Dog Sledding 2010

Jason picked me up at 6:30 in front of my cabin. We made our way down narrow, twisty roads to his employer, Wintergreen Dog Sledding. It took two hours for us to get the gear, load up the dogs and make our way to the Fall Lake landing. Kate, Steve and I helped harness the dogs and load the sleds. Rob and Ted met us at the landing. It was a fascinating experience to harness the dogs and load up. Jason skied ahead and Steve and I followed in the first sled. Ted and Rob followed us in the second sled. We traveled for 2 hours to a secret spot on Basswood. I had been near this area a couple times winter camping with Baly. We drilled holes and set out tip-ups and gathered firewood for Rob to cook lunch on. I stayed with the tip-ups and the others went a quarter mile away to fish for crappies. They had no luck but the tip-ups produced 4 northerns. One was too big, two were too small and one was a keeper. Lunch was Brats, beer and cokes. At 3:15 we headed back. It was a beautiful sunset ride through the wilderness. Jason skied ahead easily keeping ahead of the dogs in the perfect snow conditions. He stopped and took photos of us travelling, many of which are in this entry. The weather was mid-twenties with a very gentle breeze. We arrived at the Fall Lake landing just before dark. Once again it was fun loading all the gear and dogs in the trailer. Back at Wintergreen Steve and I got to help put the dogs away and feed them. It was a complete and genuine northwoods experience.