IFor the last month I have been working for Alaska Icefield Expeditions in Juneau, Alaska. My official job title: DOG MUSHER :)
I give daily dog sled tours on the mendenhall glacier here in Juneau anywhere from 2-10 a day. I have a dog lot of 35 dogs that came from Montana that I am fully responsible for as well as I pick my teams each tour and teach people about this amazing life.
I have really enjoyed meeting people from all over the world and getting to share what I love with them.
To get here was a long 3 days of traveling with 65 dogs from Happy Trails Kennel. I road down with Tim who will be a rookie in Iditarod this coming year. 17th dog kennel also traveled with us with their 45 dogs. We had a very eventful ride with the truck dying for a few minutes and blowing 3 trailer tires in Canada to a 5 hour ferry ride with 10 dog trucks! It felt great to finally reach Juneau.
We had to hang out at "the station" for 3 days until the weather cleared up for us to fly the dogs up.
The station as we call it was an old gas station that has been turned into our summer home for days off. It has bunk beds, showers, laundry, bathrooms, and a kitchen for us.
The station as we call it was an old gas station that has been turned into our summer home for days off. It has bunk beds, showers, laundry, bathrooms, and a kitchen for us.
To get to the glacier we take a helicopter. So when dog day finally happened we flew 280 dogs up 8 at a time plus our gear. Then built all their houses in snow that we punched through past our knees. It was a very very long day.
Dog Camp, as it's call here on the glacier consists of 8 dog lots and 13 tents. We have a kitchen tent and a wonderful cook who makes us amazing meals 3 times a day and at least 1-3 roommates. 19 of us up here all the time getting 1-2 days off a week.
We have no running water, no electricity. Luckily the light from the moon reflects beautifully off the snow it never seems dark out.
We have 2 portapottys that have 5 gallon buckets that get dumped in a barrel twice a day. Once that barrels are full they are slung up and flown off.
We do dishes at night with all the water that is flown up. Every Wednesday we have our food flown up.
Every Monday we have to move our tents so they stay level as the snow melts. We actually hook up ropes and 8 people pull it into place.
Living on a glacier is intense but so magical. I catch myself many mornings questioning if this view is real. I am grateful for this job opportunity and do enjoy being unplugged from my phone most of the week.
I do get enough service to text during the day and when the generator is on I'll have some data on my phone.
Please take a minute to look at the new shopping and contact tab.
I fly back to Wisconsin this Thursday for the first time in a year to celebrate my friends wedding. I will get another post up soon to explain more about the dogs and how we care for them, but as I said before my computer broke so I'm doing this all on my phone.
Thanks for following and sharing my blog always up for answering questions.
Take care!
