SATURDAY, MARCH 22, 2025

PUPS, SNOWMOBILES, AND A GOURMET FAREWELL

First thing on today’s agenda was one of the things I was most looking forward to: dog sledding!

We hopped on the van to the kennel, and met the owner who told us about the dogs and the history of sledding in the Arctic north, then walked us through how to control the sled and some safety tips. The main thing was a big metal brake on the back, as we were going to go in a line of a bunch of two-person sleds and needed to stop at various places along the route. We quickly learned that you have to put pretty much all of your weight on that brake as otherwise the dogs would definitely take off!

Any slight worry I had about this being inhumane quickly vanished when she told us – and was immediately corroborated – how ecstatic the dogs were to get to pull the sleds and run through the snow. As soon as they saw they were being taken out of their kennels and hooked up to the ropes, they lost their minds with excitement haha. (As she said, they thinking “it’s time! it’s time!”)

We paired up randomly, as one person would be sitting in the sled while the other stood on the back and “drove,” then we’d switch halfway through the route. I started out sitting while Dani bravely took the reins, and we took off, led by our adorable five pup team.