Today was such a fun day! We were all up early, packed lunches, and headed out down the highway two hours north from Anchorage to find our dog sledding excursion! As you may already know, dog sledding is Alaska's official sport and we were lucky enough to spend the day on the homestead of Dallas Seavey, 4-time Iditarod champion!
When we first arrived, we were happily greeted by our tour guides and an excited kennel of roughly 90 Iditarod sled dogs (and some puppies in training). Our guides began by giving us a tour of Dallas's property and the yurt, which overlooks the kennel and the frozen marsh. They also showed us the indoor training trailer they use in the summer for the pups. This trailer has a built-in treadmill with all of the hook ups for the dogs to run on. It is air-conditioned and has multiple fans attached to ensure the dogs stay safe and cool during training sessions. Next, we were given a hook-up demonstration with the dogs, a sled driving demonstration, and went over dog sled safety 101. Finally, we broke up into 4 groups of 3 and our dog sled tours began!
Our guides were able to take 2-3 individuals per sled with them. There were two seats on the main sled for people to sit on, and there was an attached "tag sled" following behind, that one of us got to stand on & practice mushing. Our guides took us on a 5-mile mush around the same frozen marsh that Dallas Seavey trains his dogs on for the Iditarod! We stopped occasionally for photo opportunities and to pet the pups. One thing that surprised me was that during these tours, the guides keep the dogs running between 5-7mph, but during the Iditarod, the mushers like to keep their dogs at a steady pace of 10-12mph! It was fun to see how powerful a team of sled dogs can be, and the love and passion they have for mushing! After our tour, we headed back to the yurt to warm up and have some hot chocolate and apple cider. We thanked our guides, said goodbye to all of the dogs, and finished up our day visiting Talkeetna, a nearby town, before heading back home for the night!
When we first arrived, we were happily greeted by our tour guides and an excited kennel of roughly 90 Iditarod sled dogs (and some puppies in training). Our guides began by giving us a tour of Dallas's property and the yurt, which overlooks the kennel and the frozen marsh. They also showed us the indoor training trailer they use in the summer for the pups. This trailer has a built-in treadmill with all of the hook ups for the dogs to run on. It is air-conditioned and has multiple fans attached to ensure the dogs stay safe and cool during training sessions. Next, we were given a hook-up demonstration with the dogs, a sled driving demonstration, and went over dog sled safety 101. Finally, we broke up into 4 groups of 3 and our dog sled tours began!
Our guides were able to take 2-3 individuals per sled with them. There were two seats on the main sled for people to sit on, and there was an attached "tag sled" following behind, that one of us got to stand on & practice mushing. Our guides took us on a 5-mile mush around the same frozen marsh that Dallas Seavey trains his dogs on for the Iditarod! We stopped occasionally for photo opportunities and to pet the pups. One thing that surprised me was that during these tours, the guides keep the dogs running between 5-7mph, but during the Iditarod, the mushers like to keep their dogs at a steady pace of 10-12mph! It was fun to see how powerful a team of sled dogs can be, and the love and passion they have for mushing! After our tour, we headed back to the yurt to warm up and have some hot chocolate and apple cider. We thanked our guides, said goodbye to all of the dogs, and finished up our day visiting Talkeetna, a nearby town, before heading back home for the night!