Around the World Gobbler: I'm officially a licensed Dog Musher!

I'm officially a licensed Dog Musher!!!

Early this morning I set out on a dog sledding adventure! I went with White Husky Tours in Inuvik. It was myself and a lady from Holland who's son is volunteering with the company for a year. They outfitted me in some mukluks to keep my feet dry and warm; I even got to wear some really awesome mittens made out of wolf fir and beaver hide.

We started with a short instructional time learning how to steer and guide the dogs. Chee for Right and Cha for Left....you have a brake to come to a complete stop and a stomp pad to slow the dogs down. And do NOT get the team too close to another team or they will fight!

We started off slow over a frozen lake and got into the trails on top of a small mountain. The trails were in and out of trees and across frozen lakes......and we let the dogs RUN! It was so much fun! Making sure your sled stays on the trail is a lot like snowboarding, leaning into turns and shifting your weight. If you don't shift the right way, again just like snowboarding, you catch your edge and over you go! I caught on to the rhythm of it really quick and was quite comfortable with speed! When the dogs really get going it is such an adrenaline rush, they are such amazing animals, I can't believe how fast they are. I did really well, all the way to the last two minutes coming into the chalets over the lake, I didn't see how sharp one of the turns was and I caught that pesky edge! I tumbled....the dogs kept running.... I jumped up and ran after my team haha. It was actually kinda fun falling off! One of the guides in front of me caught the team....that would be why they have guides in the front and back of the group.