Mushers Camp

Confession time: I did not know what the Iditarod was before this trip. I'm pretty sure I was the only person on the bus riding up who was unaware that it was an eleven-hundred mile dog sled race across Alaska. I also did not know that people who race dogs are called mushers. Still not sure why, either, because I was too embarrassed to ask, feeling like the dog dummy of the bunch. Regardless, this excursion was pretty cool. Muddy, but cool.

We drove out to the outskirts and thick forests of Juneau to visit a summer training camp where mushers practice racing dogs for the Iditarod. With one of these mushers-in-training as a guide, sixteen dogs pull you and five other people on a fast and furious ride through the woods, mud splashing all the while. The video footage was some of the bumpiest I've ever seen; otherwise I'd be showing you, believe me. They also raise dogs here, so we had a chance to cuddle some two-week old and two-month old puppies that made even my dog dummy heart melt. The race dogs love the little ones, too. The only time I heard them disobey the musher during our ride was when they slowed down to get a look at the puppies, rather than keep racing back to the finish as commanded.

Another surprise was how eager these dogs were to run their route: before we'd even caught sight of the camp, the dogs heard the vans we were in and started barking like crazy. Quite literally chomping at the bit. We also met and heard from a woman in her sixties who, after several failed attempts in previous years, finished the Iditerod last year as the oldest woman ever. She came in last place, but I still think it's impressive that she completed it.