ENGLISH: The nature here is both wild and quiet. A little low-key, and just right around the corner. Thick, fluffy and fresh snow is everywhere. One moment it falls down light like powder, and the next one it pours down. We put on some snow shoes and go for a tour with the guide Anne. She tells us all about the complex ecosystem that bring together the roots of the pine trees and the mushrooms, and how they help each other grow strong. Whilst we first see nothing, Anne sees three types of lichen and small insect holes under the bark.
Towards the afternoon we lend some skis and get ourselves out on the ice. In the sledge we have bread dough and wood for a fire, but we never get to the barbecue area, which is located on the other side of the little island on the river. Instead, we stay on the ice for some hot chocolate in the sun.
We have a crackling fireplace behind us, and the Ume River is located just outside the window. At breakfast there will be yogurt with blueberries, and croissants with marmalade from cloudberries and carrot. In the evening, the atmosphere in the small dining room is more lively. They serve mushroom soup with artichoke and lemon cream, baked root celery with hazelnuts and goat cheese cream, or moose stew with porter and black currant. For dessert there is ginger pears with ice cream. Your best change of seeing the northern lights is between October to March, and with the Aurora Forecast app you get a detailed northern light forecast, hour by hour. We booked in for a late night walk but the clouds are laying heavy on the sky, so we stay and drink coffee and lay 200 pieces of puzzle instead.
At nine o'clock we´re in the backyard of Spruce Island Husky, ready to go. Bea and Juliane provide us with warm clothes and boots, and we´re off to help tighten the sleds. We run the dog sled ourselves and quickly become winded going uphill, but it is by all means fabulous to slide into the magical forest. The branches succumb from the snow and fog hangs low above the lake. When we´re halfway into our journey we stop to light a fire, drink coffee and eat cookies. We wade through waist high snow to take a leak behind a pine tree. We stomp the ground to get some heat back into our cold feet. On our way back home, the four-year-old falls asleep wrapped up in wool blankets, to the sound of happy dogs barking. A tip for your journey is to buy some reusable heat-pads. They don´t cost much and are perfect to put in your shoes or gloves, and they quickly chase the cold away.
