Dog Sledding

Sign posted on our way to dog sledding

We arrived at the Caribou Crossing where we were able to do some dog sledding. Clearly it's summer time so no snow, so instead they put us on a wheeled cart for the dogs to pull. I was expecting to see large husky's but instead the dogs average about 55 lbs each and full of energy!! You could see as they were getting the dogs and attaching them to the sled, how excited they got. It's as if they were screaming "Pick Me!!". Once they were attached, they were ready to pull even if the rest were not. They jumped high and was explained to us how they just love pulling the sleds. Once all the dogs were attached we climbed on the cart. Not all of us could fit on one so Cottles, Martha and Sylvia went on one while Mike, Nate and I went on another. And off we went! Wow are those dogs strong. The cart was completely dog powered and we had 8 dogs pulling us.I'm pretty sure their combined weight was about a third of what they were pulling. Amazing little dogs!


Our musher was Michelle Phillips. She placed 16th in the last Iditorod race and was really happy she was our musher. After we did a bit of dog sledding, they took us to the kennels to visit with the puppies and to ask any questions. the puppies are so adorable!! I think Shayne decided that once he is out of the house, he wants to adopt one. The dogs are bred for their energy and during the race they wear booties and the mushers carry about 10,000 pairs. Mostly they carry dog food in the sled and the mushers will eat about 10,000 calories a day during the race and still lose about 10 lbs. It took Michelle a little over 10 days to complete the last race. I realized that what they put their body's through is equivalent to climbing Mt Everest. Apparently the dogs can go for about 10 hours of pulling during a race. Wow, that's a lot of energy!She showed us the equipment she uses including her sled and clothes she wears. Clearly she is devoted and  I am now convinced that this is a sport I never want to do!


We then went to have a BBQ lunch and Lilia of course, wanted to have a beer. So we bought Yukon Gold! Not bad!

Dogs waiting to be selected to pull

They get so excited!

Almost hard to contain them

Mike C ready to mush!

And they are off!

Path we were on

I think Nate really wanted to mush!

Resting spot for dogs on path

Headed back

Michelle Phillips doing Q and A

Shayne

Beautiful puppies

Nate just loving the puppies!

Chloe

Sylvia

Mike C

Nate

Nate

Nate

BBQ lunch

Yukon Gold!

Next.. back to Skagway!