There are a number of ways to go travel in the winter Boundary Waters Wilderness while bringing along your full kit for a number of days and nights: with skis and pulk, snowshoes and toboggan or backpacking with snowshoes, and using a dog team The way I've been blessed with is by dog sled and ski. As a guide I teach the participants to mush the dogs (a big learning curve for the beginners) and then, with Wintergreen programs, the guides (typically 2) ski while the participants mush the dogs. One guide skis out in front of the first team (like the rabbit chased by the dogs) and the second guide skis among the sleds and helps with tangles and numerous other events that occur on the trail.
The camping trip is most generally a 5 night event that begins with the arrival of participants at the Wintergreen Dogsledding Lodge in the afternoon. Following dinner there are informational talks by the guides on topics such as clothing (we as guides check participants' clothing systems to ensure that they don't have cotton and have proper clothes for safety and comfort), diet and hydration. Many of the participants rent clothing and boots from Wintergreen. Fitting boots and liners to participants is always a time-consuming task. One important topic is using the sleep system that we provide, and participants try the Wiggy's brand sleeping bags and simple bivy sacks with foam pads while in the lodge. The sleep systems have to fit and the participant has to know where draw cords and zippers are so that they can adjust them in the dark. Tin cups, bowls with attached spoons, nalgene water bottles and insulating cozies are all handed out.
In the morning, before a guide-cooked breakfast, participants help to feed and water the dogs, then it's time for Dog Sled 101. The lecture-type course, in it's duration inside the lodge, covers teamwork and safety, terminology, sled and tack parts, dog psychology and voice commands,sled and lead musher roles, tips on the trail, and a host of other pertinent topics that come up during the course. I always have the feeling that the participants are in learning overload by the end of the short course, but most of them sort out the information once they're actively heading down the trail.
Following 101 we take a short woods walk to look at a variety of trees with participants being shown types of dead wood that makes good camp firewood and wood to avoid bothering to gather in the woods. Tents are looked at and put up, though often participants sleep out in the open without use of the tent or other shelter. Then we have a sled packing session followed by pushing the sleds down to the dog yard - all exciting activities preparatory to heading out from Wintergreen.
Even before the participants arrive at the lodge the guides are busily working to gather all gear, prepare the sleds, figure out menus, route and logistics.
Our skis at an island where we camped. The skis aren't jammed into the snow covered ice, but are actually "tripod-leaned using the ski pole straps. This helps to avoid chipping and delaminating the ski ends by crunching them through the snow onto the hard ice. The dogs are tied out on cable lines on the edge of the island. All dog poop is removed from the riparian edge.
The camping trip is most generally a 5 night event that begins with the arrival of participants at the Wintergreen Dogsledding Lodge in the afternoon. Following dinner there are informational talks by the guides on topics such as clothing (we as guides check participants' clothing systems to ensure that they don't have cotton and have proper clothes for safety and comfort), diet and hydration. Many of the participants rent clothing and boots from Wintergreen. Fitting boots and liners to participants is always a time-consuming task. One important topic is using the sleep system that we provide, and participants try the Wiggy's brand sleeping bags and simple bivy sacks with foam pads while in the lodge. The sleep systems have to fit and the participant has to know where draw cords and zippers are so that they can adjust them in the dark. Tin cups, bowls with attached spoons, nalgene water bottles and insulating cozies are all handed out.
In the morning, before a guide-cooked breakfast, participants help to feed and water the dogs, then it's time for Dog Sled 101. The lecture-type course, in it's duration inside the lodge, covers teamwork and safety, terminology, sled and tack parts, dog psychology and voice commands,sled and lead musher roles, tips on the trail, and a host of other pertinent topics that come up during the course. I always have the feeling that the participants are in learning overload by the end of the short course, but most of them sort out the information once they're actively heading down the trail.
Following 101 we take a short woods walk to look at a variety of trees with participants being shown types of dead wood that makes good camp firewood and wood to avoid bothering to gather in the woods. Tents are looked at and put up, though often participants sleep out in the open without use of the tent or other shelter. Then we have a sled packing session followed by pushing the sleds down to the dog yard - all exciting activities preparatory to heading out from Wintergreen.
Even before the participants arrive at the lodge the guides are busily working to gather all gear, prepare the sleds, figure out menus, route and logistics.
Our skis at an island where we camped. The skis aren't jammed into the snow covered ice, but are actually "tripod-leaned using the ski pole straps. This helps to avoid chipping and delaminating the ski ends by crunching them through the snow onto the hard ice. The dogs are tied out on cable lines on the edge of the island. All dog poop is removed from the riparian edge.
This year, during the cold months Paul had a 4 person Empire Canvas Hybrid Snowtrekker tent with a titanium wood stove - a first for Wintergreen Dogsledding. Wintergreen always had cold camps with a 5 foot fire pan as the sole heat source; nylon mountaineering tents or else sleep units out in the open for sleeping the night away. The heated tent, during the dinner time was luxurious. The stove was a nice addition to cook on and the tent dried out clothing and warmed participants. An added benefit was the amount of wood that needed to be cut was a fraction of that needed for the long fire pan. In the case of heating the large kettle of lake water, we used a small lodge to lodge fire pan that was just big enough for heating the kettle. One drawback to the use of a heated tent was that once the tent was heated that is where participants congregated, not out around the campfire, under the starry firmament. We used 2 candle lanterns to light the tent.
A chickadee landing on a hand with the bait being some trail mix.
Hot water turns into vapor when thrown into the air at below zero temperatures.
2 comments:
What a great picture!
Ididn't know this-- I just remember that it was really cold if you spit and it froze by the time it hit the ground.
What a great picture!
I didn't know this-- I just remember that it was really cold if you spit and it froze by the time it hit the ground.
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