Leo's Worst Rogaine and What He Learned From It

We arrived at Kilopaa on Thursday evening and set up our tents in the Rogaine tent zone.  There were 800 people attending from 20 countries so gradually the campsite filled up with tenters from all over Europe and the rest of the world.  Imagine falling to sleep with the babble of many languages all around you.

There was only one other team from Canada and Leo and Bryan never did meet them.  We talked to some people from Estonia, Switzerland, Australia, and Russia.

We bought passes for use of the shower and sauna facilities.   The women's sauna was in a building built of sod, but very high tech and plush inside.  It included a stairway leading down to the creek, where you could jump in the water after your sauna. 

Sod smoke sauna (not the ladies' sauna)

While Leo and Bryan rested on Friday, Debi and I climbed up the Kilopaa fell, within Erho Kekkonen National Park.  The trail was mostly a wooden staircase all the way to the top.  While climbing these stairs I saw my first wheatear, the bird of the day.

And they're off!

The event began Sunday at noon, and Debi and I walked north to Saariselka, the nearest town.    On our way we saw the bird of the day, a ptarmigan.

It was 10 km away on trails, so we walked a half marathon that day, with a negative split, since we were worried we'd miss dinner at the restaurant.  As it was it was open an hour later so we had time for a shower.

I was in the tent early to avoid the bugs and slept till 6 am when Bryan woke me to collect some dry clothes for Leo.  They had been slogging thigh high through bogs throughout the night, but when Leo fell in face first, all his clothes got wet and he was shivering uncontrollably.  They had to call for help and were picked up and driven to headquarters, where the organizers plunked Leo in the sauna.  He recovered quickly.  So they were not able to finish the race.

What Leo learned:

Swamps are awful.
Saunas are great.
Maybe this is his last Rogaine.
But there are no swamps in Australia* are there?

After saying goodbye to Debi and Bryan, now on their way to drop Debi off at the Rovaniemi airport, we drove to our hotel room at the Saariselka Inn.  We're watching Finnish television surrounded by our freshly washed clothes hanging all over the room.  Did you know that circus horse riding acrobatics was an official sport in Europe?  Teams of 5 people jumping off and on, and figure skating-like glitzy costumes!

*Site of next year's World Championships.  And yes, there are swamps in Australia.  With crocodiles.