We covered a lot of ground today – about 23 miles by dogsled and ski. We are passing through some brushy areas with small trees. The snow collects in these areas and can mean deep, fluffy, difficult to get a dogsled through, conditions. The dogs bottom out in the deep snow and the sled starts…
Today we traveled about 15 miles. The wind started out gusty. We saw several firsts. We saw tracks in the snow from polar bears (including tracks from a mother and two cubs, shown in the photo), caribou, wolves, wolverines, and fox. The wind subsided and a blazing sun is giving us a tan. The temps…
We’ve received several varying reports from the conductor regarding the arrival time for our drop off point. Originally we heard mid-morning. It kept getting pushed back due to the rough track conditions. At 1PM, the train screeched to a halt, the freight door slid open, and we started on assembly line unboarding. The train staff…
We arrived in Thompson, Manitoba, at about 2:30PM. We drove straight to the train depot, staked out the dogs, and then put our sleds, dogs, and gear in order next to the tracks to await the next leg of our journey. We heard several times that the Tundra Train is “always late.” It remained true…
At 6AM we arrived in the Wintergreen kennel to start loading sled dogs into the trailer, and launch our journey to Hudson Bay. That’s earlier than we are typically at the kennel. The dogs knew something was up instantly. I walked several dogs from their doghouses to the trailer. Lightning had a glint in her…
The below photo shows our smaller dogsleds used for lodge-based trips around Ely. They are now mere skeletons with their sled bags stored for the season. Today we are packing out dogsledding camping gear for Project Polar Bear. Guide Dave Freeman, the director of Wilderness Classroom, is shown above making a repair to the brushbow…
Between our Minnesota dogsledding season and summer BWCA canoe guiding season lies a wonderful opportunity for new adventure. This year most of our guides are going north to dogsled around Hudson Bay. We call it Project Polar Bear. You can learn all about it with real time online multimedia updates thanks to Dave Freeman, Amy…
We caught a glimpse of a lone wolf trotting across the ice while dogsledding home today. These are his tracks in the fresh snow.
Seven strong young people with a zest for adventure allowed us to take a particularly challenging route, and cover over 50 miles by dogsled. Obstacles like scaling this rock face with a dog team started to seem simpler and simpler after the incessantly challenging terrain we regularly encountered. This is us leaving Lake One in…
The late season weather and trail conditions can be variable. We had luck on our side for this trip. As everyone arrived, they needed windshield wipers to clear the drizzle. However, a cold front moved in just in time for our first full day of dogsledding. And we still have solid snowcovered trails, like the…