Our family is getting back into our normal routine after a fabulous few days playing tourist on the Gunflint Trail. For four years now, we’ve reserved the beautiful, big, Caribou cabin at Hungry Jack Lodge during the Mush for a Cure event, to be near all the fun activities surrounding that celebration. When the 2015 fundraiser was cancelled, we kept our reservation, planning to have a family get-away anyway.
We all fondly remember the first year we stayed up the Trail for the Mush for a Cure. That weekend also ended on a beautiful sunny day with us playing on the ice in snow pants and T-shirts. My grandchildren look forward to the weekend as much as a birthday or holiday celebration. Throughout the year, they ask, “When is Mush weekend?”
When it was cancelled, we were all disappointed. We have hoarded pink clothing and accessories for years, ready to craft a costume to fit in with the Mush for a Cure theme of the year—one year it was the ‘50s; one year a pajama party and last year a somewhat creepy zombie affair.
Well, we were almost all disappointed. My lone grandson Carter wasn’t too sorry that he didn’t have to get decked out in pink along with all his girl cousins.
But all of the grandkids were sad that their fun winter adventure might not happen. But none of the grownups— grandma and grandpa or parents— wanted to cancel either, so when Forrest from Hungry Jack called to see if we were still on, we said yes!
And as plans were made, the grandkids excitedly looked forward to “Not Mush Weekend.”
We had a fantastic time, sledding, snowmobiling, ice fishing, making a snow castle and having snowball fights during the day and playing cards and board games at night.
It turns out we still got our mushing fix. Sarah Hamilton of Trail Center Lodge rallied Cook County residents to host “Dog Days of Winter,” an event on March 8 just for the fun of it, all on Poplar Lake. It was a delightful event, with not only sled dogs, but skijoring. Seeing the skijoring was fun because we’ve never seen that humandog interaction before.
It is an amazing sport, with some dogs taking off like rockets, dragging their person along smoothly and effortlessly on skinny skis. Others take a bit of encouragement and although no one fell in the Dog Days of Winter event, I’ll bet skiers do sometimes get tripped by their enthusiastic pups.
We had quite a bit of discussion about whether or not our dogs could skijor. Our younger dogs certainly have the energy, but we decided we’d be risking broken bones if we let them pull us across the lake and through the woods. One sighting of a squirrel and we’d be done for!
We always enjoy watching the sled dogs, but I think the Dog Days of Winter was extra fun because there was so much happening all at once. There were dogs taking off and dogs returning nearly simultaneously. There were dog sleds driven by local elementary school kids with just two dogs and there were adult mushers enjoying a day out with a new team of eight dogs. Most delightful I think were the families mushing together. There were several tandem sleds, like a bicycle built for two, with an adult in the back supervising as a child drove the dogs.
It all reminded me of P.D. Eastman’s Go, Dog. Go! A dog party!
And of course, Über hostess Sarah had hot dogs, marshmallows and cocoa down on the ice next to the bonfire. It was a great event and if Mush for a Cure doesn’t come back, I hope Dog Days of Winter does.
We agreed that something could be added to make it even more fun, if anyone has the time and the energy. Dog Days of Winter would be the perfect place to offer dog sled rides. I know that a number of kennels and resorts offer day trips, but it isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when I plan a day of winter fun. But when I saw the mushers gliding across Poplar Lake, I couldn’t help thinking, “I want to try that!”
A short ride up and down the lake would be the perfect way to try out the historic pastime. Go, dog. Go!
Why does watching a dog be a
dog fill one with happiness?
Jonathan Safran Foer
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