I've always loved dogs. As a kid my family always had them- Labradors mainly. When I first moved away from home, I got a crazy mutt, Siegal and he was my instant go-everywhere best friend. I was always known in college, as the guy with the crazy, happy dog. Then after Siegal I got my first Husky, Luna, and the rest is history.
In the mid 1990's, I was in my early 20's and was living in Northern Montana with some friends in a small one-room cabin we'd built. We were 9 miles down an old dirt road, surrounded by National Forest. One particular winter we had epic snowfall, and couldn't get all the way to the cabin, and had to park down the road a bit. I had Luna, and I figured I should train her to pull me on skis from my truck to the cabin- so, I bought her a harness, and, started teaching her to pull and it was humorous, but eventually she got the hang of it, and my mushing career was born- although at very slow speeds! At that same time I started going to sled dog races as a spectator to watch and learn. I realized early on, that big freighting Huskies like Luna were beautiful, but not too great as working sled dogs.
Also, during those years I started my professional guiding career, working first as a seasonal river guide doing multi-day whitewater rafting trips in the Wilderness areas surrounding Glacier National Park. Then as a backcountry hunting guide doing Wilderness Pack trips in pursuit of Elk and other big game.
I moved to the Yellowstone Park region, to open my own river outfitting business and to work year round as a professional guide. This is when I seriously got into mushing. I worked as a sled dog tour guide for a pretty big outfit that used mainly Siberian Huskies and older traditional style mushing gear. It was here I learned what running big teams was all about, as well as what type of resources it took to manage a huge kennel. I learned alot working for that touring kennel, but after a while I realized the slower speed, traditional freighting style of mushing this outfit had perfected, was not the direction I wanted to take my mushing career- I was captivated by the speed, skill and stamina I had seen displayed by the Alaskan Huskies and mushers at sled dog races. I then decided I needed to learn that, so I picked up the phone.
Jason Barron is a Professional musher from Lincoln, Montana. He grew up in Alaska in an Iditarod family. His father was an Iditarod Iron Man, competing in the great race regularly for three decades. Jason, like an Alaskan Husky was born and bred into the world of competitive distance racing. From him, I learned the art and science of modern racing. Jason is a Top Ten Iditarod finisher, and he has won most of the major distance and mid-distance races in the lower 48, including the Montana “Race to the Sky” and Minnesota’s “John Beargrease Marathon” I was very fortunate that he took me under his wing, and one season allowed me to spend all of my spare time with he and his family running dogs. Jason is very well spoken, and philosophical. He thinks about training, conditioning and racing sled dogs 24/7- 365 days a year. Spending time with him is like a never-ending classroom. Every second he is telling you about dogs and racing. I would spend 3 or 4 days with him at a time, go back home and process it all for a week, then go back up and learn some more. Later that winter, I decide to put all the lessons learned to use and entered my first dog sled race! What an experience- I entered the division that went the furthest distance, and allowed you to run the most dogs. I looked over the competition, and was confident I’d do well. I got last place!
I’d been training my dogs like an Iditarod team and the race I entered was only 20 miles! I ran my dogs perfectly and everything went smoothly, but all the other teams ran their dogs like freight train, sprint athletes. While I was “pacing the dogs” everyone else ran flat out and blew us away over such a short distance. So, it was back to the drawing board.
That next winter, I designed my own training plan, combining everything I’d learned from all my teachers. My philosophy and plan, I hoped would create happy, and well trained canine athletes and bring me success racing. I wanted to incorporate the work ethic and strength of the tour dogs I’d worked with, along with the discipline, dedication and highly trained professionalism of an Iditarod team, mixed with the enthusiasm and exhilaration of the sprint dogs I’d raced against…plus have them all be as well socialized and loved as my earliest canine companions Siegal and Luna. I went back to the same race that next winter, and competed against many of the same teams and got second! I was very proud, we cut almost an hour off our time from the previous year, but most of all I was pleased that after the race, back at the truck, my dogs were all standing around wagging their tails, smiling and not winded or tired in the least bit. Plus, several other mushers and race organizers came up and complemented us on how great our team looked, and how well conditioned and trained we were! That meant more than the race results. It meant my training plan and philosophy was on the right path.
That plan and philosophy is now focused into Yellowstone Dog Sled Adventures. Our tours combine all the lessons I’ve learned from all my great teachers (both canine and human) and come together to give our guests the ultimate winter adventure! Come join us, and let’s run through the woods with the dogs! I promise I’ll do everything I can to make sure you have an incredible time and go home smiling and as happy as the dogs!
