Northern Lights Peak This Winter!

Prepare for nature’s 2012 spectacular! NASA predicts this winter’s northern lights will be the brightest in 50 years. In the continental US, there’s no better place to view them than northern Minnesota and no better time than December or January, which offer our longest and most cloud-free nights. And there’s no certainly on better way to do that than on at Wintergreen Dogsled Lodge. Join us this winter and enjoy the show. But be sure to book now to take advantage of our summer sign-up discount rates.

Polar Bears galore!

“Is this for REAL?” my wife Sue & I kept asking each other last week while romping with polar bears on Hudson Bay.  A dozen of us took part in Wintergreen’s pioneering venture with Churchill Wild at their lovely Seal River Heritage Lodge in northern Manitoba to hike the Arctic Ocean shore amongst polar bears waiting [...]

Luck o’ the Irish finds the “Polar Time Capsule”

Luck o’ the Irish finds the “Polar Time Capsule”
The 1986 dogsled trek that Will Steger & I (Paul Schurke) led to the North Pole was oddly fraught with inexplicable curiosities and encounters. Perhaps the most unlikely upshot involved a humble piece of plumbing pipe. Enjoy this bonified ‘believe it or not’ tale at www.dogsledding.com/gnablog!

Wintergreen’s Adventure Diplomacy Expedition Commemorated in Anchorage

When we dogsledded and skied from Siberia to Alaska 20 years ago in our effort to help re-open the U.S.-Soviet border in the Bering Strait, little did we know that the project would someday be memorialized in a very unusual way. But this week we got a call from Alaska Airlines to tell us that [...]

Alaska_Airlines_Boeing_737_310px Alaska_Airlines_Boeing_737_310px

Adventure Story – Pyta Boy’s Long Walk Home

Can dogs really find their way home over long distances a la “The Incredible Journey” and “Old Yeller”?  Migrating birds & butterflies certainly can — over thousands of miles.  But according to the database in the book “Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home, and Other Unexplained Powers of Animals” (1999), most accounts [...]

Pyta-Boy_610 Pyta-Boy_610

Ghost Ships of High Arctic

Posted by brucegs13 on June 18th, 2010

The Bermuda Triangle holds nothing over the high arctic when it comes to mysteries at sea. In fact, two of Wintergreen’s favorite arctic adventure haunts, Russia’s Barents Sea and Canada’s Queen Elizabeth Islands are sites of those mysteries.

Sir Hugh Willoughby

Sir Hugh Willoughby

The first involved Sir Hugh Willoughby, a British sea captain who set sail on the Bona Esperanza in 1553 in hopes of finding a trade route to tap the riches of the Orient. His goal was to be the first to negotiate the Northeast Passage, the fabled waterway that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans over the top of Russia. His company was presciently called the “Mysterie of Merchant Adventurers for Discoverie of Regions Unknowen.”

The journey came to an abrupt halt that fall when his ship became locked in the pack ice of the Barents Sea, just east of the Svalbard Islands where Wintergreen’s Norwegian Arctic trips take place. Willoughby’s crew was short of food and fuel and their clothing was woefully inadequate for the brutal cold. Come January, they were still alive, but just barely and then…all was silent.

Two years later, Russian fisherman found the ship helplessly adrift in the polar sea. Going aboard they found Sir Hugh, frozen solid, seated at his table with journal open and pen grasped in his rigid fingers. Scattered about the vessel were the forms of all 40 crew members. Russia’s sailors attempted to tow the vessel with bodies in place, a vast floating coffin, back to England. But it foundered at sea and all was lost — except for the eye-witness accounts of the Russian fisherman which are contained in a report that somehow ended up in the archives of the Venetian embassy in London.

Ship Becomes Locked in the Pack Ice

Ship Becomes Locked in the Pack Ice

The report concludes the men were killed by carbon monoxide fumes from the sooty sea coal they furiously shoveled into their stoves to keep the cold at bay. Or at least that theory would account for the bizarre observations of the fisherman who boarded the ghost ship. In addition to finding Sir Hugh fast frozen to his writing desk, they found “others frozen in place on the mess desk, platter in hand, spoon in mouth; others opening a locker, and others in various postures like statues, as if they had been adjusted and placed in those attitudes.” Sir Hugh’s last diary entry concerned an island he discovered northeast of Svalbard. But “Willoughby Land” has never since been found.

JFK Jr Under President's Desk
JFK Jr Under President’s Desk

The second ghost ship resulted from a British Naval attempt exactly 300 years later to negotiate the Northwest Passage, the fabled waterway that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans over the top of Canada. When it too became locked in the pack ice, the HMS Resolute under Captain Edward Belcher was abandoned in spring 1854. Two years later the crew-less ship was found by an American whaling crew — drifting along some 1200 miles eastwards of where it had been abandoned.

The Americans towed the ghost ship to Connecticut. They happened to arrive in the states at a time when Britain and America were at the brink of war over trade issues. To forestall altercations, a US Senator proposed that the Resolute be refurbished and sent back to Britain as a gesture of peace and goodwill. The ploy worked, the tensions eased and the HMS Resolute saw service again for another 20 years.

When it was retired in 1879, Queen Victoria returned the favor of the gift by having a desk made from the ship’s timbers that she presented to President Hayes. That desk has been in the White House ever since. In 1960 Jackie Kennedy selected it as her husband’s desk for the Oval Office, where it sits to this day.

Barrack Obama at Resolute Desk

Barrack Obama at Resolute Desk

The Resolute desk shares its name with the high arctic village, Resolute Bay, that now exists in the cove where the ship was abandoned. This village, the northernmost community in Canada, has served as the base for many of Wintergreen’s high arctic adventures, including our treks to the geographic North Pole, the magnetic North Pole and our dogsled adventures across Ellesmere Island.

The 500 residents of Resolute Bay take pride in the fact that the village’s namesake desk serves the American presidency. And with a tart twist of humor, they note wryly that since this very desk was the scene of Pres. Clinton’s trysts with Monica Lewinsky, it has indeed served many ‘heads’ of state.

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Summer Adventure Travel Tours at Wintergreen

Posted by brucegs13 on June 10th, 2010

or What Happens At Wintergreen in the Summer?

Canoe Country Fun

Canoe Country Fun

Well, when we’re not sitting around the hacienda sipping mint juleps with the sled dogs, we enjoy some of the most spectacular canoe adventures the world has to offer — right here in our back yard!  And you can too.  A couple of openings remain available on our pioneering venture on northern Manitoba’s historic Grass River July 31-Aug 8 and our walleye safari to lunker heaven in Ontario’s Wabakimi Wilderness Aug 14-20.

Both trips are offered through our non-profit affiliate www.wildernessinquiry.org.

Paul Schurke and his college classmate Greg Lais started WI during their senior year at St. John’s University to offer adventures for disabled persons.  Well, actually it was a thinly veiled strategy for them to meet like-minded, adventurous hot babes in the woods — and they did: Susan Hendrickson Schurke and Patty Thurber Lais!  For over 30 years, they’ve enjoyed great trips around the world with persons who are blind or deaf, or use wheelchairs or crutches.

Grass River Falls

Grass River Falls

This summer Paul and Sue (and their entire family: Bria 24, Peter 18, Berit 16) will be leading the July 31-Aug Grass River trip in Northern Manitoba. This spectular route has it all: Canada’s finest ancient Indian rock paintings, the province’s 3 most resplendent waterfalls, the region’s top-rated walleye lake, caribou, lynx, moose and extraordinary concentrations of wildflowers. Plus it’s an easy trip — a flatwater, far north canoe adventure with heaps of highlights and portages that are few, far between, & short! For more details:  www.wildernessinquiry.org/grassriver

Walleye Fishing

Walleye Fishing

Following that trip, Paul and Greg are headed back to one of their favorite haunts: Northern Ontario’s Wabakimi Wilderness. After several years of exploring this paddler’s paradise, we’ve discovered the “honey hole,” the best walleye fishing anywhere! But be forewarned, you may have trouble keeping an eye on your bobber with the stunning scenery tugging on your attention.  We’ll be fishing pools in the fabled Kopka Gorge, renowned as the most dramatic topography in the canoe country.  And when you’ve had your fill of fish, you can feast on blueberries — they’re everwhere.  For details: www.wildernessinquiry.org/wabakimifish

Running Rapids

Running Rapids

As with all Wilderness Inquiry trips, these are open to persons with or without disabilities. Given the diverse social mix of our participants (who come from all walks of life and have wild stories to tell), you can look forward to fascinating campfire chatter.  You’ll also enjoy some birthday cake — Paul will be celebrating his 55th birthday this summer.  He and his family celebrated his 50th birthday in a very different place, with friends in northern Sweden who operate the famous “Ice Hotel.” — a very seasonal lodging facility made entirely of ice. You might want to save this photo of it as your screensaver for muggy August days in your office. Or cool off with us on a great canoe adventure!

Sweden's Ice Bar

Sweden's Ice Bar

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Wintergreen’s Chef Bernard Now Offers Gourmet Cuisine Summer and Winter for Adventure Travellers

Posted by brucegs13 on June 3rd, 2010

Wintergreen's Chef Bernard

Wintergreen’s Master Chef Bernard Herrmann is one of the world’s top 100 French chefs, was knighted by the French premiere for his culinary excellence and helped launched Julia Child’s career by serving as one of her sponsors for admittance to Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. He has worked at some of the most exclusive restaurants in the United States. So what’s a guy like this doing spending his winters at Wintergreen Dogsled Lodge and his summers at the 24-seat Mantel House restaurant at the ‘end of the road’ in Ely?

“I came here for the good life,” he says. “People here are down to earth. There’s no showing off. They don’t come up here to shine and be flashy. My telephone recording says, `I’m either hunting, fishing, skiing or hiking and God knows when I will be back.’”

Chef Bernard Francois Herrmann comes from a long line of family chefs: His grandfather, father, brother, sister, nephew and cousin all were chefs. He was born in 1942, in the back of a restaurant in Alsace, France. “I was born at quarter to 12. Dad was upset because it was just before lunch.”

At age 14 he apprenticed with master chef Pierre Gaertner at the Armes De France Restaurant, a two-star Michelin restaurant in Ammerschwir, Alsace, France. After a stint in the French army, he continued his apprenticeship under his father, then owner of the l’Hostellerie d’Alsace in Cernay.

After moving to the United States in 1965, Herrmann first took a job cooking at the Plaza Hotel in New York. A few years later, he accepted a position as head chef of the Le Cygne Restaurant, which, under his direction, became a three-star New York Times restaurant. He then moved around, running kitchens at a private club and a luxury resort and eventually landed a position as
executive chef of the Carlyle and Meridien Hotel in Houston, where he worked with Jacques Maximin, one of the world’s greatest chefs. From there, Herrmann went on to Dallas and started working with Pam Freeman. Her
husband’s great grandparents had come from Finland to settle in Ely and their homestead had become a summer cabin for Pam and her husband Fletcher. They in turn introduced Bernard to the ‘good life’ in the beautiful northwoods.

In fall 1997, Bernard decided he’d had enough of the frenetic corporate cooking scene and retired to Ely. After getting settled in, he began looking around for something to do. As Paul Schurke explains, an amazing bit of serendipity took over from there:

“Just a month or so before our dogsled trips were to begin, we learned that our seasonal cook of many years had been offered a year-round position at the Grand Ely Lodge. We were happy for her but it left us in lurch. We tried our luck with a ‘help wanted’ ad in the local paper although we didn’t expect much response. An hour or two after the Ely Echo came out that Monday, our program administrator Kate called me from our office in town to say that some guy with a strong accent had stopped by to apply for the job. Furthermore, she said, he had this incredible resume. She suggested I come in and talk to him myself to see if this was all for real. Well it was and Wintergreen and Ely have been very blessed that he’s been here ever since!”

A few years after arriving in Ely, Bernard and Pam opened their Mantel House restaurant in a beautiful old home in the middle of town. It’s been closed the past few summers but they’re pleased to announce that it’s re-opening this summer and will be offering 4-course gourmet dinners with French wines every Thursday, Friday and Saturday June though August. If you needed an excuse to visit Ely this summer, this is it! Call 365-7659 for reservations.

For Bernard, food is key to living a good life. One of his missions at Wintergreen and at the Mantel House is educating people about good food and taking the time to enjoy it. “When I go to France, we sit there for four or five hours eating,” he says. “And while you are eating, you talk about what you are going to eat the next day.”

Herrmann’s passion for food doesn’t mean that he is always four-star serious. He has a delightful sense of humor, and it’s obvious he’s happy to be doing what he loves; cooking great food and enjoying the great outdoors.

Chef Bernard's Blueberry Salad

He finds the lifestyle in Ely what he’s been longing for. “All my life, I work for the customer, but you don’t feel the customer,” he says. “Here people are my friends. And I finally have my dream of simplicity. I can have a pickup truck, I can dress in jeans on my day off, and I can go fishing whenever I like.”

So what will you enjoy for dinner on your Wintergreen dogsled vacation? Here are a few of the entre options Bernard offered our guests last season: Chicken Basquaise with Roasted Vegetables, Sautéed Beef Tenderloin Filet in Merlot Sauce, Baked Walleye with Shrimps & Tarragon Sauce, Vegetable Medley according to market. Dessert options included: Chocolate Mousse, White
Chocolate Bread Pudding with Raspberry Sauce, Floating Islands, Creme Caramel. Bon Appétit!

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Media Coverage of Wintergreen & Paul Schurke

Posted by brucegs13 on June 2nd, 2010

The media has been very kind to Wintergreen Dogsled Lodge and Paul Schurke.   The following are a few links to the media coverage we have received for our Dogsledding Adventure Travel Tours:

New York Times Travel Section feature March 2009


New York Times Coverage of Wintergreen

New York Times – Click here to see Wintergreen coverage

Travel Channel celebrity Samatha Brown joined us for a Wintergreen dogsled camping trip to produce a TV special that now airs on her “Passport to Great Weekends” series, May 2009. View her trip slide show and check upcoming showtimes:

Travel Channel/Samantha Brown Slideshow

Travel Channel Samantha Brown covers Wintergreen

Travel Channel Samantha Brown covers Wintergreen

Eden Adventures highlights Wintergreen in their

How Adventure Travel Works ~ Adventure Tours post.

National Geographic Traveler magazine,  March 2009
Travelers Family Vacation Planner – Minnesota/Adventure


Good Morning America features Wintergreen on its March 6, 2008 “Weekend Window” series.

ABC - Good Morning America - Weekend Window

ABC - Good Morning America - Weekend Window

Travel and Leisure magazine, summer/fall 2007
Experience Life Magazine feature

Head Out Adventure Travel-A Trip for 2

–Family Fun magazine, fall 2007

We tried It: Dogsledding

Wintergreen is prominently featured in the PBS-TV series

Adventure Lodges of North America

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Wintergreen’s Adventure Diplomacy Expedition Commemorated in Anchorage

Posted by brucegs13 on June 1st, 2010
Alaska_Airlines_Boeing_737_310px

When we dogsledded and skied from Siberia to Alaska 20 years ago in our effort to help re-open the U.S.-Soviet border in the Bering Strait, little did we know that the project would someday be memorialized in a very unusual way. But this week we got a call from Alaska Airlines to tell us that the Boeing 737 jet with which they had flown our team, sled dogs and supporters to the Russian Far Eastern Arctic on March 1, 1989, to launch the “Bering Bridge Expedition” was being retired to serve as a star attraction at the Alaska Aviation Museum, complete with our expedition name and logo still painted across it’s side. we’ll be providing museum staff with photo and film footage to help tell the expedition story at the jet exhibit near the Anchorage airport.

Gorbachev & Paul Schurke

On that 1,200-mile, 2-month trek, our team of six Soviets and six Americans including native Chukchi and Inuit from the region traveled the ancient trade route that for centuries had connected people of Siberia and Alaska via the Bering Strait, but whose timeless contacts had been completely severed during the Cold War era.  By drawing attention to the close cultural and blood connections between communities on both sides of the Strait, we hoped to foster a thaw in Soviet-American relations.  Since the 1930s, the narrow 50-mile waterway that separates our two countries had been closed to passage by armed guards stationed along the border which was dubbed the “Ice Curtain.”

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 with Bering Bridge Logo

The Bering Bridge Expedition, led by Wintergreen director Paul Schurke and his Russian colleague Dmitry Shparo, resulted in a National Geographic TV special “Thawing the Ice Curtain” and Paul’s best-selling book, “Bering Bridge.” Most importantly, the project caught the attention of both U.S. President George Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbechav who sent personal commendations to Paul and Dmitry for the success of their project and who, in September 1989, signed an accord re-opening the US-Soviet border in the Bering Strait.

Bering Bridge: The Soviet-American Expedition from Siberia to Alaska

Bering Bridge: The Soviet-American Expedition from Siberia to Alaska

The expedition included dogteams from both countries and the book recounts many dog stories from the trek.  One of those involves Kohojotak, a Wintergreen dog that was seriously injured after an attack by a pack of unfriendly Russian dogs.  His stomach had been torn open and his bowels punctured. With no veterinary care available in the Siberia village where the incident occurred, his prospects for survival seemed nil. But a villager offered to look after him while the team camped nearby.  Three days later, the villager returned Kohojotak who –to the team’s utter amazement– was completely recovered without any apparent scars from the gaping wounds.  It defied belief for us — but not other natives in the area who told us the man was a gifted shaman. All we know for sure is that Kohojotak continued to pull in harness just fine through the rest of that expedition and for his many years that followed here at Wintergreen Dogsled Lodge.

You can enjoy driving your own team of our Canadian Inuit dogs, including some of Kohojotak’s descendants, by visiting us at www.dogsledding.com.

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Animal Encounters of the Third Kind

Posted by brucegs13 on June 1st, 2010

Sled dogs have plenty of encounters with each other and their human companions but they’ve also have occasional encounters with wild animals.

Wintergreen mushers were stopped by a moose on the trail several years back. He hoofed the snow and cast a few threatening glances but eventually sauntered off without incident.

Other mushers have not been so lucky with moose encounters. When the snow is deep, moose prefer existing trails — including the Iditarod trail causing hazards for racing teams. In 1985, Susan Butcher lost her chance at becoming the first woman to win the Iditarod when her team made a sharp turn and encountered a pregnant moose. The moose killed two dogs and seriously injured six more in the twenty minutes before another musher arrived and shot the moose. In 1982, three racing teams were driven into the forest by a charging moose.

On a Wintergreen trip across Ellesmere Island, we peered out our tent door one night just in time to watch a pack of arctic wolves pass through our campsite and visit every sled dog along our stake out line. They caused no harm and in fact there was no ruckus.  The dogs & wolves — canine cousins — just seemed to be benignly curious and sniffed each other without showing any apparent aggression.

This past March, a timber wolf came bounding out the woods, jumped right over the lead dogs of a Wintergreen team and kept on going.  Imagine the astonishment of the mom & dad driving that team and the two young kids riding in the basket!

Otter and Jewels

These special encounters are generally too fleeting to get photographed.  Except this one.  Wintergreen participant Ric Partis happened to have his camera handy when his lead dogs Jewels came nose-to-nose with a river otter poking out of it’s ice hole.

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Adventure Story – Pyta Boy’s Long Walk Home

Posted by brucegs13 on June 1st, 2010
Pyta-Boy_610

Pyta Boy - Found His Way Home

Can dogs really find their way home over long distances a la “The Incredible Journey” and “Old Yeller”?  Migrating birds & butterflies certainly can — over thousands of miles.  But according to the database in the book “Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home, and Other Unexplained Powers of Animals” (1999), most accounts of dogs finding their way home involve distances of just a couple miles, at most six.

Well, a Wintergreen sled dog has doubled that record.  Pyta Boy was given to us several years ago by Tom, a mushing friend of ours.  He was a great wheel dog with our teams for several season. Last year when he retired, we let him run loose around our kennel and lodge area (our version of a “Walmart greeter”). Time had taken its toll on the old dog and last fall he began slowing down.  One day he was missing. The staff, after a lengthy search, assumed that as old dogs often do when they know their time is up, Pyta Boy had wandered off into the woods to call it a day. He had gone to the great kennel in the sky, or so we thought.

A week passed.  Then one morning his former owner Tom called us — with some astonishing news.  When he’d opened his cabin door that day, there was Pyta Boy perched on the steps. He looked a bit bedraggled and his coat was covered in burrs but he was wagging his tail enthusiastically. What a journey he’d accomplished!  Not only is Tom’s cabin 12 miles from Wintergreen as the crow flies, but the route there includes a couple big lake chains, several road crossings and numerous stretches of swamp.  No dogsled trails mark the route between Tom’s place & Wintergreen.  Pyta Boy’s only previous journey along that way had been in a pick-up truck.

How did he find his way? We may never know. Science has cracked the code on the navigational skills of most migrating animals but the uncanny homing instincts of a domestic animal like Pyta Boy remains an impenetrable mystery. Three weeks after returning to Tom’s cabin, Pyta Boy passed away peacefully in his sleep.  He had gone home for a reason.

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The Wacky Side of Polar Adventure Travel

Posted by brucegs13 on June 1st, 2010

Italian Arctic Expedition

Buried somewhere in the windblown snowdrifts along the north shore of our continent is a motorcycle. Some 30 years ago, it was destined for the North Pole until it’s driver, a Japanese adventurer, quickly realized that motorcycles are worthless on the fractured pack ice of the polar sea. Perhaps he knew his scheme was ill-conceived because as a precaution he’d filled the handlebars with jellybeans. They were his emergency food source in case he got stranded on the polar sea and ran out of trail rations before being rescued. The beans are still there — he aborted his mission before it was launched.

His polar quest ranks among the most wild & wacky but there have been plenty throughout history. In 1899, an Italian dogteam expedition attempted to lighten their loads by attaching small hydrogen balloons to back of each sled — for a little extra lift. In the deep cold the balloons failed to inflate which is probably a good thing since if they had worked too well, they might have sent both sleds and dangling sled dogs floating skyward! The team was at least able to salvage part of this scheme: they put their steam-powered hydrogen generator to work pumping water out of their ship. It had begun to leak badly while frozen in the sea ice at their shoreline basecamp.

In 1906, American adventurer Robert Peary, exasperated by several failed attempts at reaching the Pole, put out an appeal to the public for creative ideas for conquering the extreme challenges of the high arctic environment. He got plenty, nearly all of them more entertaining than practical. His personal favorite was the detailed description — complete with schematic drawings — of a rubber hose line, hundreds of miles long, that could be pulled along behind his sleds so that hot soup could be steadily pumped all way from his basecamp on Canada’s north shore to provide “meals on wheels” for his team to slurp as they dogsledded northwards over the frozen sea.

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Adventure Travel Tour/Dogsledding – 2010 Guest Testimonials

Posted by brucegs13 on May 31st, 2010

The following , which is a shameless plug for Wintergreen Dogsled Lodge, are slected quotes from 2010 season guest letters and evalutations.

Happy Guests

GREAT PEOPLE, GREAT FOOD, BEAUTIFUL SURROUNDINGS, AND THE SINGING OF THE DOGS . . . IT DOESN’T GET MUCH BETTER!!! Great people, great food, beautiful surroundings, and the singing of the dogs…it doesn’t get any better!!! This trip ranks with our trip to Antarctica! Excellent. And you French chef Bernard – what a gift! After a days of dogs & nature, everyone eagerly looked forward to his mealtime creations. The beds were comfortable, the showers were hot, the sitting area was cozy and a perfectplace for socializing with the other guests.
Bill H.

To save some money, we booked your lower-priced “good” trip. But it felt like a real luxury vacation! The accomodations were better than expected, and the FOOD (thank you Chef Bernard!!) was off-the-scale incredible! The breakfasts and trailside lunches prepared our wonderful guides were fantastic as well, and we really enjoyed having the guides sit down with us for meals. An outstanding vacation all the way around!
Catherine G.

It was nice that we got to handle the dogs as much as we wanted. Within minutes of arriving, I was happily integrated into dog handling and kennel projects. It makes you feel a part of things and able to learn a different lifestyle instead of just being along for the ride. Wintergreen has such a relaxed atmosphere with such great staff and animals that I felt welcome and at home immediately. The trip was phenomenal, one I am still talking about and looking forward to repeating.
Melissa M.

It was fun being so involved with handling the dogs — helping to harness them up, feed them, etc. By the end of the trip we were enthusiastically helping to scoop poop too! It helped us feel that we were part of their team. We all liked seeing how dogs behave when they live and work together in big groups. They have complex relationships and lots of social drama that you don’t see in a group of household pets. As the trip went on, the kids got more and more attached to the dogs. They spent the last couple hours just visiting with the dogs, sad to say goodbye.
Henry F.

The trip was amazing. It was both challenging and fun with an emphasis on teamwork and skill building. It was exactly what we wanted out of our Wintergreen experience. Plus, our guide LynnAnne was knowledgeable, friendly, and willing to answer all of our many questions … and cook a great campside meal!
Jackie A.

The world of working dogs and dog sledding is a different culture from the lapdog pets I’ve always lived with. These dogs, like our guides, are a special breed, and I say that with all admiration and respect. Our dog team was fantastic with unlimited enthusiasm and pull-power. They really do live to pull.
Franny H.

I’ve been with six other mushing operators and you have the best kennel operation — the most organized and efficient I’ve seen.
Lewis E.

I have been planning and hyping this trip for over a year and it still far exceeded my expectations. The warm friendlines and generosity of all of the staff (even the 4 legged ones) made this such a great experience. I have been telling everyone I know about this great experience and that it shoud be on everyone’s “bucket list”.
Robin H.

Our guide Peter did an excellent job leading the way to some interesting trails and making sure that we all sledded through them safely. Steve was just outstanding from every respect. He cooked breakfast and lunch but also told wonderful stories. He’s the quintessential outdoorsman, very enjoyable to be around. The dogs were just great. Being dog owners ourselves, we could see that the Wintergreen staff puts a lot of love and time into keeping them healthy and happy.
Ron D.

Chef Bernard’s meals were delicious and nicely presented. We especially liked the breakfast souffle and the chocolate mousse. We were amazed at the dogs – how friendly and loving they were. We expected to be nervous around some of these powerful animals, but instead felt completely comfortable and enjoyed their company.
Lisa M

I was expecting a good time, but this was way better than good – this was the best trip I have been
on. And that includes Peru, the Coco’s Islands and the Galapagos. It was both physically challenging, and awe inspiring. The staff were so accommodating and personable. I discovered that when you are on a Wintergreen trip, they treat you like a member of the family as well as a guest.
Bob J.

I was so impressed with guides’ close “personal” relationship with the dogs and their unflagging respect for them. They NEVER used a sharp tone of voice or harsh word…ALWAYS firm yet friendly–just like parents should be :-)
Larry N.

We can’t say enough about our experience with the parent/daughter trip. Mike & I were there 15 years ago for our honeymoon and have dreamed about bringing our children “someday”. This trip was our dream come true as it was designed with families in mind. We haven’t stopped talking about all of our adventures, our dogs, our guides, the food, the accomodations, the yurt, etc., to everyone we come in contact with, whether they ask or not! :-) You guys Rock!!
Martha O.

Everything was perfect – accomodations, food (Chef Bernard is a genuis), our wonerful guides, Bria and Ellen, and of course the dogs. Each one is so unique, from Jupiter, who whenver we stopped flung himself on his back and howled till we sledded again; Belle who is a cannine goddess; Patches, the best lead dog; Hardy, handsome and steady; Lewis who loved to pee on every tree; Ellwood, the strong silent type. I adored Betty, Buddy, Izzie and Nellie too. This is a trip I will NEVER forget! Thank you for your wonderful hospitality.
Peggy L.

It was a wonderful experience. There were 6 of us in our group and we were great friends within hours. The ambience of the lodge gave us a great feeling of relaxation. Lexie, our hostess certainly helped to make us feel right at home…as long as we petted her. Our guides, Jason and Kate, couldn’t have been better hosts, greeters, care takers, advisors and all around neat people. I have never tasted such great food as Chef Bernard provided for us. What a treasure he is! Meeting the dogs was a highlight
and to have the same dogs with us for the three days was perfect. Their exuberance on the trail was so much fun to see. It was so exciting to be out in the beautiful country side with the sun shining on the snow and to see the spectacular stars at night, that looked so close as if we could touch them.
Gerri H.

I really miss the dogs. It’s amazing how unique each dog is. I loved them all, with all of their personality quirks. It’s amazing the connection I felt with each of them in such a short amount of time. And while we didn’t speak the same language exactly, I definitely felt there was communication between human and dog. In the eyes. You could tell.
For example, when Lufa would look back from the front…and ask ME, with her eyes, if I was ready…if we could go now already…if i was going to help up the hill…etc. And I loved the howling “pep rally” the dogs would do right before launching… when they are at “ready” stance. I kind of feel like I gained some dog whispering skills. I was pleased how quickly I learned to harness the dogs.
Katy R.

THANK YOU!!!! We had an AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING time on our camping trip! It was the most awesomest thing we’ve ever done (and we’re pretty well-traveled). And it was certainly the coolest (quite literally) way to bring in the New Year and Decade. Certainly it was challenging sometimes…with the cold and snow… but the challenge is what makes the adventure! We LOVED ALL of it!!! The diversity of each day was great — first day was basic trail skills ’101′–a confidence building day. The second day, crossing the frozen lakes and into the boundary waters, was incredible. I will always remember coming in to base camp from across the lakes with the full moon at our backs. There are no words to describe the sense of wonder. The third day was tough, but a great adventure nonetheless. We earned our keep that day! Saying goodbye to the dogs when we sledded back to Wintergreen houses brought it all to a close for us. It was a bittersweet so long!

Liz M.
OUR EXPERIENCE WAS EVERYTHING IT WAS BILLED TO BE (AND IT CAME VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!) OUR BOYS, AGES 6 AND 8, HAD THE TIME OF THIER LIVES WITH THE DOGS AND IN THE OUTDOORS. JASON DID AN OUTSTANDING JOB OF ENSURING THEIR WARMTH AND COMFORT, AND OF TEACHING THEM THE HOW’S AND WHY’S OF EVERYTHING HE DID. ADDITIONALLY, HE MANAGED TO KEEP THESE VERY ADVENTUROUS AND BOLD LITTLE GUYS SAFE WITHOUT SQUELCHING THEIR ENTHUSIASM OR ENERGY. YOUR CLOTHING LINE IS OUTSTANDING — I DON’T KNOW THAT I’VE EVER SPENT EXTENDED TIME OUTSIDE WITHOUT BECOMING COLD, AND NONE OF US HAD ANY DISCOMFORT ON THIS TRIP
Kemia S.

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Wintergreen Guides Share Dogsled Wedding and Epic Adventure Honeymoon

Posted by brucegs13 on May 31st, 2010
WoodsWedding_610

The Woods Wedding

We’re very proud of our 12-member guide team here at Wintergreen. They’ve not only been heralded as the ‘best in the business,’ but their adventure livelihood is also their lifestyle. Consider our senior guides Amy Voytilla & Dave Freeman. After a 4-year courtship that involved 5,000 miles of canoeing, kayaking, and dogsledding together, they celebrated a ‘dogsled wedding’ here at Wintergreen this March!

View their ceremony send-off by dogteam (with bride & groom in gown & tux) below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujKD-JzwDO0

What a honeymoon they’ve now got underway! An 11,700-mile, 2 1/2-year human-powered journey across North America. They’re currently kayaking to Alaska along Canada’s west coast. Next fall & winter they’ll head across the Northwest Territories by ski & dogsled. Next summer will find them canoeing central Canada to Lake Superior. Then they paddle out the Great Lakes and down the eastern seaboard before finishing their “North American Odyssey” in Key West after 30 months on the trail.

Dogssled Wedding

Most importantly, all along their route Amy & Dave will connect with hundreds of classrooms and thousands of school children through satellite phone and their website www.wildernessclassroom.org to offer lessons and observations on water pollution, wildlife and our continent’s ecosystems. Their goal is to highlight North America’s wildest places and offer environmental lessons through outdoor adventure.

They’re not rookies at this creative approach to education. In 2007 and 2008, they traveled across South America, first by mountain biking 500 miles over the Andes and then by canoeing the length of the Amazon River.

About 60,000 school kids tuned into their journey through the website and school assemblies. Before that, they circumnavigated Lake Superior by sea kayak, a 1,200-mile trip that generated a similar following of armchair student adventurers.

Amy and Dave Freeman/Pups

Their current blog entry finds them observing sea otters, seals and orcas as they kayak the inside passage. Follow their epic honeymoon at www.northamericanodyssey.com.

Hear Amy and Dave’s  stories firsthand this December/January at Wintergreen when Dave & Amy will be taking a break from the trail to help guide our holiday dogsled trips.

Select your adventure holiday and take advantage of our early sign-up discount at www.dogsledding.com.

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