Northern Silence

7 days • 10-16 february

Guides note In the end of February we have sunlight from 09.00 to 17.00 and the snow starting to get firm and settled. We will also start to feel that the sun is warming up our day a little bit and we can enjoy longer days. The nights are full of stars and Northern Light. We still have the mountains for ourselves and the nature is showing one of its best faces. During the tour you can choose to be involved as much as you like to help with everything, take care of our teams together, bring water, cleaning after the dogs, and feed them and so on. The guide cooks all the meals during the tour. On this tour we follow our tracks in the biggest Naturereserve in Europe – Vindelmountain Naturereserve and on our home mountain Gardfjället. In February the temperature is around -5 to -30 C. Daylight from around 09.00 to 17.00. It’s always something special when the sun go down and we turn on our head torches, it is a lot of fun and an amazing feeling to mush in the stream of light and see all the millions of snow crystals blinking in different colours to you. If the Northern Light is playing in the same time it doesn’t get much better. 7-days tour program: Arrival day  When you arrive in Lapland, Hemavan airport, you will go by car the last 80 km to Umnäs. The first thing we will do in Umnäs is to go and say hello to the dogs. After that we have dinner at host home or something lighter like sandwich/lunch depending on what time you arrive. We also take a look on what gear and clothes you need to borrow from us. We talk about the tour and how to handle the sled and dogs. We also have a practice time with the sled and the pulling lines. Your first day and night you will stay in a nice, cosy and warm timber lodge with electricity, water, shower.. The lodge is warmed up with wood. Day 1 The first day out with the dogs. You eat breakfast in your lodge around 8.00. Around 9.30 we meet in the dog yard and pack the last stuff in our sleds. You learn how to harness the dogs and you also get to know the names of the dogs in your team. After that it is time to pull the anchor, stand on the brake and GO FOR IT!  Överstjuktan is our first destination; the distance this day is 50 km. We go up and over a forest plateau, crossing three lakes and climb up over a mountain and down to our lodge for the night. The lodge in Överstjuktan is our private cosy mountain lodge and have 8 beds. We even have electricity from a nearby church. We bring fresh water from the lake. When we arrive we feed the dogs, here we have small nice dog hauses with straw or wood wool for the dogs to stay in. We also feed them in the evening after we had our dinner. If it is cold in the evening we also put a jacket on the dogs for the night.  Day 2 After breakfast and feeding the dogs we go out for a daytrip with the dogs. We go out on the big lake Juktan and up to a beautiful place on Guvertmountain where the view is spectacular on a clear day. We make a stop for taking pictures and eat a sandwich and have something to drink before we go back to Överstjuktan lodge. After taking care of the dogs we have a nice dinner before we go to bed. Day 3 We wakes you up around 07.30 and the guide make breakfast for you. This day we mush to Ammarnäs, 35 km, it is a Sami village that lies in the end of a road. We start this day by mushing out on Juktan Lake, than we go up and over the big mountain plateau before we go down to Ammarnäs valley. The last 8 km down to Ammarnäs we probably do with our head torches on, amazing fun. Here we stay at the “Guidecenter” in Ammarnäs; we eat dinner and breakfast in the small restaurant. The guesthouse has shower and that’s really nice. Here you can buy a beer or a bottle of wine, you can sometimes also find nice souvenirs and sami handcraft to buy here.  Day 4 After a nice breakfast in the restaurant we go and feed the dogs. After feeding we pack our sleds, help out to clean after the dogs and harness them up. Tärnasjön is our destination today; the distance is 45 km. After Ammarnäs we are mushing over two big lakes before we climb up and over the mountain and out on Tärna Lake. We have beautiful scenery today. When we arrive to Tärna lodge we help each other to take care of the dogs and feed them. We bring water from a nearby stream and make ourselves comfortable in the lodge before we have a nice dinner. After dinner we go out to the dogs. Tärna lodge is a Swedish tourist organisation lodge and have 22 beds, a big kitchen and drying room. It lies at the beautiful Tärna Lake surrounded by mountains.Day 5 Last day out with the dogs. Your guide makes breakfast before he wakes you up around 08,00. After that we pack the sledges for the last time and are on our way to Norra Fjällnäs where we get picked up by car for the last way back to Umnäs. The last mushing day goes over mountains, lakes and in to a fairytale landscape of forest. After loading off the dogs we let them lose in the dog yard so we can give them really nice thanks for the tour. We eat dinner at hosts home and celebrate the tour and remember all things that happened during your Dogsledding adventure. Last overnight for this time in your cosy lodge in Umnäs. Departure day Breakfast in your lodge. After breakfast we go out to say goodbye to the dogs. We will eat lunch, write the guest book and mark the maps over your days in the wilderness (if you like).

Time to go home with a lot of new friends and amazing memories from Lapland!