Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 17, 1991 TAG: 9103170253
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: B/5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TIM ANDERSON NEWSDAY
DATELINE: NORTH COUNTRY RETREAT CENTER, MINN. LENGTH: Medium
As a way of unwinding, I'm carrying the front end of a 55-pound part-Huskie, part-wolf sled dog up an icy incline to harness him, along with eight other dogs, to a nylon gang line at the front of an aluminum sled.
No warm-weather winter weekend for me: I've opted instead for "Club Sled," and, for the first time, I'm about to go dog-sledding.
I'd arrived at the North Country Retreat Center, about 45 minutes northeast of Cook, Minn., the afternoon before, in time for a quick "run-around-the-block" - a two-hour introductory dog-sled ride for three - during which I learned the elementary voice commands and got a brief run-through as a "musher," or driver of the sled. I could have found dog-sledding much closer to home than Minnesota, but I had friends in Minnesota who had done this before.
That night I received a more detailed orientation from North Country director Tom Jewell - a little bit of history, some additional commands and some words of wisdom from someone who has been leading dog-sled trips for more than 10 years. With that and a bit of sleep in one of the rustic cabins, I returned the next morning for a full day's sledding.
Depending on how much weight the dogs will be pulling, Jewell will harness from nine to 11 dogs on a team. For us, he uses nine: Mike, the lead dog, and four pairs lining up behind him: two point dogs, two swing dogs, two team dogs and two wheel dogs. Each position requires a different type of dog, though generally the faster dogs go up front, and the bigger, stronger dogs go toward the rear of the team.
What gets the dogs moving after they're harnessed? Nope, not "mush." You may be called a musher, but no one has said "mush" to a sled dog since Sgt. Preston. Jewell's dogs ignite to a simple "let's go."
With that, the dogs and the three of us - two paying guests and a North Country staffer - are off, headed down a snow-packed trail toward a frozen river, traveling 15 to 20 mph. After the first mile the dogs will find a more reasonable pace for the day-long trip, somewhere between 5 mph and 10 mph.
The dogs are trained to follow voice commands besides "let's go." There's "gee" for right, "haw" for left, "pick it up" for, well, pick it up. Throw in the universally understood, though not always followed, "whoa" and a few "good dogs" to build morale, and you know just about all you need to get the sled going roughly where you want it to. You also call out the name of the lead dog before issuing him commands; he will usually acknowledge you with a quick look back over his shoulder. Really.
Our seven-hour trek takes us north nearly 20 miles, into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness over back-country trails, portages and frozen lakes and streams. In the woods, the trails sometimes are no wider than the sled, and steering around rocks and trees requires concentration by the musher, who steers the sled by shifting his or her weight.
Most of the visitors who come to North Country to dog-sled each season - roughly from Christmas through March - are novices. Jewell takes up to six people each weekend, at a cost of $285 per person. For that you get the Friday afternoon introduction, the orientation, a full day of sledding Saturday and half a day on Sunday, cabin accommodations and gourmet meals provided by Jewell and his wife, Sonja.
All you need are four or five layers of warm clothes, a desire to trade a few bumps along an icy trail for wilderness vistas and fresh air, and a willingness to put your faith in nine dogs who want nothing more than to run.
Information: North Country Retreat Center, Vermilion River - Boundary Waters Canoe Area, Buyck, Minn. 55771.
by CNB