Ivalo – Feb 18
Feb 19th, 2020 by rallyadmin
Last night, we had tried to make reservations for a reindeer sleigh ride but we couldn’t link up with the contact person. Later, we also tried to see up a guided Northern Lights trip. That seemed, at first to work. At dinner, I got a notice from American Express that Lapland Welcome wanted to charge 194 euro to my card. I authorized the card. We finished dinner and walked back to the apartment for the night.
This morning, I get an email from Lapland Welcome that yes, they can do a reindeer trip but time is late (it’s 8:08 AM) and I need to respond immediately because the trip leaves at 9:00AM. But by this time we’ve given up on the reindeer and are only interested in the Northern Lights trip tonight that, coincidentally, we’ve also booked on the Lapland Welcome web site. I send them back an email telling them that we can’t do the reindeer trip but we also haven’t gotten any confirmation on the Northern Lights trip.
We wait but there’s no response. I call the contact phone number that is posted on their web site but only get voicemail. Wait a few minutes and call again. Voicemail again. I finally find the office street address and we decide to go looking for it. After a bit of confusion we find the office but there is no one there and the door is locked. I’m starting to lose confidence in these guys.
Since it’s now about noon, we decide to abandon this effort and drive back down Hwy 4 to Tankavaara, about 60 kilometers south, to see a gold mining museum. It’s turned out to be a beautiful cloudless day after the morning high overcast has burned off and the scenery on the way down the road is spectacular.
We find the village that has an entire resort built around the gold mining past of this area. From the late 1700’s until the 1980’s and continuing to the present, there has been gold mining in this area of Finland. Until the late 1800’s, all of the mining was done by sluicing for placer gold.
Placer mining is done by prospecting for gold in streams and sediments and when gold is found, the dirt that has the gold, the pay dirt, is had shoveled in to sluices that have water running through sluice box. The water separates the heavier gold from the lighter dirt and traps the gold in the bottom of the sluice box. It’s a lot of work for very little gold but the end result is gold and that gold has driven people for centuries.
Gold mining in Finland was exclusively hand mining placer gold deposits until almost the 20th century when mechanical excavators were brought in to the roadless areas where the gold was being mined. The first excavators were not up to the task but eventually equipment was designed that could handle the conditions and gold recovery improved.
Eventually, bedrock gold (gold that is embedded in the rock) was processed but that required much more equipment to excavate the gold-bearing rock and the pulverize it so that the gold could be extracted. This was a quantum leap from simple panning and sluicing for gold and no the place for the hardy miners of the earlier times.
We find the entrance to the resort area which is just buried in snow. The small roads around the resort are even narrower because snow banks on both sides of the roads. We find a parking area to leave the car and follow the half buried signs to the museum.
We go into the museum and there is only a woman working the combination ticket/gift shop counter. She seems quite excited to see us. We buy our tickets, get an explanation of the museum and she takes us to a small theater to watch a short video on panning for gold.
The museum is actually two parts. The first part is a display of the equipment and amazing people who started the gold rush in Finland. The second part is a display of gold minig in different parts of the world.
It takes us over an hour to see the museum which is very well done. All of the descriptions are done in Finnish and English and there is great attention to detail. In the international display they are displays of gold mining in Canada, Alaska, California and Georgia(?!) and, of course, many other parts of the work. Back to the car and back to Ivalo.
We stop for fuel on the way back to Ivalo. The automated pump is very confusing but eventually I find a way to turn the card reader instructions in to English. The automated pump requires you to put in the max amount in euro that you want to pump. The card system then puts a hold on that amount, turns on the pump and then reconciles the hold amunt with the actual amount. No problem. That’s done almost everywhere. Pump the fuel. Get back in the car and continue to Ivalo.
We’re almost in Ivalo and my mobile rings. It’s Hertz and a woman asks me if we’ve just gotten fuel. “Yes, we have. Is there a problem?” “Yes, there is. The credit card didn’t go through.” “I’ll go back immediately and give them another card.” “Thank you. I will call them and tell them that you are returning.”
We turn around and drive back about 30 kilometers. We come down the hill and turn into the fuel station expecting to see Finnish police waiting for us. Well, I haven’t been detained in Finland. Yet.
I park and go inside. I explain the to the man at the counter that I got a call from Hertz and there’s credit card problem. “Oh, you’re the one.” He says no problem and hands me a card reader. I put in the same card as I used on the automated pump. No problem. The transaction goes through and we’re on our way to Ivalo. Again. I am getting tired of going over this hill now for the 5th time.
Back in Ivalo, we stop at the Lapland Welcome office again but it’s still locked. Back at the apartment I call another number that we’ve found in this morning’s email. This time someone answers and when I tell him who I am, he hangs up immediately. I call again but this time no one answers. I’m starting to smell scam. I’d better call Amex and cancel that transaction.
We decide on Plan B which is to wait in the apartment for the aurora forecast. I have an app on my phone that monitor the conditions for an aurora sighting in you present location. If the app says that there are good conditions for a sighting AND the sky is clear we’ll drive out of Ivalo and see what we can see. Meanwhile, takeout pizza that Lonely Planet says is excellent from a shop a block down the street.
At 10:30, I go outside to check the sky conditions and it’s clear! Back to the apartment. We gear up, get in the car and start driving north towards Inari. About 20 kilometers out we stop. Take a look at the sky conditions. It’s back to overcast. Back in the car and head back to Ivalo.
We go through Ivalo and head south again towards the scene of the crime at the fuel station. There’s a barren hill just before the fuel station that will make a good stop to see what the sky conditions are. If it’s overcast there, we’ll call it a night.
There’s a parking area at the top of the hill. We stop there, shutdown the car and get out for a look. There are some clouds but it’s not overcast. We decide to stay and see what develops.
In just a few minutes, we can see auroras in the distance to the west. The patchy clouds make the viewing a bit fuzzy. But they are there. The some light to the north but that seems to be ground light pollution from Ivalo.
We watch the auroras in the distance for a few minutes and then get in the car to warm up. Then back out again. The viewing gets better but the auroras are still quite a distance away. We get back in the car and talk about leaving. We’ll give it another 5 minutes. If things don’t improve, we’ll leave.
No sooner do the words come out of my mouth and the sky above us erupts in brilliant, shimmering green filaments of color. Quickly moving screens of iridescent green with occasional flashes of purple. The colors just dance above our heads. And just as we think the colors are fading out, another patch of sky flashes to life.
I’ve seen the aurora a number of time but rarely like this. And Barbara has never seen them. (Which is why we are here in Finlad in February.) She’s just ecstatic. This is what she’s been hoping to see for years. And it bodes well for tomorrow night when we spend the night in a trailer on the lake ice in Inari. And the forecast fr tomorrow night in Inari is for clear skies.
Then the colors start to fade again and we decide it’s time to leave. It’s after 1AM and we have over 25 kilometers to get to the apartment.
What a night!
Obi-wan