We were lucky enough to get to try a unique Alaskan adventure. We went for a dog sledding ride on our local military base. What a great experience!

The first thing we noticed when we got there was the noise. Apparently sled dogs have two modes when they are getting ready for a run; howling mode and run mode. These two modes very rarely ever happen at once. The howling mode occurs when they are unable to engage the run mode. The sounds these dog make while in howling mode are absolutely amazing. Each one of them has a unique voice and none of them just bark, they talk and you know they are saying things like, "Pick me, pick me!!" and "Why, or why am I not hooked up yet?!". There was one poor pup that they had to pull out of the line up and that poor thing sang us this sad ballad telling of the woes of being left behind. When she was finally able to rejoin the team she probably could have pulled the sled completely solo, she was that excited.

Now when the dogs engage run mode that is a sight. They go completely silent and have laser focus on running and working as a team. This was my first time venturing behind a dog sled team but it was such a fantastic experience. The power that these teams have is amazing. Before we even left on our ride, our driver asked me to stand on the brake while he took care of something. For those of you that don't know what they use for brakes, it is essentially a spike that is driven into the ground by your body weight. I was standing on said spikes and had to jump on it a couple times because the dogs were pulling my weight out of the ground like I wasn't even there. So you can imagine that when we started off on our ride these powerful dogs had us gliding across the snow. It was such a peaceful and exhilarating ride. The only sounds you heard were the footsteps of the dogs and the sled sliding across the snow. But we were moving at a nice clip and you could tell those dogs were enjoying what they were doing.

This is absolutely something I would love to do again, maybe venturing further. If you get a chance, definitely take a ride. It helps you to get a better idea of what the dog sled races are all about. I don't know how they do it, going for days on end. But I do know that I have a new respect for not only the mushers of races such as the Iditarod and Yukon Quest but the true athletes, the dogs. These furry, wildly animated athletes steal your heart with their voices and amaze you with their endurance and love of running!

LM122No one can doubt how much these dogs love to run.