Karelia Husky Safari

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My bags stayed behind in Helsinki but my good memories came with me. A week out there in Karelia close to the Russian border with over 20 sled dogs and only a few people - that's a very special experience.
Some tracks were prepared. On other occasions Valentijn, our guide, had to navigate his experienced dog team through deep snow and creeks. We crossed countless lakes and Patvinsuo National Park and stayed in log cabins with wood fired saunas attached. These saunas should of course warm you up after a day's sledding in quite cold temperatures but more importantly the stove provides boiled water to defrost dog food.
In all our trip was about 190km long, mostly on frozen lakes and a few quite tricky "single" track fun wood trails. A few trees were in the way but both sleds and trees are flexible enough to survive. My dog team was quite well behaved - a noisy barking concert before the start in the morning however is always an impressive wake up call. Melon, my young lead dog, had all sorts of fun in store for me. Like taking a wrong turn, freeing himself from his harness and then running backwards - he will learn it one day. My dogs really enjoyed hard trails and picked up good speed when the conditions were right. And they got stronger as well towards the end of the week.
All in all the week was pretty much what I expected. However, I thought that dog care was going to be easier. Boiling water, chopping and defrosting frozen meat, inspecting and nursing sore dog feet and a few other chores after a long day on the sled have to be done and only then you can thing about your own sauna and dinner.
Now back home most of the dog smell should be off after a hot bath. However, I haven't seen neighbour's cat since I have come back. I wonder why...

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Photos

Ninja - old lady and house dog...
...enjoying a nap in the sun

Bearhill husky
That's were more than 40 dogs live - puppies, working dogs and retired dogs

My team
My team with lead dogs Spikey and Melon - sometimes they did not agree where to go

Melon...
...getting rewarded for his enthusiam in the morning

Set to go...
...after the lunch break

Crossing a frozen lake
The fresh snow made this hard work for the dogs. My team preferred harder and faster trails.

Sun rise
Before the madness of harnessing the dogs starts a few quiet moments in the morning...

Morning nap
45km leading through deep snow on the day before makes you tired. Lumi resting in the morning sun before we set off again.

Waterhole in the lake
The night before we had drilled a hole in the lake to pump water for dog food, washing and drinking. The next morning it was frozen again.

Pine forest in the morning sun
The log cabin for sleeping on the right and the sauna (aka dog kitchen) on the left.

Stake out
Dogs waking up in the morning

Wood trails...
...sometimes demand advanced sledding skills. Mostly trees on the inside of the turns brought my sled to a grinding halt.

Lunch snack
Delicious chunks of frozen meat for lunch.

Barbecue in the snow
Camp fire to grill a few knackwursts for lunch

Comments

[Christiane]

Lieber Michi, das sieht ja sehr schön aus, so viel Schnee. Wir haben dieses Jahr gar nicht so viel Schnee. Am leibsten wäre ich auch gleich dort oben und würde mit einem Hundeschlitten durch das Weiß sausen. Liebe Grüße Christiane P.S. Danke, dass Du mich immer auf dem Laufenden hältst. Ich war gerade in Peking. Auch sehr interessant. Bis bald mal wieder!