There’s a good layer of snow on the ground, the temperatures aren’t bitterly cold (between 5°F and 25°F), it’s a beautiful sunny day, and that means just one thing to us: pack up the sled and the dogs and go dogsledding. Dogsledding is much more possible in Chicago than you might think. The equestrian trails in the Cook County Forest Preserves are great places for dogsledding and, a little farther away in Lake, McHenry, and DuPage counties, there are actually designated dogsledding areas.
My wife drives the dogs; I generally cross-country ski behind. Today I decided to try out my new snowshoes—I’d received them as a Christmas present a couple of years ago and we just hadn’t had enough snow to warrant my breaking them out. They did just what they were supposed to do: I could walk in deep snow wearing my snowshoes just about as fast as I could on a regular trail without snow. I could even run in them if the need arose.
You can click on any of these pictures for a larger image.
The temperature when we started sledding today was actually a mite sultry for good sledding—somewhere in the high teens or low twenties. That’s Mira in the front in this picture. She was extremely keen today; Tally was a bit of a slacker. We were a little surprised that Mira is showing signs of becoming a good lead dog.
My role in these adventures is as a combination dog-wrangler, photographer, and emergency road crew. Here Tally has slipped her neck line and my wife is replacing it.
I’ve written this before but it’s worth repeating: it’s impossible to make a dog do something he or she doesn’t want to do. You can capitalize on the dog’s natural instincts one way or another; you can make a dog mean or psychotic; if you beat a dog or abuse it it will just sit down. You can’t make a dog run. That’s something they do because they love it and it’s something they were born to do.
I’m actually something of a distraction. In this picture Tally is checking back with me to make sure I’m alright which tends to slow things down a bit. That’s why I stay quite a ways away and shoot my pictures from a distance.
I know the joy of doing this. I belonged to the N.E. Sled Dog club, the oldest in the U.S. and had a ball racing teams of dogs. I raised and bred Siberian Huskies and ran anywhere from a 5 dog team to as many as 14 dogs. They loved to race and so did I. One member of our club, went on to win the Alaskan Ididerod Race 5 times. I envey you now as I don’t even own a single dog and live in California, far away from snow country. Enjoy it!
Enjoyed your pictures and your narrative. Sounds like a lovely, exhilarating day. -S
So glad to hear you enjoyed this pleasure of the Great North and your beautiful companions in the pursuit and pastime. isn’t it great to have companions who love doing fun-in-the great outdoors/in the cold things together with you!?
We did, too: this weekend, the southerly contingent of the schuler pack (juliens) had a yen for some snow fun and took a Girls Weekend with Mrs. Petrie and Mary Ellen (marie’s best friend) to do what i think is an annual Girls Skiing outing.
We introduced Emmy to the southerly contingent/winter-sport pack-branch! (Emmy and ann took a lesson, and emmy skiied (spelling???) for the first time! She didn’t fall down on the rope tow, not once, and took to the lovely gracefulness aspect of skiing right away. She’s a very graceful girl.
Thanks for sharing your lovely story of the pleasure of a wintry sport day. How cool to hear that Mira is a natural-born sled-leader. The pictures are GREAT.
We enjoyed ours, too, and you guys are a winter sport inspiration to us. Love, Ann