We woke up on Christmas Eve, had a nice breakfast in the hotel and then checked out.
We had booked a dogsledding overnight tour from White Trail Adventures. We waited for the people to pick us up from the hotel. We were then driven to the Mushers Lodge where we put on the winter gear, which included thick overalls, thick socks, boots etc. After putting it on, we could hardly walk!
After a brief introduction to the dogs, how to put on harness on the dogs, how to control the dogsled, we were off to the wooden cabin in the woods to spend the night.
While the dogs look very adorable in the pictures, in actual fact, they were almost impossible to control in real life. All they want is do is just to run, and they do not care if you are controlling them or not. Their secondary purpose is to throw you off the dogsled, and once you are thrown off, the dogs will keep running. They will then have to get someone on the snowmobile to chase after the dogs. We were thrown off once, lost our dogs, on the way to the wooden cabin.
However, we finally caught our first sighting of the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) so I guessed it was worth it.
We finally reached the wooden cabin. It does not have any electricity nor running water. It was one of the coldest nights in recent times, reaching a low of –30 degrees, and the only warmth in the cabin came from a fireplace. It was almost as cold inside the cabin as outside.
As the guides were preparing our special Christmas dinner in the cabin, we went out to continue taking pictures of the Northern Lights. What an amazing sight it is! The lights seem to move like waves, with some invisible wind blowing gently. Each time we looked at it, it is different. It was really an unforgettable experience.
It was really cold, so we could not last too long outdoors before having to go indoors to warm ourselves. Soon, the Christmas dinner was ready. It was really delicious, and we ate it while having friendly chats with the visitors from other groups.
And they served ice cream for dessert. Imagine that!
We were soon asleep, after a tiring day. The next morning after a short breakfast, we took some photos of the wooden cabin area before setting off again.
Then we were off. As it was not cold as last night (“Good news! We are 10 degrees warmer!” “It is –20 degrees. It is still cold.”), the guide took us on a much longer route, through beautiful white forest, across frozen lake. As usual, we were again thrown off by the dogs. After more than an hour, where even my nose hair was frozen, we arrived back at the Mushers Lodge. After removing the harness and dragging the dogs back to their kennel, we paid the remaining amount, return the winter gear, and was driven back to Scandic Ferrum to check in for a night.
After a nice warm bath, we took a long nap to recover our battered and bruised body. While we thoroughly enjoyed the experience, we agreed that dogsledding was something that we just have to do it once, and never do again.
We did wake up long enough to walk across to the only eatery place open on Christmas Day, a pizza place, and did a pizza takeaway. It was one of the most delicious pizza we had eaten. Perhaps the weather has something to do with it.
It started snowing heavily before we went to bed.
It was really one of the most memorable Christmas we had ever.