My parents' summer neighbour Ian got huskies for dogsledding when I was 12 years old or so. I've wanted to learn to dogsled ever since. However, with the exception of tagging along on the four-wheeler during no-snow periods a couple of times, I'd never managed to do it. Ian generously agreed to teach me (and my friends) the basics and take us out with four-dog teams.
Since I'm not around northern Ontario much during the winter, we decided on sometime around Christmas (I then gloated about the coolness of my plans, and Lee and Jim took the bait and decided to make the trek north to go dogsledding too). As it turned out, both Ian's work schedule and the weather cooperated to make Christmas Day the day Johanna got to dogsled.
It's been a lot of years since I was 12 and Ian had four big dogs. Since then, he's competed in countless races including the Iditarod, fallen in love with and married Nancy (who also dogsleds), and the two of them have a little girl, Aurora, who is already a racing veteran even though she's only in grade one. (During those same years I... um... got a lot older. And found some cool people to go dogsledding with).
Ian, Nancy and Aurora started the day by explaining the parts of the sleds and how they work, and Ian gave a good background on dogs' personalities, training philosophy, canine nutrition and sled designs. The enclosed sled at the right is called a "toboggan sled", and its chief disadvantage is that it can be picked up by the wind on very icy surfaces in Alaska during the Iditarod.
Since we weren't running the Iditarod, however, the toboggan sled provided a great place to stuff a small girl, and, later, to put our packs. Ian and Nancy set each of us up with our own sled and a four dog team. Ian decided to take the lead with an all-female team of six canine superstars. He was followed by Aurora, who hooked up her loyal hound Chum as well as a husky named Joy. Next was Jim, with some very well-behaved dogs, and after that was my rambunctious but energetic moving dogfight (of course, King the chief instigator got the boot after he tried to beat up Zooker, the powerful but assertive dog he was to run beside). Behind me came Lee with some small but speedy pooches, and Nancy brought up the rear.
With that many dogs, it took a while to harness them all up. Jim got put in charge of the females at the front. They did need a protector, since their conditions inspired amorous feelings in all the male dogs behind them (and King got a bit more assertive than the rest). Of course, having bitches in heat in the lead inspired many of the dogs to run faster in order to get closer.
Ian and Nancy worked out the teams (balanced on the basis of strength, ability and sex in the case of the aforementioned amorousness) on a magnetic board, and Lee and I got to help put harnesses on the dogs and hook them up into the teams. The dogs are hooked into a neckline to keep them on track as well as a line coming off the back of their harnesses, which is where the load is pulled.
The dogs were eager to get going, and so were we - but there was a fair bit to learn. We had to figure out how to take the braking mat up during uphills and drop it back down to slow down on the downhills. Furthermore, we needed to get good at using the snow anchor so that we could take breaks (or break up dogfights, though there was no more fighting after my troublemaker got demoted). But there definitely were breaks. After all, the uphills involved us getting off our sleds and running with the dogs.

We couldn't have asked for a better day - the temperature was good, the sun was out, the sky was blue, the view was great... how many other people get to spend Christmas Day zooming through some beautiful northern Ontario countryside with a bunch of fun other people?
From Ian and Nancy's farm on Rock Lake, we travelled a clockwise loop which joined the Voyageur Trail for part of its route. We had good views of both Gordon Lake (at right) and Rock Lake. Though the lakes are frozen over, the ice is not yet strong enough to take people or dogs out on, so we stuck to the trail that Ian had broken the day before.
My energetic dogs did great - I had to use the braking mat frequently to avoid crashing into the teams in front of me. However, they either lost energy or enthusiasm, because for the last kilometer they needed some coaxing to move quickly - on one gully, the sled would have crashed into them from behind if I didn't stand on the brake. But then, they had just lugged my weight around the bush for hours...
What a great day! I learned a bunch, and I got to boot around the bush in what is undeniably one of the coolest modes of winter transportation. Thanks to Ian, Nancy and Aurora for making this possible - I can't think of a better Christmas present than this!