Mushing with the BraverMountain Team, Part 3

Happy Tuesday, everyone! We want to take a minute to wish everyone a happy holiday! We were a little late on getting our holiday cards out this year, but for our Urban Mushers+ subscribers, you should receive yours by Christmas, hopefully! I believe they went out on Wednesday.

Today’s newsletter is the third and final part of our trip up north! If you missed part one or part two, you’ll definitely want to check them out!

When we woke up on our last full day, it was much warmer outside, in the mid-to-upper 30s! The snow started melting, and it was definitely a “stickier” snow now. First item on our agenda for the day: feed the dogs breakfast and scoop poop.

Funny story about the dogs’ breakfast. We were told each dog should get an egg with their breakfast, but that they wouldn’t eat them if they were just given the whole egg. I had never fed a dog an egg before, so I wasn’t completely sure what to do with it. So, I cracked each egg open and put the egg yolk on top of each dog’s kibble. I collected the shells back into the carton to throw away later.

Apparently, I made things much harder than they should’ve been lol. When Blair arrived, she said something to the effect of “wasn’t it fun to throw the eggs down and watch them explode?!”. I was like WAIT WHAT. When I explained to her what I did, she busted out laughing!

Each dog was supposed to get an egg, but I didn’t need to crack it open like a gourmet meal for them. I came to find out that you’re just supposed to drop the egg on the kibble, and it’ll crack open on its own. The dogs eat the yolk, shell, and all! The shell has nutrients that are good for the dogs! I had no idea. Whoops!

After breakfast, we took the snowmobiles out on the trails to groom and cut more branches out of the way. Then it was time to cuddle all the dogs!

Riley and I went around to each individual dog to give them some love! Scritches, belly rubs, kisses, everything. Enjoy this collection of random doggo pics!

Later that day, we went MUSHING! ON SNOW! ON A SLED! WITH SLED DOGS!

Before we harnessed dogs and jumped on the runners, Blair gave us a tutorial on the sled: how to stand, how and when to use each of the brakes, how to lean and turn, how a snow hook works, etc.

You’ll probably notice that the sled we used during this trip was not ours. The handle on our sled accidentally broke moments before using it. However, we’re glad it happened when no dogs were attached! We’ll get it fixed soon!

Blair and Q strategized dog teams for me and Riley to try out. Remember, we had only previously run two Siberians once on a sled a few years ago. It was also on a straight, flat path around a cornfield. Other than that, we had no experience on a sled. Those runs were maybe half a mile, tops? So we don’t really even count that.

I was up first! And I was super excited to have Boo and Pence on my team! They teamed up with Blizzard to give me a three dog team to get my feet wet. We harnessed the dogs and hooked them to the sled. Blair gave me some final advice and encouragement, and we may have almost let the dogs take off with the sled without me during our discussion lol.

Let this serve as your reminder: whether mushing on snow or dryland, once you start hooking dogs up, you have to make sure your “rig” is secured by break or tie off.

I caught the sled and jumped on, and we were off! Blair and Riley followed on the snowmobile. The feeling of gliding across the snow with three furry friends was INCREDIBLE.

The trail we took had some hills and curves, which gave me the opportunity to figure out how to use the drag mat properly, and how to lean in to the turns. With each turn, I gained a little more confidence and took it a little faster, letting the sled drift around the corners.

The trail was bumpy at first, but the sled is surprisingly forgiving. We also had some uphill portions where I used one leg to kick and help the dogs, similar to how I do on the scooter.

Once I was feeling pretty confident, we added Jelly to give me a four dog team. Having four dogs meant a little more speed and power.

Blair and Riley took off ahead on the snowmobile to allow me the feeling of being out in nature, just me and the dogs, floating across the snow. It was magical.

Seeing Boo and Pence back in their element, pulling a sled, and dashing through the snow made me so happy! They were both jumping and screaming for joy whenever we’d stop for a break!

I’m not trying to be cocky by any means, but I feel pretty good about how I handled the sled and the dogs! I didn’t wreck, and I didn’t lose the team! I think I could maybe try adding a fifth or sixth dog sometime. The problem is, I’m not the biggest or strongest person, so stopping that many dogs may be a challenge.

Overall, it was such a fun experience! I learned so much, and it was an honor to be taught by one of the best mushers! Thank you Blair, for your advice, encouragement, and patience with us!

I do have some GoPro footage of our run, but I haven’t had time to edit it yet. Hopefully I’ll have it ready for the next newsletter!

After we finished our run, it was Riley’s turn! Riley started off with four dogs right away - Pepe, Yotam, Kiwi, and Mazzy. Definitely a stronger team than I had. When they took off, they were absolutely FLYING. Blair and I were stunned at how quickly they made it to and around the first corner. All we saw was Riley’s headlamp light disappearing into the woods.

Blair and I jumped on the snowmobile to follow after them. Once we caught up, we saw them approaching a nearly 90 degree turn. It looked like they were still going super fast. We were sitting there saying “oh no! oh gosh! oh crap!”. Riley and the dogs made it around the turn and made it without incident!

We caught up to Riley and I can’t remember exactly what he said but something to the effect of “that was insanely fast”. He was so chill about it though.

I’ll let Riley tell you more about his experience now.

First off, since our very hot start, I (Riley) have now learned that when taking off with the team, mushers typically use the drag mat to pace the dogs, so what happened to me doesn’t happen. That first 500 yards was by far the fastest I’ve ever gone on a non-motorized rig in my life. We FLEW.

We took the first turn so fast that I ended up technically off the trail and into the weeds that were popping through the snow. But it didn’t even phase the dogs, they just kept pulling. Luckily right after that there was an uphill so there was a chance for me to slow down and regroup.

Besides the fact that it’s hard to control dogs running that fast on snow going around tight turns, it’s also not good for your dogs to burn that much energy right from the start. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, so you want to their speed to be evenly paced throughout the entire run.

Lesson learned the hard way! But boy was it still fun going that fast.

Even after we regrouped and began pacing ourselves, my team was still fast. They were able to keep an incredible pace the entire run. Going into the 90 degree turn Hannah mentioned above, I even slowed the team down with the drag mat, but we still took it pretty fast.

I was literally drifting around the corner, squatting down and leaning so hard to the left to keep my balance on the sled. I’m very proud of myself for managing that turn how I did lol. Thinking back, it did probably look insane to Hannah and Blair seeing me make that turn at those speeds.

After those two “incidents,” the rest of our run was flawless. The dogs were great, the trail was awesome and mostly wide open and straight. It was a great trail for my first long mushing experience.

Like Hannah, I got some alone time on the trail with just the dogs and I. And if I’m being honest, it was a little scary for me at first. I’m not the biggest fan of the dark and being in places all by myself, especially places I’m not familiar with. We had also talked to Blair above wolves being out in the woods before we ran, so I kinda gave myself a panic attack. Yes, I had a strong headlamp on, but I swear I kept hearing noises behind me so I kept looking back and to the sides making sure I wasn’t being followed.

I think the noises were just the sled on the snow echoing off the trees as we passed.

And to make things a little more interesting, when Blair and Hannah went ahead of me (to the point I couldn’t see or hear them at all), I had no idea if I was on the right trail/took the right turns.

There were a couple different turn offs on our trail and at one point, I couldn’t tell if the snowmobile had turned or kept going straight. We passed the first turn and when we came to the second one, my fearless leader Pepe started to take the turn before I even said anything, like she knew the way and was leading me back home.

After we took that turn, I still had no clue if I was technically on the right trail, but I gained my confidence back. I kid you not, I was thinking about something of Blair’s that I read once (I think it was her writing? At least that’s what I told myself on the trail lol) where she talked about being out on the trail all alone with the dogs. She talked about how she was out with her best friends and they would help guide her and keep her safe in any scenario.

And after Pepe made that turn confidently, I knew I was in good hands no matter if we got lost for hours on the trail or if we actually were being followed by wolves… The dogs would be there for me through it all, and that was a very comforting feeling.

Blair: thank you for the extra words of encouragement that you didn’t even know you gave me out there through your previous writing!

Funny part about potentially getting lost… I found out after the run that Blair and Hannah also didn’t know if they took the right turn or not on the snowmobile either. Luckily, we both took the right/same one and we ended up finding each other a few minutes later.

Once I settled into the peace of being out in the woods with just the dogs, the rest of our run was as smooth as can be. There’s something exhilarating about being out in the woods with a team of dogs and no one else around (once you get over your initial fears, of course).

I can’t wait to get back out there and run some more, hopefully soon!

Looking back at our time up north, spending time with our friends Blair and Q and their amazing dogs, we just smile from ear to ear. We cannot thank them enough for taking the time to teach us more about sled dogs and mushing. They are truly two of the most amazing humans I’ve ever met.

Happy holidays and talk to you all soon,

-Hannah, Riley, Boo, and Pence