Steven's first hitch hiking experience
It took a lot to convince Ste to go dog sledding with me. We both wanted to go dog sledding but every place we looked was just too expensive, but luckily for him I am an expert at finding deals! So we found Beito Husky which was approximately 8 hours from our home. In order to get there the cheapest way possible we decided we wanted to hitch hike our way to Oslo then take a bus into Beitostolen.
Newcastle beer!
Hitch hiking made the trip feel like a roller coaster. When your waiting for a ride for a while sometimes it gets a little depressing but as soon as you get a ride you’re on ‘cloud 9’. Hitch hiking is also really tiring because you constantly have to look happy in order to get picked up and then once you get picked up usually the driver wants to talk the whole time so you never really get a chance to just relax.
Camping above Oslo
Once we got into Oslo we wanted some food on our system so we went and got some all you can eat pizza from Eggon which was definitely nice after such a long day. We walked around town for a little bit until it got a little darker then we went to go look for a good place to camp. It is not legal to camp in Oslo since it is the city and everything is pretty much 150m apart so the fruliftsliv law doesn’t really help. We found a spot our friends told us about which was on the East side of Oslo that looked over all of Oslo.
Our tent collapsed in the morning
The tent we brought didn’t have any pegs so we just found some sticks and cut them so they were pointing enough to stick them in the ground. The place we were sleeping was slightly inclined; not enough that it was uncomfortable but enough so that we slid down about a meter in the night.
Morning Coffee!
When we woke up the top part of the tent was touching our faces and our sleeping bags were wet from all the condensation from the tent. So it was safe to say that our camping experience could only go up from here.
Trying to wake up after a short night sleep
It was May 1st in Oslo which meant there was a parade to support blue collar jobs, equality, and what not. I didn’t understand the whole reason of the parade but it was fun to watch. That night we caught our bus into Beitostolen where we camped for the evening but also went out in the little town since it was May 1st and it seemed like the thing to do. This time we did a pretty good job with our tent and it didn’t fall over 🙂
May 1st prade
Morning came and it was the day we were going dog sledding, the reason we were on this crazy trip. We got picked up from the bus station by Ellen our guide for the day. She picked us up in a car with a trailer hooked to the end of it. The trailer had lots of little doors and 3 dog sleds on top of the trailer. At first I was skeptical on how many dogs we had and what not; just hoping we could see a lot of dogs. We drove up into the mountains for about 25min, where the snow was about 6ft high. We parked on the side of the road and started helping unloading the sleds.
Our guide showing us how to work the sledge
I was unsure how much interaction we would have with the dogs so I was really excited when Ellen brought out her leader Chewy and showed us how to harness him up. Then she went down to the trailer and started handing us dogs. There were 20 dogs and each of them had a name. She said back at the farm there is 72 dogs and she knows all of their names. It was surprising to me how different every dog was from each other. I guess I thought most husky looked the same but they all had their own personality.
The dogs getting excited to run
After all the dogs were harnessed up it was time to go. Now the longer the dogs are harnessed up and waiting for the other dogs to get harnessed up the more excited they get. So by the time everyone is harnessed up your whole team is barking and jumping and just so excited to run the sledge.
Taking a break for tea and chocolate
We were just about ready to start and then all of the sudden Ellen’s team got lose and started running off with the sledge and no Ellen. So Ellen is sprinting after her team yelling at them “NOOOO.” Meanwhile there were two teams left; our team and the team next to us. Now the teams know that they are supposed to follow Ellen’s team. So our dogs are freaking out more and more, just barking and jumping higher and louder than before. Then finally Ellen got her team stopped with the help of a skier and their dog. She put the anchor down so her team couldn’t get lose again and then started running to us to give us some direction.
She told us that we would be the last team, so that we should wait till everyone is in a line in front of us then we could go. Ste and I waited till we were the last team then we took up the anchor and let off of our breaks and the dogs flew! We weren’t expecting our team to be so fast, and the jerking motion tipped us over right away and we lost our team. So Ellen was getting a ride up to her team from the other team and she sees our team run past and she flies off the sledge she is on to grab our team. Then we run up to our team and step on the break hard. Then finally we sledged off all in a line.
The ride was so beautiful. We were up in the mountains above the tree line and the dogs were just so happy to be running. Our team was really fast so we had to keep put the break on so they didn’t catch up to the team ahead of us. I always felt bad putting the break on especially when we were going uphill, because it was already hard enough to go up hill but they would always be right on the other teams tail.
After about an hour of sledging we stopped for some tea and chocolate. We sat on some fur that was really warm and insulated us well from the snow. When we had our break the dogs were all so tired and just sleeping in the snow. After about a half an hour we got up and once Ellen got up all the rest of the dogs got up, ready to go, and started their barking once again.
I was really impressed how talented the dogs are at not stopping when they are running. If they had to go to the bathroom while running they would just got and still run; or if they got thirsty or just needed to cool down they would bend over and pick up some snow while running.
Once we made it back to the trailer we unleashed some of the dogs and helped put them away. Steven and I took so many pictures that both of our camera died before we had even left all the dogs. It was an unreal experience being on a wooden dog sledge with 7 huskies pulling you up in the mountains. I am definitely glad we made the trip.