North to the Canadian Arctic

[Houndoc]

I was able to spend 5 days traveling north of Churchill, Manitoba. Although not all that far north (about the same as Juneau, Alaska), the area is very much Arctic in nature (our camp in Nunala is 100 miles or so north of the closest tree, despite being at sea level).

The trip had everything....rough travel by Bombadier across snow and sea ice (cpmplete with major stucks and breakages), Northern Lights, blizzards. Was great!

As always, I will link to my report on the UOOC page since photos are easier to upload over there.

http://www.utahoffroad.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2439&PN=1

 

[Cody]

Wow! that's awesome!

 

[benjy]

Wow! Those are some tough dogs You mentioned that the Inuits fed polar bear to the dogs. Did pretty much everyone out there feed raw diets to the sled dogs? I didn't know you are a vet!

 

[Houndoc]

Wow! Those are some tough dogs You mentioned that the Inuits fed polar bear to the dogs. Did pretty much everyone out there feed raw diets to the sled dogs? I didn't know you are a vet!

The dogs are amazing. That is what drew into sled dog medicine. If you look closely at one of the Tuesday moring pictures, you can see a couple of ears sticking out of the snow. As the storm wound down, it was hard to walk around camp because you could not see alot of the dogs and to avoid steping on them, had to try and remember where each time was tied.

When the storm ends, they just pop out of the snow like all is well.

The Inuit mushers feed diet almost completely raw meat (fish, caribou most common). A couple of them and the other mushers use the same meats, mixed with some dry kibble but cook it into a stew. That works well, since the dogs get more water that way and have less dehydration problems on the trail.

As much as I would like to steer them away from raw meat diets, it is hard when that is mostly what they eat. Must admit, raw, frozen caribou taste better than I expected. :-\

 

[Rot Box]

Wow that's incredible! Thanks for sharing looks like quite an experience

 

[Greg]

That must have been quiet the experience, thanks for sharing! I'm amazed at what these sled dogs can put up with, they are some hardy animals. What were the lowest temps you saw?

Wish you posted the photos on here too.

 

[SAMI]

Amazing!!

 

[Houndoc]

That must have been quiet the experience, thanks for sharing! I'm amazed at what these sled dogs can put up with, they are some hardy animals. What were the lowest temps you saw?

Wish you posted the photos on here too.

I really wish I had a thermometer while at camp. The morning I flew home, it was -12, at about 11am. I really think that was a pretty typical day.

I suspect coldest temps would have been -25 or so. Not all that bad really. But, when you take twenty below and add 40-50 mph winds, it feels a little chilly.

As far as the photos, one of these days I'll get around to using photobucket so I can upload on to here.

Anychance of getting a system that allows direct uploads?

 

[Thursty]

Thats really awesome! Thanks for sharing.