Trip post continues, Snow Shoeing!

This was my favorite of all the days. We were picked up by our guide, Helge, and as we walked out to his pick-up truck, we learned that it would only be Bree and I on the trip. We went to a bakery to pick up lunch. It was the same bakery we'd been to yesterday. Yet another place where Bree would have difficulty buying anything that didn't have some form of meat. However, we got the shop early enough that the girlwas still constructing sandwiches, so Bree could ask her to not put meat on one and just add an extra egg. Yet another bread and cheese lunch. I ended up ordering a shrimp sandwich. However, this post isn't about food, it's about the hike!

We drove a short 10 minutes up to a hill, strapped on our snow shoes


posed with the King crab Helge had in his truck (apparently he'd caught it the day before)


and headed directly into a field of snow.


There were lots of animal footprints to be seen. Fox, hare and bird. In the following photo (taken by Bree) you can see where a grouse was being chased and then took off into the air:


We trudged in the snow - it's tough work, like walking in really soft sand, even with the snow shoes.


Our guide told us about the tracks we were seeing as well as about the flora, such as the juniper that continues to grow and be green. Helge says that in the summer, he'll catch trout in the river and then smoke it with the juniper branches. I would love to try that.


Apparently, the fact that this tree has berries means that the winter is going to be mild - which it has. Last year this time we heard repeatedly that it never got above -30.


We hiked up to the Russian border:

The yellow post is the border. The fence is there to keep the reindeer in Norway.

We'd worked up quite a sweat and appetite, but then found that you immediately begin to freeze again, especially your fingers, so Bree improvised with her sandwich:



At the end of the trip, we enjoyed our dessert:

Note: I knit the hat and neck warmer I'm wearing :)