Quite frankly, I’ve lost track of how many trips I’ve made to Denali Park, but every trip included a visit to Earthsong Lodge.

My trips have mainly been during the winter, but there were a couple of summer hiking trips too. There is something so captivating and awesome to me about Alaska in general and the interior specifically that the excitement has not diminished from my first trip up there 8 or 9 years ago to my last one this past March. If anything, my excitement has grown.

My first trip up to Alaska was a relatively typical one for those with a strong interest in dogs and winter activities – a weekend to watch the Iditarod start, and then a 3 day dog sledding trip; in my case, with Jon Nierenberg and Earthsong Lodge. We did the ‘Sushana River Sampler’ trip, which is a trail partly along the Stampede Trail (and past the “Sushana bus” if interested, for those of you familiar with ‘Into the Wild’ by Jon Krakauer) and then into Denali Park. It was on this trip that I really learned about mushing – the dogs, the gear, the terminology, and even the technique; I think I was a quick study!! And learning about mushing was one of my goals as I had just gotten my first Alaskan Malamute. What I didn’t expect is the immediate addiction to Alaska.

Well, up I went the following year for another trip; a longer one. And one that allowed me to experience something I had only read of, in absolute disbelief, in books about dog sledding, arctic expeditions, or the Iditarod; and something I never anticipated experiencing myself – minus 60 degrees. I won’t repeat everything you can read in those books, but, believe me, the mind-numbing descriptions of what minus 60 degrees feels like are true.

But the extreme cold didn’t deter me, and up I went again for another trip into Denali Park, and this time more deeply into it – a six day trip that again started along the Stampede Trail and Sushana River, and then went deeply into the park via the Toklat River, over Polychrome Pass, and eventually following the park road and out to Park Headquarters. It was about this time that I started bringing dogs home with me; and the “real” ones – Alaskan Huskies. What started as a curiosity to learn about the history and true being of a sled dog started becoming a lifestyle and a dream for me as I brought more dogs home and started running my own team here in Washington. It didn’t necessarily start as a dream to race and run the Iditarod; it was more of a dream to travel long distances by dog team. And to that end, my trips to Alaska continued and even included an entire month of mushing in and around Denali Park with my own dog team one December and January.

Earthsong Lodge, and Jon and Karin Nierenberg have become family to me. They were integral in developing both my knowledge of mushing and my dream to do big things with a dog team. Well, in the mushing world, my dream has morphed into a dream to race, including the ultimate in long distance racing – the Iditarod. And thanks to all my experience in Alaska, into Denali Park, and with Jon, I feel as qualified as a rookie from the lower 48 could possibly feel. So, if you have similar dreams, or just want a sampling of what the world of true Alaskan mushing is all about, Earthsong Lodge is the place to go as far as I’m concerned. Plus, for every dogsled trip booked with Earthsong Lodge I will receive sponsorship to help my team and its quest to run the Iditarod. So, tell Jon and Karin who sent you!!