Dog Mushing for beginners

As some of you may know I have never been a great fan of dogs so a day dog mushing was always going to be interesting.

Dog Sledding is Alaska's official sport and they are nuts about it. The big race is the Iditarod which is a 1000 mile race with a team of 16 dogs. The record time to achieve this is just over 8 days. Our trip took us to the dog yard of 4-time Iditarod champion Dallas Seavey Racing. In addition, his dad has won it twice and his grandad has also won it.

We were picked up by Robbie fully wrapped in our ice breaker gear. We were lucky again in that it was just us and another couple from Houston so we could be really flexible on the day. We headed north about 100 miles, again trying hard to spot moose and eagles which were quite plentiful.

We stopped for a great lunch at Sheep Creek Lodge which is a log cabin setup. Lunch was excellent and I took on the challenge of the local delicacy

reindeer sausage. Have to say they were excellent but not sure Xmas will be the same again.

We were really lucky to have great views of Mt. Denali, the tallest mountain in North America (over 20,000 feet).

Once we arrived at Dallas Seavey's place we were into it. Andrew and Brandon, our mushers, kitted us up. The day started at -8 degrees and worked its way up to zero so the right gear was needed. There are 64 racing dogs on the property and another 18 puppies. Even I was blown away by the quality of these dogs. They were stunning Alaskan Huskies bred specifically to race.

We spent time meeting the dogs, observing them being harnessed and then we were off. The property drops down to a massive frozen lake and the trails we were on were based around there. Again the day was perfect without a cloud and if you can picture your idealistic Alaskan scene this was it. The ride was great. One of us sat on the front of Andrew’s sled while the other was standing on a trailing sledge. Great fun but at one stage Andrew and I looked up to see

Janet was missing off the back! No damage done.

After our ride we spent some time with the puppies and understanding the program they run. This is a massive operation. They spend US $80,000 a year on food for the dogs alone!

Sadly we had to leave the lot and worked our way back to Anchorage. A bit of a challenge in that a truck had hit an over bridge and closed the road. A bit of cross country and innovation eventually got us back to the hotel.

At dinner we had an odd experience where Janet ordered a wine but because she had no photo ID on her they wouldn’t serve her! Restaurant change required.

Worth coming all this way just for today – it has been outstanding. Tomorrow is an exploring day in Anchorage so looking forward to a more gentle start.