Beginner Dogsled Camping Trips
Our 5-night "Wintergreen Classic" camping trips include complete training and gear outfitting. The first and last nights are in lodges. The trips include four days and three nights of guided wilderness travel & winter camping with generally six participants with two guides per group.
On these entry-level winter skills programs, you'll enjoy your first evening & morning at the lodge receiving hands-on training in winter camping and travel skills, including dog care & harnessing, dogsledding, back-country skiing, snowshoeing, winter ecology, and cold-weather comfort and safety. Then you'll embark on a 4-day, 3-night guided wilderness dogsled trek.
You'll travel by dog team each day (with skiing & snowshoeing as optional campsite activities) and enjoy campfire chats with your guides and group each evening. You'll sleep 'under the stars" with our cozy Antarctic sleeping systems in bivouac bags ("a toasty sleep at any temp!"). We'll gather in wood stove heated group tents if needed. Finally, we'll celebrate the trip with a festive final evening at the lodge.
Group & Guides
Sample Trail Menu
Campfire Breakfast: Red River porridge or rice pudding and/or eggs, sausage, hashbrowns, cinnamon pitas, fruit roll-ups, hot beverages (including gourmet coffee!).
Trail Lunch: Cup o' soup, pocket bread sandwiches, sausage stix, string cheese, energy bars, dry fruit, candies & chocolates, nuts and various kinds of trail mix.
Dinners: Our guides take great pride in their campfire dinners with such menus as cheese quesadillas, beef fajitas, sweet-sour chicken stir fry; linguini & Swedish meatballs; Oriental veggies & rice with sautéed shrimp; pan pizzas, Dutch-oven cakes & fresh-baked breads, "secret desserts" (an optional Wintergreen tradition in which participants are invited to bring a treat to share) NOTE: We happily accommodate vegetarian, vegan and or other dietary preferences
Guest Profile
Last year, half of these trips were booked by families, schools or clubs for their own private trip. Of the other guests, half were couples, 20% were pairs of friends or family members and 10% were singles. Ages ranged 8-76. About 20% had dogsledded before (generally on our lodge-to-lodge trips), about half had never been camping before (summer or winter) and a few had never been in snow before!