Have An Extreme Adventure - Try Dog Sledding
December 4th, 2008

When it comes to adventure filled vacations, most enthusiasts will think of skydiving or white water rafting. Yet another activity is slowly gaining in popularity: dog sledding. Have you ever considered the thrill of traversing a snow filled wilderness with a team of dogs? Have you heard of the Iditarod and wondered what it must feel like? Vacation resorts in the snow filled area of the country are in tune with you and now offer you the opportunity to live these dreams. You do not need your own team of dogs, months of training, or any experience at all! As a matter of fact, families with children find this a marvelous new way of connecting and enjoying the great outdoors together.

Vacation promoters offer many different dog sledding adventures. There are short trips that may only last a few hours. Longer trips or day trips may allow for a campfire and meal in the wilderness, but you will return to your lodge safe and snug in the evening. For the more extreme adventurers, there are overnight trips and even weeklong adventures that will take them and their dogs into the backcountry and some prized fishing locations. Of course, as with any outdoor adventure, there are some things to keep in mind to remain safe and have a good time:

Choose a reputable vacation promoter. These outfits will have properly trained dogs, new equipment that is properly maintained, and experienced guides who will help you to stay safe and may actually save you from yourself if you get too ambitious. Before signing up with any sledding outfit, be sure that they have been in business for a while and have already had a number of successful expeditions. Word of mouth is the best advertisement in this case.

Know your limits. Do you like dogs? If you don't or anyone in your party does not, then perhaps this is not a good adventure to go on. After all, you don't want to spend a week with a child who is mortally afraid of dogs and will howl in fear every time you place her or him onto a sled. Similarly, if you have never had an outdoor vacation in a cold climate, start slow. You don't want to sign up for a weeklong expedition only to be freezing and miserable twenty minutes after leaving the camp.

Be prepared to learn and work. Even though a guide should be accompanying you on your outings, do not expect her or him to be rigging up your dogs. This is an extreme adventure vacation and this means that it is up to you to do the work! Your guide will teach you the proper techniques of dog handling and how to rig them to the sled, take off the rigging, and also care for the dogs at the end of a sledding day, and she or he may even lend a helping hand, but do not leave all this work to your guide. This is the kind of vacation where you will need to get down and dirty and do a lot of it yourself.

Choose your clothes wisely. Sure, you many have a lot of winter gear in your closet and are ready to pack your toasty socks and sweaters, but keep in mind that this is not a Sunday afternoon shopping trip to the local mall where you may have to brave a few snow flurries. In this setting you will be faced with snow and ice and you must remember that the first rule of keeping warm in any winter environment is to stay dry. Did you know that many wilderness survival kits warn you never to wear any cotton in winter? The reason is quite simply that cotton takes too long to dry, and once it gets wet, it will keep the moisture against your skin. This moisture will freeze or at least get uncomfortably cold, and you will not be able to stay warm. Your clothes should be made of synthetic fibers since they do not hold on to water the way cotton will. Wool does so as well, but to a much lesser extent

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