After checking out of the hotel we were met by Johan, a young worker from the dog sledding ranch. We piled our luggage and ourselves into a dual cab truck which had a big cabin on the back divide into compartments to transport the dogs, complete with straw. We began the 40 minute drive out of Whitehorse to the Alayuk Ranch on Annie Lake Road. The scenery was beautiful and it was quite funning passing through the small town of Wolf Creek. Thankfully we were not stopping there.
When we arrived at the ranch and went inside the boys were instantly at home. Connor found Pistash the dog, while Ryan found Flam, the most friendly cat.
There was enough time for a quick cup of tea and to complete the necessary paperwork before getting fitted out into our snow gear and then heading out to meet the dogs. Currently Marcelle and Gilles have 52 dogs; 44 on active duty, 6 retirees and 2 puppies. Marcelle actively races her dogs in events such as the Yukon Quest (1000 miles from Whitehorse to Fairbanks, Alaska) and in 2014 will attempt the Ididarod 1000 miles for the first time.
The boys had fun paying in the snow while the dogs were being harnessed up to the sleds. There was then time for a quick refresher for David and I in how to drive the dogs, and a first lesson for Connor and Ryan, who were both being allowed to drive their own teams independently. It was particularly important they learnt when and how to use the soft versus hard breaks, how to lean into corners and stay low and to hand on no matter what. Once this was complete and Marcelle was confident that the boys were responsible enough to try driving it was time to head out into the twisting and turing trail through the forrest.
Both the boys were really excited. Poor Ryan was excited but standing on the hard break of his sled was also very scared and unsure whether he wanted to continue. I knew exactly how he felt because that was me a year ago in Sweden. we encouraged him to hang in there and give to a try as we were sure that within just a few minutes of taking off he would love it.
The dogs gave their customary howls of excitement in anticipation of heading out. We took off at speed straight towards the forrest. Marcelle first, Ryan second with his team of 3 dogs Otter, Beavor and U2 (team white), Connor third with his team of 3 dogs, me further with my team of 4 dogs and David last with his team of four dogs.
Ryan's concerns were evident as he refused to get off his hard break. This meant we were travelling relatively slowly and that Connor, myself and David all hard to also break often so as not to run into him. Everyone could also hear a lot of noise; usally dog sledding is a pretty quiet time of relaxation and reflection. I soon realised that it was Ryan. Despite his fear he was obviously enjoying it as it was his voice echoing through the forrest as he wahoo'd his way along. Marcelle stopped after a while and encouraged Ryan to come off his hard brake and to quietly enjoy the moment. We made our way 23km through forrest, over ice bridges over a river, through fields and finally out onto McConnell Lake.
At McConnell Lake Gilles and Johan lit a fire and we anchored the dogs and had lunch. We had chicken noodle soup and then cooked hot dogs on sticks over the fire before having chocolate cookies and trail bars and fruit juice. Marcelle was very impressed that the boys made it 23kms on their first ever attempt at driving dogs.
After lunch we made the 23km journey back to the ranch. In total, Ryan fell off his sled 3 times and David twice. We were a bit concerned that Ryan may have broken his left cheek bone after his second fall where he went face first into hard snow. He was complaining that it was very sore and said he had blood in his mouth after the fall. His face came up very bruised but was not obviously broken.
Back at the ranch Ryan collapsed into the snow after his hard work. After the dogs were taken care of David and I went inside and took off our snow gear and rested for a while. We spent time admiring the amazing view of the mountains that we had from the lounge room window. The boys stayed outside playing in the snow. When they came in we watched hockey on TV before having a dinner of lasagne, salad, fruit and ice-cream. We were quite tired when we eventually climbed into bed and knew that the much harder adventure would begin with the wilderness camping tomorrow.
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