Go dog sledding (#4)

• Posted on KK
• in 100 things, travel
• on March 19, 2012
• 5 Comments.

In February, Dan and I took an overnight trip to Lake Tahoe so we could go dog sledding. I imagine that many of you are scoffing at us and wondering why we didn’t go skiing or snowboarding or something else active. Well, first because we don’t own a lot of the gear you need to do those things – when we’ve gone in the past, we’ve borrowed a lot from friends and family. And also, because Tahoe has gotten next to zero snow this year (until this weekend, of course). Skiing around clumps of grass isn’t really my thing.

Anyway, one of the ski resorts offers a space (their golf course) to a local dog sledding company to offer rides to folks over the winter months. I’ve been wanting to go since I read about a local popular blogger going for a ride with them a couple of years ago, and since we had nothing to do over the long weekend, we relatively spontaneously took ourselves up to Tahoe. [Just so you know, about halfway there, Dan realized that he forgot our camera. When we were on our way to go dog-friggin-sledding, which is you know, totally normal and something we do every weekend. As a bonus, at this point in the drive, we were already out in the middle of nowhere, so it took us 40 minutes to get to a Staples, where they were conveniently having a sale on cameras and all things camera related. We had already been talking about replacing our camera, so this was quite serendipitous.]

The actual dog sledding was actually really peaceful. Dan and I were in a sled under a blanket (actually, two, because I’m a huge wuss about being cold) and we had a team of 10 dogs pulling us for almost an hour. The guy who started the company breeds all the dogs (they have 98 Alaskan Huskies, not Siberian Huskies as are often portrayed in movies) and actually builds the sleds.  Apparently, Dan thought we would be doing something closer to the movies, dog sledding in the woods, in between trees and up and down hills and such, which is not what happens on a snow covered golf course. But, regardless, it was nice – I would love to do it again somewhere a bit less groomed/tame.

Our adventure in pictures:

The dogs before we set off. Five teams of dogs/sleds started out at the same time and the dogs were SO EXCITED. They literally could not contain their joy and so there was lots of jumping and barking and wriggling.

Our view during the ride. The mountains make it look like we are indeed out in the wilderness. Also, this was the same view for whenever the dogs needed to pee, which they did frequently WHILE running. Quite the multi-taskers they are.

Two of our sled dogs waiting while our lead dog takes a poo break. Apparently, he refuses to poop on the run, which makes total sense to me. If anyone is wondering about their weight (I definitely was while they were pulling my butt around) but our guide reassured me that they are naturally pretty lean dogs, they eat lots and each do a limited number of sled runs a day. No need to call Sarah McLaughlin and her sad ASPCA commercials.  

What we looked like from afar (this is another sled team, who was out at the same time we were).

On a break, at about the halfway point. Dogs being dogs.

Our guide taking our photo. The sled was basically a cocoon. You can barely see the sled behind us, which was a dad and his son – during the break, dad was totes checking his phone/email. Quality time.

The view from our guide’s POV.

The dogs taking a turn, best action shot of the day.

After our ride, we got to meet all the dogs, I’m sad I don’t remember their names. They were pretty awesome though, as you can tell from my expression.

Fin.