Sibersong Sleddogs - Adventures in Dog Mushing

November 18, 2002
Yesterday I broke out the sled for the first time this season. We got about 6" of snow in my yard this weekend and I thought that even if I couldn't sink the snowhook I could probably use the snubline and tie off my little 4 dog team anytime I needed to get off the sled. Unfortunately the trail we went to didn't seem to have gotten quite as much snow as my yard did. But I was already there, dogs in the truck, sled on the roof, and so I said "screw it...we might as well go for it". My policy is that the more unique situations you run in, the better prepared you are when you encounter these situations during a race. And lord knows there have been Iditarods where there's very little to no snow coverage in certain areas, so learning to deal with a sled on only a few inches of snow cover is good training for me.

We start off and it quickly becomes evident that there are a few problems we're going to have (besides the fact that I had forgotten, apparantly, how to actually steer a sled). Problem #1 was that every time I used the sled brake it went right through the measly snowcover and was hitting pavement. And sled brakes don't work very well on pavement.

Problem #2 was that the trail was VERY VERY wet....it had some major puddles and the overflow from them had made a lot of the snow slushy. Plus the puddles weren't completely frozen but rather were sporting a thin layer of ice which we broke right through. And since I was on runners of a sled instead of off the ground on the platform of the rig, my feet were absolutely soaking wet by the time we'd gone about 2 miles. So all I did was run them 3 miles out then turn them back around because I didn't want to be out there when the temps dropped after dark with wet feet and no change of socks and me fighting a cold.

Anyway, we were about 1 mile from the end of the run, in that period just before total darkness when everything is shadows and you have to turn on your headlamp even though it's not totally pitch dark yet but your headlamp almost does more harm than good, when all of a sudden the dogs tried to dart off the trail into the woods. Since they spent half the run chasing everything from birds to blowing leaves and this seemed like nothing more exciting to them than a chipmunk, I simply stopped them and hollered "on-by" until Kodi (who was in lead with Nakita) pulled them past. But 2 seconds later they tried to dart into the woods again. "What the hell are they after?" I wondered. I shone my headlamp into the woods next to where we'd stopped and saw the silhouette of a moose bound away.

I hollered "oh SHIT!" as my heart leapt into my throat. I instantly tipped the sled on it's side as the dogs tried to take off after the moose, and planted my butt on the ground while holding onto the handlebar for dear life. The team only dragged me about a foot or two before my heels, which were digging into the ground like a human brake, stopped them. Then I wrapped my legs around the handlebar and just sat there for at least 5 minutes or so, hoping the moose would get far far away in the meantime. Every 30 seconds or so the dogs attempted to drag me a few feet until my digging heels would stop them again.

Finally when the dogs seemed a little calmer I started to scoot my butt & the sled over to the opposite side of the trail. It took a few attempts but finally I was close enough to throw my snubline around a tall tree stump and tie off the sled. Then I quickly ran up and unhooked the tuglines of my wheel dogs. After waiting another few minutes to make sure the moose had plenty of time to get out of range, we took off again, with me standing on the drag the whole way and with only my lead dogs doing any pulling. We ran like that for about 1/2 mile until I was certain we were past any moose danger, then I hooked up the wheel dogs again.

I had thought to myself during the incident that it just FIGURED that the first time I encountered a moose out on the trail had to be when I was on the sled with not enough snow to sink a snowhook in!! But in retrospect I'm glad I wasn't on the rig because I know for a fact that the rig brakes wouldn't hold the dogs back from chasing a moose and I didn't usually carry a snubline on the rig with me in those days, plus it's a hell of a lot harder to throw the rig over on it's side than the sled.

I can say one thing about the run: after a year and a half of living in NH I've finally seen a moose!! And strangely enough the moose didn't seem nearly as big as I imagined a moose would be...

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