K UUSAMO, Finland — Shamaani, Kiela, Joiku, Kaapo and Elmeri are ready to get moving. The five Huskies are barking loudly and making one thing clear: They want to run. But not yet.
Because I am still trying to get settled into the narrow sled. But then, we’re off! We’re part of a column led up front by motorized sleds, with the dogsleds behind. Once the lines are released, there is no holding the Huskies back, and as they lurch powerfully forward, the next thing I know is I’ve been dumped backward in the snow.
Newton’s law of inertia proven yet again. But on the next try, it goes more smoothly. The dogs follow the tracks, but even without them they would know their way through the deep snow around the farm of Juha Kujala in the town of Kuusamo in northeastern Finland.
The reindeer on Kujala’s farm seem to be handling the excursion well, trotting alongside the dogsleds as we race through the forest. In any case, the animals, about the height of a cow, are trusting when they walk evenly through the forest. They have special paws which spread out in deep snow so that the animals don’t sink, says Juha.
Juha is running the family farm in the fifth generation but he is not just raising animals and selling their meat and fur. Together with his wife, Jenni, he has established an adventure and information center for visitors. The dogsled tour first starts after visitors help feed the animals.
It becomes evident that dogsleds and snowmobiles are not the only way of gettin.