Back in, oh, I don't know, September, I began poking around looking for a winter trip. It was probably right when I got back from Canada, as I tend to get itchy for the next trip right after I've come home from one. I have no idea how I landed on dogsledding, except that I was looking for winter trips and women's trips. There was a 5-day 5-star extravaganza in Minnesota. It was snowshoeing, dogsledding, cross country skiing, lodge-with-a-jacuzzi all rolled into one. And required a flight into Deluth and then a rental car. It would've cost upwards of $3000. I considered it for a half a second.
Then it dawned on me that there is probably dogsledding in Maine. And viola! there it was Mahoosuc Guide Service. I contacted Polly, asked a few questions, and had quickly booked the full-moon trip for an overnight in January.
I arrived after a leisurely drive up through NH and Maine that took most of Friday. I checked into the lodge they offer on their property, which is gorgeous. Polly and Kevin (the couple who own and run the business) built it themselves. It has a large common room with kitchen and living room, and two bunk rooms each with a bathroom. It was a like a really nice dorm. I had a nap and then went over to the main house for the meeting. We got all the gear we needed (boots, parkas, mucklucks, and bits and pieces like mittens, etc.) We met as a group.
The players:
Erol and Laurie from Northern VA (last year they went ice climbing!)
Paul and his 12 year old Sevi and 12 year old friend Dario
Mike and his 12 year old Margot and 12 year old friend Sarah
Me
The staff:
Polly, owner
Bonnie, ski guide (older retired woman)
Dan, college kid working with Polly over break
Eliot, 12 year old local kid helping with the puppies
We set off Saturday morning after meeting the dogs, leading them to the dog transport truck, which looks like this:
We drove for a while and dropped off those in the group who would sled in. The skiing group then carried on. After getting ourselves sorted out, we put on cross country skis, donned our packs on our backs, and set out for the 5 mile journey to camp. We were Bonnie the ski guide, Paul (one of the dads) who pulled a toboggan the whole way, Eliot the local kid, and three puppies in dog sledding training who just ran free with us. It took us 3.5 hours to get there, and I fell about 8 times. I've never been on cross country skis, let alone with a huge pack on my back in very deep snow. It wasn't hard, per se, but it was counter-intuitive to an alpine skier and it was sunny and warm (20 degrees!) and took energy to get up. At one point, I asked Bonnie, who was behind me, to go ahead because it was going to stress me out to have her watch me get up! She obliged.
We arrived at camp around 3 and were greeted by the sledders, along with a warm cook tent and tea. The sunset was lovely and the full moon rise was amazing as we collected firewood for a campfire that was to take place later on the lake! I've never burned a fire on ice before. We had a dinner of mac and cheese (the real thing with chunks of cheddar), sausages, and veggies. We walked around camp in mucklucks, which are essentially canvas slippers. You put them on over your socks and down or felt booties and keep dry and warm. At one point, one of the 12-year-old girls came running out of camp and yelled "I'm walking on a lake in my slippers on the snow!" in a singsongy voice. It was exactly what we were all thinking!
We went to bed about 9. It was 0 degrees at 6, so I have no idea how cold it got. I had to sleep with my contact case in my bed with me so they wouldn't freeze, so I popped it in my bra to keep them warm! We were in two sleeping bags, sleeping on a pine bough floor over packed snow. There was a wood burning stove in the tent, which went out mid-sleep. But I was never cold. Nice and toasty in my long underwear and layers. I had to get up to pee in the middle of the night and was met with heavily falling snow outside! It was beautiful, and warmer.
The next morning, after pancakes and bacon and coffee and tea, the skier team headed out while we readied the camp for our departure. We cleaned up, stacked wood, put down new pine bough floors all for the next group (who would arrive on Tuesday). We got a dogsledding lesson, and headed out. I drove my own dog team the whole way out! I had a kid for a while, in an attempt to even out the weight, but then he went back to another sled. We travelled 7 miles across the lake to get back. The dogs were awesome, it was silent and beautiful, and the sun came back out for our trip. I loved every minute.
When we arrived back, we put the dogs back in their places, ate lunch and hung out waiting for the skiers. They took a long time, so we finally headed down the road to find them. Right as we saw them coming, there, in the middle of the road was a moose! I've never seen one in the wild and she was a gorgeous cow. She headed up into the woods pretty quickly. It was a great ending to a great weekend.
My batteries all froze, so I don't have any photos of my own. I got a few from one of the dads, and I'm hoping more will make their way to me, but I figured that the universe was telling me I didn't need photos of this trip.
Here's a few more of theirs:
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