Follow the dogsleds on Minnesota's North Shore

Mother-daughter mushing

Rita and her Stoney Creek dogsled te

By Lisa Meyers McClintick

For most Minnesota vacationers, dogsledding is one of the most exciting and authentic ways to enjoy the North Shore's winter scenery. If you have dog lovers in the family, even better.

I couldn't wait to take my 6-year-old twin girls on a mother-daughter mush earlier this month. Katie, declared the dogsled outing "the best day of my life!" as she tumbled out of our van and rushed to meet Stony Creek Kennels' sled team.

My friend, Beth, and I and the girls met owner Rita Wehseler about five miles up the Sawbill Trail near Tofte.

Her Alaskan huskies joyfully greeted the girls, jumping up, trying to lick cheeks and wagging tails. As Rita hooked them up to the sled, Grayling, a pretty female, repeatedly jumped straight up and down with excitement--all four feet in the air. It was like Call of the Wild meets Pepe Le Pew.

Rita's Alaskan huskies didn't seem much bigger than our own border collie mix, but 10 of them eagerly pulled all five of us. We were stacked into the sled toboggan style. With a blanket on top, we stayed warm for the 40-minute ride in 5-below-zero temperatures.

Heading into the forest

Like all dogsled teams, each husky has its own personality. Some are focused and natural-born leaders. Others not so much. Rita and her husband, Bill, have more than 40 dogs total. (Can you imagine keeping them all straight?) But it's obvious they are "the kids."

After a brief scolding--especially of a willful dog named French Fry--owner Rita Wehseler proudly yelled, "That's my boys!" and encouraged them onto Superior National Forest trails.

She'd give series of whistles to guide them up hills and around curves through pine glades and over rivers. These are trails few people see other than her and Bill, who grooms them. We did occasionally glide onto snowmobile trails, which were popular on a blue-sky winter day.

Rita helped run a dogsledding business in Alaska before returning to her home state about a decade ago. She was the first woman to finish the 250-mile Can-Am Crown  in Maine and has set speed records in the past few years.

For us, on a recreational ride, there was no effort. We simply leaned back, watched the trees and blue sky spool past while the dogs happily sped ahead.

Duluth's John Beargrease Marathon

John Beargrease Marathon

Dogsledding has historically been one of the easiest ways to navigate rugged, forested landscape along Lake Superior and the Upper Great Lakes. At this weekend's 28th John Beargrease Marathon you'll find international dogsledders who compete in this heritage sport and work to qualify for Alaska's Iditarod.

You can watch the teams at several way stations Sunday and Monday or join in the pre-race  events in Duluth starting this Friday.


More dogsledding opportunities

In addition to Stoney Creek, you can also dogsled with Arleigh Jorgenson, who is based in Grand Marais. He has been a leading musher with more than 30 years of experience. He guided trips for the last 13 years and has a 100-dog kennel that he runs with his son, Odin.

Read more about dogsledding in Minnesota from a previous 10,000 Likes post and see a video from a Brainerd ride at Cragun's Resort.

Take a virtual ride with Stoney Creek

Minnesota's North Shore: A winter wonderland

Photos by Lisa Meyers McClintick

Lake Superior's daily ice show 

Winter visitors to Minnesota's North Shore come for endless cross-country skiing, the state's most challenging and extensive downhill runs at Lutsen Mountains, snowshoeing at state parks, snowmobiling through Superior National Forest, and the many laid-back evening concerts.

It's all fun and easily fills a long weekend or more. But in my humble opinion, few activities beat seeing what Mother Nature tossed onto shore during the night.

Lake Superior is, after all, the world's largest freshwater lake. It stays open all winter, vast and immense, shimmering in every shade of moody blues. There may be quiet days, but the cold surf   gently laps and lulls you to sleep or angrily splashes against rocks and sculpts new layers of ice.

Cobblestones look encased in glass. Rocky outcrops drip with icicles like stalactites in caves. Snow swirls into intricate drifts.

The best time to troll the shore? Early morning when sunrise gilds the ice and snow and casts a warm yellow glow.


Views from Lutsen Resort's cove

These photos are from just one small stretch of America's North Coast--the one where the Poplar River burbles into Lake Superior by 125-year-old Lutsen Resort, the oldest continuously run resort in Minnesota.

The beauty changes each day--even each hour. Morning mist curls and wafts across the lake like steam in a kettle. Midday blues melt to the horizon, making it difficult to see where the lake ends and the sky begins. On the clearest days, we saw outlines of the Apostle Islands. On some afternoons, clouds gathered thick and steely gray and fat flakes fell in thick winter curtains.

Needless to say, 2011 has delivered a winter wonderland for anyone hearty enough to get out and explore it. It's worth the extra layers. Just have the hot cocoa ready to go.

North Shore slideshow
(Slideshow music excerpt from Rachel Portman's "The Ocean," from the "Cider House Rules" soundtrack.)  

More Great Lakes vacations on 10,000 Likes: Lake Michigan's winter beauty in Door County, Wisconsin.

Walker's Eelpout festival: Spring break on ice

Let's see...We have the fake-baked Coors girls looking like Barbie in Siberia, a bikini contest, and a whole lot of people donning swim trunks to jump into Leech Lake where 4-foot chunks of ice have been removed. This is Walker, Minn., during one of the town's biggest events of the year. The annual Eelpout Festival runs Feb. 19-21 this year. Technically, it's an ice-fishing competition, but it's really just an excuse. This is Minnesota's version of spring break on ice, WE Fest in winter. The goal is fun--and the chance to laugh in Mother Nature's frigid face.

Bawdy and a bit naughty     

A few things to know about the festival. It can be bawdy--even in the daylight. It's pretty hilarious, though, to drive through the mass city of ice houses and watch ATVs pulling couches loaded up with people (jokingly called "red-neck ski couches"). Our kids were even invited to shoot arrows at the giant inflated gorilla. Just be sharp enough to drive around the R-rated encampments. There are places named "The No-Tel Ho-Tel" and signs suggesting visitors do things that would earn you beads at Mardi Gras.

Go jump in the lake. Really.

There are kids games in the City Park, but mine, especially our 9-year-old son, were most fascinated by watching just-this-side-of-crazy folks who raise money to jump in the lake. The plunge is set up just below the gorgeously renovated Chase on the Lake Hotel. One participant (I think he was the European) managed a graceful swan dive before getting chastised. You have to jump feet first. Either way, you risk screaming like a girl. Of course, the shock might muffle it. Hats off to the Hackensack group who dressed like the cast of "Paul Bunyan: The Musical" and made the most colorful, flannel-themed splash. You were our favorite.

Read more about the Walker, Minn., festival at www.startribune.com/travel.

Travel to Minnesota's dogsledding destinations

Riding behind a dogsled team with brisk winter air rushing into your face should be on every Minnesotan's bucket list. You don't even have to spend much. For $10 a person, you can get a 10- or 15-minute dogsled ride around Gull Lake or across a golf course most snowy Saturdays at Cragun's Resort in Brainerd, Minnesota. All you need to do is bundle up and hang on for a winter vacation experience like few others.


Chaos, cacophony, quiet
Earplugs might help, too, especially if you're the first dogsled rider of the day. Be prepared for cacophony. A team of huskies jacked up for a run ranks at the same excitement and noise level of a classroom of ADHD boys with baseball bats, trampolines and pinatas. They are charged! The handlers have a major job trying to hook up dogs bouncing up and down, scrapping with each other and yelping and howling with joy.

Then you're bundled up in the dogsled, the leader yells "Gee!" and barking turns off like a switch. The dogs, in all shades of brown, black and cream, strain forward and quickly gain momentum. There's a beautiful shooooosh of movement and a magical silence barely touched by a few creaks from the wooden sled and whispered rhythm of running dogs.

Contagious exuberance
Sitting behind the Minnesota dogsled team, I wondered if their feet even touched the ground as they flew across snow, tongues flapping to the side of their mouths, mismatched eyes focused forward. It was a rush to recline into the sled and watch bare trees and thick pines spool past. On one ride, we hit a sharp corner and tipped into the shrubs. We laughed and got back on. The dogs' exuberance was contagious to the point of epidemic. After the ride was over, it was just as much fun to watch the canine team--barely winded--take off with more first-time riders in tow.
Where to have a dogsledding vacation
Cragun's Resort, Brainerd has the best deal I've found if you're short on time and money. Guests can sign up for a slot when they check in. It does sometimes book up, or need to be canceled depending on weather. Brainerd, Ely, Duluth, Lutsen-Tofte and Grand Marais are all good places to find dogsledding outfitters who will arrange a private half-day or full-day. Prices typically start at $90-$100 per person and go up from there depending on the length of the dogsled ride and whether meals are included.

Other good bets for a shorter sample: Plan ahead for Cook County's annual Volks Ski Fest. It hosted dogsledding in Tofte and at Bearskin Lodge on the Gunflint Trail last Saturday. The festival runs all this week, celebrating winter fun with sleigh rides, snowshoeing and the chance to try some of the area's 400 kilometers of groomed trails.

Further down the Gunflint Trail, historic Gunflint Lodge has three dogsledding weekends each winter with two left: Feb. 3-7 and March 3-7. Prices range from $345 per child for a three-night option (lodging/meals/activities) to $596/per adult for a four-night package.

Wintergreen Dogsled Lodge in Ely ranks as Minnesota's nationally known dogsled experience, with options ranging from $1200 all-inclusive, multi-day trips to affordable half-day trips starting at $100/person. They have one weekend a year devoted to a parent-daughter experience, with an emphasis on writing in addition to learning about dogsledding. The International Wolf Center in Ely has four spots left for its annual Mush with Dogs, Howl with Wolves program Feb. 19-21 ($470/night).

Finally, if you want to soak up the energy and excitement of the sport, travel to Duluth for next weekend's annual John Beargrease Dogsled Marathon, a prequalifier for Alaska's legendary Iditarod. There's a cutest puppy contest noon to 2 p.m. at the Fitger's complex Saturday, Jan. 30. The race begins Sunday, Jan. 31, and runs through Wednesday, Feb. 3.