Daredevils who lack the time or means to compete in Alaska’s 1,200-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race from Anchorage to Nome can get a taste of that challenge on a trek with Good Times Adventures in Breckenridge.
Unlike other dog sledding tour companies, Good Times Adventures puts the customer in control of the eight-dog sled during a run along snowpacked trails that wind along the Swan River Valley.
Dog sled guide Courtney Donald dispenses wisdom along with tips on how to manage eight yappy, giddy Siberian huskies, the Aurora Sentinel reported.
She cautions new mushers to be prepared to wipe out in the fresh powder.
“If the sled happens to tip over, and you’re sitting here, it’s a tuck-and-roll situation,” she said.
The tour is run as a “relay,” which means one musher leads the dogs while the others sit in the sled. The tour guide drives ahead in a snowmobile with a passenger sleigh attached that the dogs have been trained to follow.
The tour can accommodate up to six people with both sleds, and the mushers can trade off.
Tours generally last a little more than an hour, and trails exist for everyone from beginner-level mushers to more advanced drivers, with opportunities to wind through the narrow pine-tree paths and downhill through the valley.
Good Times Adventures has 163 dogs who range in age from 3 months to 15 years. When the dogs are ready to retire, they’re adopted out as house pets.
Sarah Spalla, Good Times’ kennel manager, said she often hears from visitors who are surprised to learn they can go dog sledding in the snowy Rocky Mountains.
In the 1700s, the Inupiaq and Yup’ik peoples used wood-latticed and gut-skin-covered kayaks on ski-like runners to glide over snow when pulled by dogs, according to the Bureau of Land Management.
The demand for sled dogs spiked with the gold rushes that hit Alaska in the late-19th and early-20th centuries.
“During one of the big rushes, it was said that no stray dogs could be found on the streets of Seattle, having all been rounded up and shipped to Alaska,” the BLM writes. “Malamutes, huskies and other breeds were mixed to haul freight and passengers.”
But for Spalla, helping provide a recreational sled-dog ride is an experience she would never trade despite the fact she spends her days training, guiding, feeding and of course, cleaning up lots of dog poop.
“This winter is No. 12 for me,” she said, adding that much of the staff has been with the company for a more than a decade.
“Every dog is special. They’re definitely members of the team,” she said. “There are a few here and there that I don’t see eye-to-eye with, but they’re all different. Some are bossy, some are sweet and some not so much. No day is exactly the same.”
