Dog Sledding on Lake Laberge

In 1991, I went on a 3-day dog sledding adventure into the mountains north of Golden, British Columbia, driving my own team, and I fell in love with the dogs and the sport. In the decades since I've taken part in a wide range of other activities than involve huskies, most in the Yukon, and today I'd like to tell you about one of the most amazing - a day on the frozen surface of Lake Laberge at -45 degrees!

In the Yukon we have several people offering dog-powered activities, from short summer runs in a wheeled cart to multi-day winter expeditions with sleds. Most will completely customize an experience for you, and that's what Cathers Wilderness Adventures did for us. We had 4 dog sleds, 26 huskies, and 2 guides on support snowmobiles, and spent 5 hours on the lake.

I offered to be the group's photographer, and to get the best combination of fun and a good record of the day, drove a team, rode in the basket of a sled, and rode on a snowmobile at various times.

Winter clothing is available for rent in Whitehorse, the capital of the territory, located 30 miles south of our departure point on the lake. With -45 degrees forecast, most members of the group had rented or bought at least an additional piece of two, to stay comfortable. The huskies thrive at temperatures like that as long as they get some care along the way, and taking care of the dogs was a special part of the experience for all of us. 

Lake Laberge is basically a 30-mile-long section of the Yukon River. It's about 3 miles wide at the point we travelled, and circling rocky Richthofen Island added a great deal of scenic beauty to the day. In a sheltered bay of the island we stopped to make a hot lunch over a fire we built, then went on a short hike to a high point. We took a few of the dogs on that hike, and their smiles were wonderful!

That lunch was a large part of the experience - nothing fancy, but it's quite remarkable how good a hot dog can taste when you cook it over a campfire surrounded by people you're enjoying being with, and a whole lot of very happy dogs.

As soon as the dogs started to sense that we were getting ready to depart, many started howling, and it turned into quite a choir! Their excitement continued until each sled started moving, then silence reigned - they were focussed on their jobs.

In his evocative poems about the Yukon over a century ago, Robert W. Service often talked about the silence of the wilderness during the long winters, but it really needs to be experienced to understand it. We started back towards our vehicles after sunset, and during the ride back, with the only noises being the breathing of the team drivers ("mushers") and their dogs, and some encouraging words from each musher as we travelled, widely separated from each other, Service's words started to make sense:

It's the great, big, broad land 'way up yonder,
It's the forests where silence has lease;
It's the beauty that thrills me with wonder,
It's the stillness that fills me with peace.