Dog Mushing on the Yukon River

The world seems a lot smaller when you realise that a person you grew up and went to University with has taught at the same remote Yukon school that you have. This friend that I'm talking about is the reason I went to Dawson City for part of my March break from school. I had an amazing visit and everyone in Dawson (and the Yukon for that matter) has been such wonderful hosts to me. For that I'm so thankful. Thanks, Andy Ledue!

My Amazing hosts in Dawson (taken from the Dome)

Dawson City has been called a "living museum" and I would have to agree. I will post more about Dawson and the things I did there, (and a bit about its history) but this post has to be about mushing. I am still on a bit of an adrenaline rush from it and need to describe it.

Mushing dogs on the Yukon River (note the ice lantern on the left)

Before describing the mushing, I will explain how I came to do it. My first night in Dawson I met friends of Andy Ledue, who are an amazing German couple who have lived in the Yukon for ten years. They live in an off-grid cabin that was built in 1901 and that is located in "Sunnydale" or West Dawson. This area is across the river from Dawson City. There is a good chance that Robert Service has been in that house before. Andy, his wonderful girlfriend, an unreal Blues musician from Toronto and myself visited Sunnydale for a night of song writing, Yukon-grown food and incredible off-grid life. My mushing experience was my transportation back from the off-grid house in Sunnydale.

On the Yukon River with Dawson City in the background

Most of the trail was downhill, and we were going faster than I ever thought possible by dogsled. I was sitting in the basket and was so enthralled by the experience (but also wondering if my medical insurance would cover an injury incurred by dog sledding). Mere minutes after wondering this, we have failed to make  a sharp turn after coming off a road onto trail and are in two foot deep snow, and in a big group of willow trees. Nobody was hurt, and it just added to the incredible adventure.

The dogs, eating local Yukon River chum salmon the day before I went mushing

After coming out of the bush and onto the river, the trip was a lot slower because we were on flat ground. The sun was shining and Dawson could be seen in the distance. We passed a few skijourers (people skiing with some help from dogs) and passed a race car track on the ice that some not-as-granola-types of Dawson City have set up. After this mushing madness, I had a similar feeling as I did after trying bungy jumping.

Thanks for reading my blog and more to come about Dawson City in upcoming posts.

Warm Regards from Old Crow,

Haley