Kemi – Feb 16
Feb 17th, 2020 by rallyadmin
We have a lazy morning. A late breakfast and then hanging out waiting for our 11:45 pickup for the olokolo sleigh ride. It’s not snowing but it sure looks like it is going to. And the wind is blowing. Generally, a good morning to hang out.
We’re head for the lobby at 11:45 and our olokolo guide is already there waiting for us. WE introduce ourselves and head into the van for a short ride to the start of the ride. Which turns out to be the Snow Castle.
I was a bit surprised. I thought that the ride was leaving from where we found the Taxari office because there were snowmobiles and a covered sleigh (olokolo) there. Silly me. Taxari is only a booking agent. The snowmobile company is a big concession at the Snow Castle.
We leave the van and walk in to a staging area for the snowmobile rides. Rows of snowmobile insulated coveralls, boots and helmets. We’re there only to sign a release which I’m sure says that they have no responsibility if the inadvertently kill us. I stopped reading on page 92 of the European authorized release form. Whatever. A short walk past a small marina, now shutdown for the winter. Not much sailing on the ice-locked bay now.
The guide is a middle-aged woman named Vuokko who is neatly hidden under the requisite snowmobile riding gear. We chat a bit (she’s local, born here in Kemi) and does the snowmobile guiding primarily for her own enjoyment. She had broken her leg some time ago and can’t hike or ski as much as she used to so the snowmobiling gets her out.
The sky is overcast and the wind is blowing pretty bood now. At the edge of the bay, actually the mouth of a river that empties into the bay just a couple of kilometers south, the ice is just a white windblown expanse. Vuokko opens the door to the olokolo, asks us to knock the snow off our boots before we get in, we get in, she closes the door.
The inside of the olokolo is rather nice. First, it’s heated by a small gasoline heater that sits outside the front of the olokolo. The roof is clear plexi. The floor is a thin pad covered with furs that run the length of the floor. The back wall has some pads and pillows. We lie back like a couple of swaddled, ancient Romans. Vuokko starts the snowmobile and heads out of the frozen marina out on to the blustery river ice.
Just a few hundred meters out she stops and opens the door so that we can get out and take some pictures of the Snow Castle and the small cottages on the frozen bank which they rent year round. While I take some pictures whe gives us the lay of the land, er, ice. Off to the left is a refinery in the distance with a distinctive small flare tower burning a bright orange under the more leaden sky. Farther down the river is the harbor proper with shipping and ferries. Off to our right where we are headed is a forested island where we might see some elk or deer.
The wind is still blowing quite a bit and the snow has started again. Not a heavy snow but the beginning of what will be a good snow. We get back into the olokolo and start heading downstream on the river ice and then turn toward the island. There’s a couple that have hiked across the river ice and have just disappeared onto the island.
Riding on the snow track on the island is much quieter than riding on the river ice. And the huge trees on the island block most of the wind. The recent snow fall from last night is still hanging on the pines broad branches and mixed in with the snow-covered pines are the ubiquitous white birch trees that tell you that you are in the Nordic countries or northwestern Russia.
I had forgotten how beautiful the winter snow-covered forest is. And how quiet. Even with the snowmobile noise, it seems quiet. When the snowmobile stops, it’s a frozen paradise. We see tracks of cross-country skiers and I privately envy them. I remember back to when we were young and skied in the winter forests of New England and how quietly beautiful that was.
We continue on to a small encampment where there’s a snow covered, almost buried round log hut. It has an open canvas door and, inside, there are benches round the outside walls and a fire pit in the center. We’ve stopped for a break and some hot coffee, hot juice and delicious blueberry crumble. We chat a bit and soon a couple of snowmobiles stop for a break. While Vuokko shows them the inner workings of the olokolo, Barbara and I walk down the snowmobile track into the snow-covered pine stand. So peaceful.
We head back to the hut and load back into the olokolo. Out the top end of the island and out on to the river ice again. We stop at a small island with a tepee. I don’t know the Lapland name but is exactly the same as a native American tepee. We go inside and it also has some benches and some fire pits. Vuokko tells us that this is a very popular camping spot, more so in the summer but occasionally used in the winter.
Some more photos but the snow has increased quite a bit and the wind is really blowing now. No hanging about marveling at the beauty now. Back in the olokolo and we head back to the Snow Castle. It’s been about 2 hours and it has been a great time.
Back in the van and back to the hotel. We say good bye to Vuokko and head back to our room. The snow has now turned into a wet mix of rain and huge snow flakes with the strong wind. It looks like an afternoon of hanging out is in store. There’s not that much to do in Kemi on a Sunday but we’re not doing it in the rain.
At about 7:00PM, we decide to go out for dinner. We had been planning on eating at a highly recommended Italian restaurant in Kemi but the weather ruined that idea. It’s now raining and the wind is still blowing quite hard. It’s pizza from the shop across the parking lot.
As we go through the hotel lobby we see that the tv has a snowcross race on. (Snow-cross is like moto-cross but with snowmobiles instead of motorcycles and snow instead of dirt. Same madness, though.) The hotel manager is watching the race intently And she tells us that her son is in the race.
The race is actually about 25 kilometers away and her son, Miika Lammi, is leading. And she’s every mother of every racer: she can barely get herself to watch and she certainly can’t get herself to not watch. Her son is doing great gaining about a second a lap on each lap. Taking no prisoners as they say. But she is holding her breath that nothing breaks, that her son doesn’t make a mistake, the he doesn’t crash or get hurt. She just hoping the race ends with a win for her son. Which it does. And he wins by over 20 seconds in a 22 lap Pro-Lite race. He’s, obviously, very good.
He races snow-cross in the winter and moto-cross in the summer. He’s been to the US to try and get a ride but no luck yet. She says she hates to see him go to the States but there’s no money in racing in Finland. The US is where the money is so…
We congrtulate her and then go for a [izza. It’s ready in about 10 minutes. Back to the hotel. We eat the pizza (okay, not great) in the lobby tv area and then back to the room for the night.
Tomorrow another 400 kilometers on the road to Ivalo. But Ivalo is in Lapland where it’s been snowing like never before.
Obi-wan