This is an exciting Yukon husky safari tour filled with fun and adventure for the beginner musher. Spend your days mushing your own team through the pristine wilderness surrounding the ranch. Relax in the evenings with a shower, sauna or snuggled up by the fire recounting your day’s adventure with others on your tour!
We do everything we can to ensure that this is your adventure of a lifetime and that you go home with many happy memories of your visit. We do recommend that you arrive the day before your tour. All clients will be picked up at the airport upon arrival and taken to a hotel (if booked) or straight to the ranch if arriving on an early morning flight. Pre and post nights can be booked for you.
Canadian Husky Adventure Medium is 3 days longer in duration than the Short version of the trip. Both are based out of the same location.
Dates: This trip runs starts on a Friday and runs to the following Saturday. First departure is early Jan 2025, last departure of the season is late March. Please contact us with your preferred dates for availability at info@huskyholidays.co.uk.
Notes:
Whitehorse, Yukon
Welcome to Whitehorse, Yukon! Today you will be picked up at Whitehorse airport and transferred to your hotel.
Today is a free day to explore the town and relax after your long journey before your adventure begins tomorrow.
You will be picked up from your hotel lobby at 10am and we will do a short tour of Whitehorse. Here you also have the chance to do some last minute shopping. Afterwards we drive to the kennels, 20km out Whitehorse where we outfit you with your expedition clothing. You move into your cosy cabin, or nice double room in the main lodge. The Lodge is overlooking beautiful Fish Lake, with southern exposure. The dogs are waiting to meet you. Lunch in the main lodge. Do you want to know what a bootie is? Well you learn it today. We show you how to harness the dogs and give you instruction on how to drive the sled.
Depending on the weather and time of the day we hook up the dogs and go for a short first run. Three dogs pull you on this first day. After taking care of the dogs we enjoy a hearty meal. You might want to take a shower or just relax beside the stove, and of course listen to the dogs howling outside. Overnight at the kennels base. (L,D)
While the morning sun slowly lifts over the horizon we prepare for our day trip after breakfast. We feed and water the dogs and harness them up at around 11am. We cover about 35 km in distance, driving towards Jackson Lake and the Copper Haul Road.
Just the slight sound of the working dogs and runners in the snow will be with you for that day. You get to know your dogs and start to form a personal relationship. With every stop, and praise for the dogs, they learn to trust you and you to trust them. Overnight at base. (B,L,D)
The dogs will pull us on a trail east of the Ranch. We are continuously climbing in elevation as we are heading on an abandoned mining road on MacIntyre Mountain. On occasional stops we can enjoy unprecedented scenery of the Coastal Mountain with Fish Lake nestled deep in the valley. Return to the Lodge. Overnight at base (B,L,D).
Today we head towards beautiful Bonneville Lakes, west of the Ranch. The trails are narrower with some challenging up and downs. The Coastal Mountains are always in view to the South and West. Part of the trip we travel above tree line and easily cover between 20 and 30km. Slowly, a new feeling of life will creep in. In harmony with the running rhythm of your team you will enjoy nature in a way you’ve never experienced before. Overnight at kennel base. There is a gravity fed indoor shower waiting for you in the main lodge. (B,L,D)
Now you leave behind the last remnants of civilization and head out to a real wilderness. The trail follows Fish Lake and climb and heads into the Coastal Range to the south. After approximately 2.5 hrs of running time we reach our trapper’s wall tent camp at dry creek. Overnight in wall tent (B,L,D).
From the wall tent camp, weather permitting we will make a run to the top of the mountain above tree line to Ptarmigan flats where there is a good chance of seeing large flocks of these beautiful white birds and having some wonderful sledding on miles of wind blown snowy hill tops, before heading back to the wall tent camp (B,L,D)
After a musher’s breakfast, we will start for our mushing back to Guide’s Ranch. The dogs pull us steady westbound with the Coastal Mountains in plain view ahead of us. Way too soon we return to civilization and most of all, you have to leave your new friends, the dogs, behind. (B,L). In the late afternoon we drive you to Whitehorse where you spend your night in a downtown hotel. Overnight in hotel. In Whitehorse you will receive your ‘Musher Diploma’ and shuttle pass.
The hotel van (or taxi) transfer to the airport for your flight.
* Yukon husky safari sledding adventure is a challenging but relaxed fun trip! We supply you with the best equipment possible and teach you all the important aspects of mushing.
* To participate you must be healthy, enjoy working with dogs and have a good team spirit. Dog sledding is a comparable physical activity to cross-country skiing, s o you should be in relatively good physical shape.
* The camps have no power or telephone, showers are of basic gravity fed nature and not available in tent camp. Shower and sauna at Lodge.
* We point out, that unforeseeable circumstances such as weather conditions, wind chill factor, extreme temperatures (-30 or lower), condition of the group or illness of the dogs may force us to change this itinerary. The safety of our guests takes precedence and our decisions are final.
* You will need to sign a “release of claims and waiver of liability form”.
