Photo by Lori Leaney
The team and I went back up to Canada in late February to participate in this year’s Seguin Mail Run:
Every year since 1985, "sledvelopes" with letters prepared especially for this event, are gathered, loaded onto sleds and hauled by several dog teams to Rosseau, Ontario, 17 km through the bush on groomed trails. Teams gather and leave from the Village of Humphrey, Ontario, on Highway 141, to the cheers and good wishes from the many spectators and friends as the teams disappear in the bush on their way to Rosseau to be received by the Postmaster.
Seguin is a special, invite-only run and not an actual race. And since it’s a point to point trail, we had to bring a handler along to move the van to the finish. Thankfully, Sheridan was willing to fly out and join us in the frigid cold for his first ever dog sled event experience.
I love the hospitality these little Canadian communities show mushers, both at the Kearney race and at Seguin. We were given lodging, meals, framed artwork, a Canadian post backpack, and a goodie bag loaded with treats and mail run swag. Spectators were so excited to meet the dogs and see them run. Mushing faces a lot of criticism from Animal Rights Activists—it’s a relief to be embraced by those who came out to see us.
Photo by Ina's Photography
The Seguin trail had to be shortened from around 12 miles down to 8.5 due to this crummy winter, but it was still a fantastic experience. We were lucky enough to get a final burst of snow in the week before the event, and the dogs were more than ready to go the distance.
The event fell on the last truly cold days of this season (we saw a low of -2ºF). I was worried about the dogs sleeping in the van overnight, since they didn’t really acclimate to cold this season and half had blown their coats, but the combination of bedding, straw, and jackets kept them toasty. It was a relief to hit the trail in sub-freezing temperatures, which is much preferred over the warm runs we’ve had this season.
We flew through forests, wound around frozen marshes, and emerged into the vast expanse of a frozen lake. I had heard there were lakes on this trail, but I wasn’t sure we’d get to see them, given the shortened course. I’m so glad we had this moment and that the dogs loved it just as much as I did.
Photos by KT Art and Photography
We had a few missteps: slight turns off the main trail following snowmobile tracks, climbing through a shrub to get back on the trail, some iffy road crossings. But, overall, the dogs (Willow, Hopper, Sagan, Atlas, Blitz, and Hubble) did great. I was stunned when we saw a sign for Rosseau. Sheridan barely had enough time to park and prep the drop lines when we came strolling into town. I can’t wait to go back and run the full 12.5 miles there.
A downside to traveling with a team of dogs is that sometimes you bring home unexpected guests in the bowels of one (or more) of them. That was the case after we got back from Canada. Denali was the first to come down with symptoms. Within three days, Blitz, Laika, and Faye were sick. Hopper and Atlas were hit the following weekend. Thankfully, my vet was able to get us in and I had 126 pills to administer to nine dogs over the course of seven days. Somehow, a few of the dogs never seemed to have symptoms, but everyone got dosed due to the contagious nature of this particular GI bug.
Thankfully, we’re now on the other end of it, and everyone is feeling much better. Our events and races are mostly done for the season, though I might try to squeeze one more dryland event in, if I can swing it. Once my home trails have dried out a bit (if they ever do), we’ll continue on with short spring training runs until it gets too warm. And just like that, another season is in the books.
