulls not 150 feet ahead. She was in the middle of the team growling for them to be quiet. I jumped into my team, basically in front of Tucker to make sure he would get the message, while quickly unhooking the tug lines from the dogs' harnesses so that they had less power to pull," says Paul. "A lady was standing ahead on the trail calling the reindeer to get them into their corral, but they turned and continued down the trail we were heading, running by the opening in their fence. We waited about 30 minutes before we decided we better turn the teams and head back into the woods and out of this reindeer land." It turns out, Pokka is basically a tiny community of reindeer farms. It is also 'the coldest place' in Finland with a whopping record low of minus 51.2˚C (-70.4˚F). |  | |||||||||||
 | This week's first Polar Husky Superstar, Good Thunder, is one Polar Husky with a huge waving coat that loves it cold and is supercharged with a mighty resource of energy. "Goodie" as he is nicknamed, is like his littermates still very much a puppy at heart - sort of silly and a bit of a loud mouth. That said, Goodie is a tremendously hard working guy who has definitely learned the art of digging deep with his powerful chest from his running partner Sable-who knows just how to harness Goodie's wild energies with some strict discipline! Not that he is all folly, Goodie also carries himself with a grand sense of pride and strong yet fair leadership. Named after the small farming town of Good Thunder in southern Minnesota that Aaron is from, Good Thunder is true to his name as the town was named after a celebrated Native American Chief of the area. Only a few dogs in the Kennel are not already showing him great respect and we have no doubt he is emerging as the new leader of the pack. | |||||||||||
Freja, this week's second Polar Husky Superstar, has lead the pack for many years with her wealth of wisdom as a lead dog. Incredibly resourceful from a very young age where she lead a four-month expedition through tough conditions when she was two-years old; today, Freja is the lady in the kennel. She is somewhat reserved with the other Polar Huskies and can seem indifferent to much excitement. But don't be fooled. Just like the goddess of Freja, which in old Norse mythology here in Fennoscandia is the goddess of love and war, she is in fact very passionate. A true loyal Polar Husky veteran, Freja has with her aging slowed down a bit, but she is wise in knowledge: be it on ice conditions, how to choose the fastest path of trails, navigating through communities, or overcoming obstacles of any sorts. Gazing into the forest for moving reindeer, she is a hunter at heart. All Polar Huskies know that once Freja's ears perk, it is time for the youngsters behind to pour their full resources of raw power into the harness as she swings into her elegant lope to string it out-its Polar Huskies full throttle through Reindeer Land. |  | |||||||||||
