Remember Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Disneyland? Well we put that to shame yesterday! Bob Sexton guided us on a mushing adventure to remember. We each had a team of 10 long distance dogs and began by meeting our dogs and learning to unload them from the dog truck, bootie them, and harness them.
High Country Kennel dog truck
Pam booties one of her team
Pam and Bob line out the gang line
Lois untangles tug lines
--and untangles more lines
Dogs wait patiently while mushers prepare
Pam & I rode in sleds at 1st to learn
AND WE ARE READ TO ROLL
We mushed across frozen lakes
Sunny and a warm 5 to 10 degrees when we started
We saw bald eagles and 2 moose who moved to fast to get the camera out
The dogs loping along silently through the goreous forest and lakes near Willow
I liked the trails through the woods best, but I almost hit a tree on a curve.
Now Lois is mushing and Christina is in the sled!
The evening suns gets lower and creates a glow on Denali, which we saw in the distance. The silence was golden, and I was loving every moment of covering mile after mile of Alaska wilderness. We had very few problems in the first few hours, and I just marveled at gliding through the pristine forests and over frozen lakes. The further we went, the more comfortable I got with breaking and manuvering the sled around curves and over bumps and down hills. Taking curves is a lot like riding a motorcyle, leaning to help the flexible sled curve.
Things began to get a little hairy after the sun went down. But right now, I've got to get some sleep. We didn't get much last night! More pictures and the 'rest of the story' tomorrow.
1 comment:
WoW! What a fantastic Mushing MAdventure it was! Thanks for all the juicy details-- you didn't mention being sore the next day, I don't think, but you HAD to be.
Boy you got the real deal learning how to use the cookers, and do ALL the work. If you were as cold as you report, certainly folks in the Iditarod must have even warmer gear somehow? This years race is particularly cold...
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