That’s a bicycle seat on the back of one of the dogsleds. One of the fun things about journeying with people through the wilderness is adapting things to work in special situations. Curt, one of our dogsledders this week, doesn’t have full use of his legs. The bicycle seat innovation allowed him to drive the…
Covy has puppies! These are two of the three of them hanging out on the porch at Wintergreen Lodge. The adult Inuit dogs don’t like the heat because of their thick insulating coats. Today’s temps hit an unseasonably warm 60 degrees. These temps are even too warm for the puppies. They did their best to…
How warm was it today? Warm enough that dogsledders Lilly and her dad, Paul, sat outside barefooted and in a t-shirt. This week I’m guiding a Continuing Medical Education Dogsled Trip with a group of doctors (including Paul, above). The trip includes some of the doctors’ family members. Even after today’s warm weather, we are…
So, how do we pass our time when not guiding dogsledding trips? Pond curling, of course! Well, that’s how we spent this afternoon after the dogsledding trips ended. The guides and everybody got together on our own home-made curling ice on the lake behind the lodge. Thanks to all the folks who took the time…
Joel, a dogsledding participant, held an armload of stinky dog harnesses and looked over at me this morning: “Ever wash these things?” In fact, the dog harnesses do occasionally get washed. This video shows the Wintergreen industrial dog harness washing machine – aka, a cement mixer with rocks, water, and detergent. Paul has an ultimately…
GUEST BLOGGER: Wilderness Guide Kate Ford. The second annual Ely Wolftrack Classic sled dog race is happening this weekend, so Ely is buzzing with visitors. Tomorrow our friend Eva Kolodji will take her dogs out for the 30-mile race from Ely to Tower, which she estimates will take about 3.5 hours. That’s much less than…
I just returned from a 7 day dogsled camping trip from Gunflint Lake east along the Canadian border, through the BWCA. We ventured out with two groups of students from Lakehead Univ. in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Most of our Wintergreen dogsledding trips are not comprised completely of college age people. Thus, this felt like a…
Artists recently completed another display of incredible snow sculptures in Whiteside Park in Ely. The Snow Sculpting Symposium is part of the Ely Winter Festival. This snow sculpture is “They Called the Wind Mariah,” by Sherry Rovig, Nick Lee, and Dianne Goodwin. Three days of warm weather and drizzle after the carving means that photos…
Guest Blogger: The following photos and text are by Wilderness Guide LynnAnne Vesper. Jason is guiding a dogsled camping trip this week. I was so cold last night! I just couldn’t warm up in my sleeping bag. I thought, ‘How am I going to survive this trip if I am such a weenie?’ Around the…
I just returned from a North Pole Shakedown. Adventurous people who want to ski and dogsled to the geographic North Pole journey to Ely for Shakedown dogsled camping trips. Participants learn dogsledding, winter camping, and skiing skills needed to successfully reach the Pole. This is their opportunity to determine if they have what it takes…