I did it. I really did it!

I drove a sled dog team!

On Tuesday, thanks to a gift from two of my sisters, Terry and I had the opportunity to have a one hour dog sled ride through PAWS for Adventure Mushing School near Fairbanks.

It was a beautifully sunny -8F day, with NO WIND! Yeah! We were provided some extra gear to what we were already wearing: insulated snow/wind pants, goggles, heavy mitts, and scarves to cover our faces. Heather, our mushing guide, hooked up ten huskies to the sled. All the other dogs in the dog yard started howling like crazy, when they knew some dogs were going to get to run and they weren't.

Terry got in the sled first, and then I dropped into the sled in front of him. Heather jumped onto the runners, released the snow hook, and the huskies took off! We traveled across a snowy farm field and then, traveled down narrow trails lined with gorgeous snow-covered black spruce on either side. We flew around corners tipping sideways only a little. The trail was quite bumpy in places, and I had to learn to loosen myself up to let my back and legs act as shock absorbers. I think every vertebrae in my back slid into a new location! It was surprisingly not uncomfortable. The cold air stung my face, and my goggles fogged up right away. I ended up taking my goggles and glasses off. The dogs moved along easily and silently. It was so cool to see them running happily in front of us. Our lead dogs were small black dogs called, "Rerun" and "Lucy." Our wheel dogs, the ones right in front of the sled, kept turning their heads back and looking at Heather. She praised them each by name all along the way.

About halfway, Heather stopped and asked if we wanted to try driving the sled. I told Terry, "You go first." He got on the back of the sled, Heather sat in front of me, and away we went. It was as easy as pie! What a blast!

Soon, it was my turn. I really kept wondering if I could do this. The dogs went so fast! What if I fell off. First problem, I could not get out of the sled. I had so many layers of clothes and padding that I could not bend at all! I had to roll out of the sled onto the snowy ground! How ridiculous. I finally stepped on the runners, and made Heather repeat all the directions she had just explained to Terry. I was getting worried. Could I really do this! Then I decided, what the heck, I had so much padding on, how could I possibly get hurt, if I fell off!

Second problem, I had one foot on one runner; seemed to be very secure. I had the other foot on the brake; seened to work OK. But then, I had to keep my feet in these places and somehow reach down to grab the snow hook about one foot away from the sled! I could not bend, remember - too much padding! Not to worry, Heather came to my rescue and reached around from inside the sled and was able to pull the snow hook loose.

Was I ready? Could I do this? Heather said I could keep my foot lightly on the brake as the dogs started to go to keep their speed down. Well, I did it. I lightened up on the brake, and the dogs took off! I hung on. I was really mushing! It was so much fun! We just cruised along as smoothly as can be. I kept the brake on lightly the whole way, however. Lester, one of those wheel dogs kept turning his head back and looking at me, as if to say, "Who is in the driver's place now?" I even had to go around a few turns in the trail, and I stayed on the sled! What an amazing experience. I am almost ready to sign up for Dog Mushing 101!

Toward the end of the trail, with Heather as driver, we headed back to the dog yard. The final leg of the trip was up a fairly steep hill. Those dogs dug their paws into the snow and pulled our heavy sled up the hill, no sweat. They seemed to really enjoy the challenge, but some of them turned around to look at Heather with a "Are we there yet?" look on their faces. Heather was calling out dog praises the whole way. I rolled out of the sled at the end of the trip, and just HAD to go up and give each dog a pat and a "Good job!" They were such great, happy dogs.

As we were mushing along, Heather told us that some of the dogs pulling our sled were retired dogs who were not competing in races anymore. They still love to run, so they are used for tourist sled dog rides and the mushing school. What a great time!