Dog Sledding

My 40th Birthday was coming up on the 19th April so Kristy decided to get me a surprise gift.  The weekend before my birthday we went out with a few friends and had way too many beers so woke up Saturday morning feeling a little worse for wear.  I heard Kristy running round the house trying to get the kids sorted and dressed and then calling out to me to get dressed in my snow gear... great, really looking forward to rolling round in the snow at -20 deg C feeling like this...

We are all dressed in our snow gear and Kristy says "quick get in the car we are running late!" Late for what I'm thinking... Anyway we pull up at Jean Lake and I see dogs everywhere around this car resembling a 20 room mobile dog hotel.  You are kidding me!  We are going dog sledding! 

I met the Musher, Adam and his wife Nadia while they were getting the dogs lined up.  They are a great young couple trying to make a go of it semi professionally competition Mushing across North America.  He has over 20 dogs and on long races runs a team of 16.  For a lightweight cargo of Cooper and I, he only needed to line up 6 dogs led by Mocha. 

Adam took us right around Jean Lake and surrounds which was a trip lasting about 45 mins.  The great thing was that he then took Kristy and TJ on a trip round the lake as well!

These dogs are work horses.  No breaks for them, not even a washroom break.  That's right these dogs are so coordinated that they can snap one off on the run...  I was pleased that there was some distance between the dogs and us! Yuk!

It was an absolutely fantastic experience and one I will truly remember for a long time to come.

Dog sledding in northern Canada, is that on anyones bucket list?

Heading off around Jean Lake

Steve & Cooper returning to base