And other hard-won mushing lessons
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| Michael Shedlock |
Sexy stuff: An Apostles Island epic
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Will Steger and Paul Schurke made it look so easy. The first polar explorers to dogsled to the North Pole without resupply, they negotiated icebergs, crossed the howling ice pack, and navigated perilous pressure ridges in 1986 behind a team of grinning, tongue-dragging, tail-wagging Canadian Inuit-bred dogs that rarely broke stride. For
Iditarod-loving explorer-wannabes and readers of Jack London, the image of man-and-dogs-against-nature has a romantic allure. But there are a few essential truths about the sublime act of mushing that this sexy image fails to convey. Like sometimes dogs flat-out refuse to mush.
Indeed, man and beast don't always work together in blissful harmony. This is why mushing hopefuls will want to test their patience and stamina with someone else's pack before venturing alone into the Yukon. An ideal experimental mushing ground is the remote finger of land jutting into Lake Superior near Bayfield, Wisconsin. Not only does it offer over
400 square miles of open, snow-encrusted land perfect for neophyte mushers, it's also home to Trek & Trail, an outfitter with 30 spirited huskies and an introductory dogsledding course for anyone willing to hit the ice.
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DOGSLEDDING IN THE LOWER 48
TREK & TRAIL Bayfield, Wisconsin: "Dogsledding the Apostles" package costs $425 per person; day trips are $89 per person; 800-354-8735.
WINTERGREEN DOGSLED LODGE Ely, Minnesota: Owner Paul Schurke offers a five-day course in winter camping skills with a two-night dogsledding trek for $750 per person; 218-365-6022.
MAHOOSUC GUIDE SERVICE Newry, Maine: Two-night trips start at $360; the ten-day Baffin Island trek is $2,900; 207-824-2073.
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Trek & Trail's rigorous three-day Apostles Islands package is best attempted from early February to late March. It starts with a three-hour winter safety course in town and culminates in a combination ski and mush across the frozen deep to an outpost in the Apostles, ebb and flow of ice slabs permitting. (A packing tip: Dogsledding is
hyper-aerobic when you're breaking trail and sedentary the rest of the time. So to stave off hypothermia, you'll need to layer: Go heavy on the Gore-Tex, but expect to strip down to your polypropylene skivvies.) Admittedly, the two nights in the backcountry—one spent in the wood-heated splendor of a rustic cabin, the other in a self-dug snow shelter
or pitched tent—aren't nearly as challenging as the North Pole. But once you've ventured through the serenity of the northern pine forests and out onto the lake itself, you may as well be crossing the Arctic Circle.
Last February, I was given a rowdy team of four adolescent huskies—Timmy, Honey, Speedy, and Spotty—who hadn't yet mastered the four essential commands: "gee" (right), "haw" (left), "on by" (straight), and "whoa" (stop). They did, however, recognize "let's go," evidenced by the way they shot off the first morning, leaving me facedown and
sledless in the snow. I caught up to the canine bullet train a half mile down the trail after the sled had teetered, spun out, and tipped over, disgorging a Hansel and Gretel—like trail of PowerBars, trail mix, and Jolly Ranchers. But after enduring three days of gliding across the ice on sheer dog power—not to mention a 20-dog-strong howl at
the full moon—the essence of mushing was revealed to me. As Paul Schurke put it: "Dogs don't care whether you're big or small, old or young, male or female, experienced or novice. That's the mystery and beauty of it. The dogs just sense your karma." —STEPHANIE GREGORY
STEALS
The Bison in Winter
Prime time in Yellowstone—that is, sans RV exhaust and high-priced lodging—is now. Through March, two park inns are offering eminently affordable deals: The Nordic Heaven Skiers' Package—two nights' lodging, cross-country ski and ice skate rentals—costs $89 per person; the Wonderland Package ($605 per person) includes five nights'
lodging, meals, and naturalist-guided tours with glimpses of bison, elk, and the occasional wolf. Call 307-344-7311.
Après Millennium Ski
How many cans of stockpiled food will you have to unload to finance a ski vacation come early January? Shockingly few with Horizon Air's Y2K Relief ski package. For $204 to $273, the Seattle-based airline is offering four nights' lodging and three days of skiing in British Columbia (Big White and Silver Star near Kelowna), Oregon (Mount Bachelor, west of
Bend), or Montana (The Big Mountain in Whitefish), from January 6 to 31. Call 800-547-9308 for reservations.
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