Denali Dog Mushers

Yesterday we hiked and then went to the Dog Sled Kennels here in Denali.  They use dog sleds in the winter to move building equipment, supplies and any food to the interior winter camps.  It was really interesting to hear the Ranger talk about the necessity of these dog mushers.  Also, some of the iditerod mushers work there in the winter so they can keep their dogs trained and in shape. The dogs are Alaskan huskies breed for their stamina, long legs, and heavy coats. The dogs went wild when they started to hook them up to the dog sled.  They just could not wait to go to work.  After the dogs were attached to the sled, they did a run around the sled run.  Man, could these dogs run.  We were told that when the sleds were loaded that they loaded 50# per dog and an average of 8 dogs ran the sleds.  That is amazing.  We will be here until Tuesday morning when I think we head to the Wasilla/Palmer area before heading into Anchorage.  The salmon are late running this year because of the rains, but hope when we get to the Kenai peninsula (south of Anchorage) they will be running.  Love and miss ya'll.