For three Alaska seasons I have told myself “this year I’m going to see the sled dogs”, and every season something happens to prevent me from doing so. Money, lack of slots on the tour, simple lack of time – always something.
The tours to the Musher’s camps are incredibly popular – probably because they’re so distinctly ‘Alaskan’, so there’s rarely ever room for a crew escort. I only even started putting in for the possibly a few weeks ago, and it was something of a half-hearted attempt as the slots hardly ever come open. I put in this week in a last ditch hope that perhaps this season would actually be the one I managed to pull it off. I think the ShoreEx department must have taken pity on me because it’s my last week and I’d been putting in for the same four tours for three weeks unsuccessfully. Whatever their reasons were – I got the slot.
Nineteen of us piled into the mini-bus that would take us over some of the only connecting highways in Alaska and from there over winding gravel roads that eventually took us to the ghost town of Diea. In fact, “Ghost Town” is a bit of a misnomer, “Ghost Park” might be a better way of putting it. There is nothing left of what was once a thriving gold rush town that was a parallel to nearby Skagway. Not a single building stands, not even in ruins; the entire thing has been completely reclaimed by the forest, leaving only a few pylons in what used to be the harbour. I wonder if the seals have any kind of racial memory of what those leaning bits of wood once were. Probably not, but it’s an interesting thing to wonder none the less.
Once we got to Lower Camp we switched from the mini-bus to an all terrain U-mogg. I don’t know that that’s really how you spell it, but it’s how you pronounce it. Bright green and requiring a retractable staircase to climb into, these things look like a cross between a monster truck and jeep. The navigate the slippery, rocky slop of the mountain as easily as a regular car drives on a flat road, but it makes for a bumpy ride for the passengers in the back.
A chorus of yelping, whining and barking met our ears through the drizzling Alaskan rain as we arrived at Upper Camp. Six teams of dogs waited for us, eagerly awaiting the workout that our vacation would give them. As we climbed down from the U-mog into the slippery mud, the mushers counted us off and assigned us to a team. We weren’t on snow – to get to the snow you have to take a helicopter, and they don’t have escort slots on those tours – so instead of sledges we were seated in wheeled carts. Think golf carts, only bigger. The mushers told us that those carts alone weigh about 80pounds, 40 pounds more than the normal sledge the dogs pull in racing season. So they really are getting a work out. The ride was brief, but a lot of fun, with at least one sharp turn that had me nearly convinced that I would have slid out onto the road were in not for the seatbelt holding me in. You’d be surprised how quickly a dog-sled actually moves.
I should point out that these aren’t the kind of sled dogs you see in the movies. Mostly those furry starlets are Siberian huskies. The Alaskan husky is bred to race, they’re lean, sleek and built for speed. As our guide told us,
These guys aren’t the big bushy blue eyed ones you see in the movies because well,…they just aren’t. Alaskan huskies are more like…specialized mutts
A little greyhound, a little husky, a little of everything, a lot of traits mixed together. I will say one thing though, they may not be the prettiest dogs in the world, but their eyes can make your heart melt. I imagine I’d look pretty sad too if I’d been running all day in the rain pulling 6 people in an 80 pound cart.
Once the ride was finished we climbed back into the U-mog and back to Lower Camp. There they gave us a really interesting talk about the sport of sled dog racing and how it had started, and almost died out, only to be revived again by the creation of one of the longest sled-races in the world – running 1000 miles from start to finish. Apparently that course used to take 21 days to finish, but now, thanks to a variety of factors including faster dogs, the course has been run in a record time of just over 8 days. Pretty amazing, considering that means those dogs were running over a hundred miles a day.
And then of course, came what everyone was waiting for.
PUPPIES!!!!
Cute fuzzy puppies that did their very best to lick you to death. I was once again reminded strictly that I am not allowed to have a dog, that it would be unfair to the animal and to me as I’m never home. But oh those were such cute puppies….all named after dances. The one that ended up licking my nose was named Tango.
Sadly though, they wouldn’t let us take them home 🙂