Baldovinos Bliss: Dog Sledding

I was given the opportunity to go dog sledding with my co-workers. The marketing department had some managers flying in from Asia and Europe, so our manager here wanted to do something fun and outdoors, and something that was very "Colorado". Ice skating was the first choice, but then we went with dog sledding instead. I was glad to be asked to go, because they wanted me to play hostess while we waited in between runs.

I rented the team a really nice bus, and then we drove about 2 hours to Leadville. They have closer dog sledding places, but this was the only one that could accommodate a group our size.

I was in the first group to go out, and we went out in groups of three with one guide that came along with us. The dogs were all lined up in rows, and we got the chance to meet each one of them and pet them before we attached them to our sleds.

After we met each dog, we got to take each one and attach them to the harness. Man, these dogs were so strong! As soon as they were unchained, they wanted to run and get attached to the sled.

Our team of 10 dogs was all ready to go! It was hilarious watching them yelp because they were so excited to get moving and pull the sled. I always wondered if it was mean to make them pull, but it is so obvious that they love doing this.

The trail was about 5 miles long, and we stopped about every mile to rest the dogs and switch places so we could all have a turn mushing. I started the drive sitting in the sled, and then I decided to drive after that. It was so much fun helping to steer the sled! The dogs knew the trail and pretty much did it all on their own.

This is me with my two co-workers, Michael and Diane, who were on the sled with me.

At each stop, we got to get out and pet the dogs and show them some love.

After the ride was over they get a "soup" which is basically hot water and raw meat. They seemed to love it! We got to help our guide feed them as well.

Here is a group shot of everyone that went.

In between runs, we went out into the kennel area and pet all of the dogs and played with them. They are all rescue dogs. Only two out of the 100 there had blue eyes. All of the dogs were Alaskan Huskies, and it's the Siberian Huskies that have the blue eyes.