Lake Inari – Feb 19
Feb 21st, 2020 by rallyadmin
It’s a beautiful morning. Barbara sleeps in after the late night/early morning trip to the hill. We get a late start but it’s only about an hour’s drive to Lake Inari.
We check out of the apartment at nearly noon and head north. We’re getting very close to the northern end of Finland and since we don’t check into Lake Inari Cabins until 4:00PM, we plan to stop at a couple of museums along the way in Inari.
The first stop is the Sami Parliament which is a political body that represents Sami interests in Finland. Its main goal is to preserve the Sami heritage against the usual forces facing indigenous people areound the world. Here’s a Wiki link for more info and another on the Sami themselves here.
There’s a small cafe in the Parliament where we have a short but tasty lunch. Back in the car for another museum, the Siida, which is a great museum on the Sami people.
We view the different exhibitions and a short video on the Northern Lights. And then stop in the gift short. There’s no shortage of gift shops in Finland but there aren’t many in Lapland and we want to leave whatever money we are going to spend in Lapland. On to Lake Inari Cabins.
The Cabins are literally just around the corner on the shores of Lake Inari. Lake Inari is a huge lake and, in the summer, is a very popular destination. The area is the traditional home of the Inari Sami who subsisted of fishing and fishing is a big summer draw for the modern tourists. In the winter, it’s snowmobiling and skiing.
We follow the narrow winding drive to a parking area in front of a small building. We park the car and try the door. It’s locked but we hear someone coming to the door inside. A man, Aleksi, a guide in training greets us and lets us in. There manager, Sampsa, and the owner, Esko, aren’t there at the moment (we still a bit early) so he let’s us in and starts to explain how the stay will go.
Aleksi is a guide in training and he works here as part of his training. We chat for a while, catch up on our email. A bit later Sampsa arrives and welcomes us and gives us a detailed rundown on what we will be doing this afternoon and tonight.
Sampsa is a young Finn and speaks English very well as do most young Finns. He works here in the winter and in the building trades in the summer. He is a wealth of information about the operation here, the local area and Finland. If you have a question, he’s the man to ask. He also has a rather droll sense of humor which is not easy to see at first but grows on you rather quickly.
We are the last of six guests for tonight and that will mean 4 cabins out on the lake ice tonight. There is a Chinese woman, a South African woman, a young couple (Craig and Keira) from New York and us. Five of us will eat together at the barbecue that Sampsa is going to cook at about 6 PM. Until then Sampsa will check us in. Check in amounts to showing us the cabin we will spend the night in.
The Lake Inari Cabins are small cabins built on sled runners that are hauled out on to the lake ice for the night at 8PM and then hauled back to the shore at 8AM the next morning. They are fully self-contained with a small heater, a battery operated lighting system, the obligatory wifi connection (doesn’t everywhere in Finland), a small power bank to charge phone, a raised bed, with clear plastic walls in the front that have dropdown shades for privacy on the sides and a chemical toilet.
The cabins have been designed and built by Esko. We have a short video tour of our cabin (with Barbara narrating) and a lot of photos in the Finland 2020/Lake Inari gallery. The cabins are quite unique and a very popular tourist destination that is almost always fully booked through out the winter.
We transfer whatever gear we want for the night to the cabin which is heated by ground power while it is on shore. Camera equipment, clothes, water, snacks and our cold weather gear. Then the barbecue.
The barbecue is in a small wooden hut that has a raised fire pit in the center and benches around the outside wall. By the time we get there, the fire is roaring and we are the last to arrive.
The menu is lake-caught whitefish or reindeer sausage or a veggie option. I opt for the sausage and Barbara has the veggie option. Sampsa gives us a cut of he traditional Finnish drink served everywhere in Finland, water. (I told you he had a droll sense of humor) and then starts to cook the meals. We all chat and wait for the food to cook. When it’s done, Sampsa serves the food on wooden plates with cups of hot juice. The food is great and the dessert of berries with a snow garnish is sour (he offers sugar for the sourness) but wonderful. We chat a bit more and then retreat to our respective cabins.
At 8:00PM promptly, Sampsa starts hauling our four cabins out on to the lake ice one by one. He drives a big snowmobile up to the from of the cabin, attaches the cabin hitch to the snowmobile and starts down the small slope to the lake ice. It’s a bit bumpy on the ride out to the parking spot in the middle of the lake. We are the last to leave for the ice.
Sampsa detaches us, waves goodbye and drives us. Suddenly it’s very quiet, only the hum of the cabin’s heater. The sky is clear and the aurora forecast is good. We wait just a few minutes and on the far northern horizon, we can see a faint green glow starting.
The advantage of going out on the ice is that the viewing angle from the ice allows you to see auroras quite far away. And the idea behind the cabins is that you can watch the auroras though the clear plastic windows from the comfy bed. No need to get dressed and go out into the cold. And its getting pretty cold, about -20°C.
We wait for the auroras to get brighter and closer. About an hour later, the auroras are visible enough to experiment with some photos. I have a new tripod for this trip and a manual release for the camera shutter. These shots require manual control of the shutter and very long exposure times, up to 30 seconds.
The problem of the cabins is every time you want to go out you have to suit up in ll your cold weather gear. The advantage of the cabins is that when you get cold you can pop back in to warm up. Out for some photos. Back in when the auroras fade. Repeat as necessary.
We do this until about 1:00AM when the auroras pretty much disappear. We call it a night. The auroras weren’t as spectacular as the previous night but they were good. And the experience has been well worth the effort.
Tomorrow, the sunrise and haul back to the shore.
Obi-wan
