Since we're all into the outdoors here I thought this might be of interest to people.

January 26-28 is the fifteenth annual Cariboo Gold Rush Trail Sled Dog Mail Run happening in the wilds east of Quesnel BC out to Wells BC.

A large number of sled dog teams will be carrying commemorative letters that will be stamped at the locations of the original post offices in several small communities on the route. Most of these places are just ghost towns or gone now and the sled teams will be traveling the original gold rush trail through the mountains.

The letters will be carried about 100 kms to where they will be sent via Canada post all over the world. I have purchased 10 of these letters and will be sending them to friends and family all across the continent.

I'll be a volunteer for this event and hope to post some of the best pictures I get of the dogs running through the mountains and hopefully down the streets of Barkerville.

Here is the link to the official site for the event.

www.wellsbc.com/sleddog/event.html

Team coming into Barkerville last year



Team running over the gold rush trail

Nice! Keep us updated with pictures.

I didn't know they still did this actually, thought the animal rights people would have been all over it by now, looks good!

Dimitri

Gotta love those Husky's...What an animal...I sure do miss my old friend. A Syberian Husky named simply "DAWG"...

Nice photos. Get more this year...

Awesome Grant. What's all that white stuff on the ground mate??

I'm going to forward a link for this onto a mate who hails from Nanaimo, Vancouver Island. He had a couple of beautiful dogs out here but had to part with them for one reason or another. Broke his heart

I look forward to more pics.

Cheers, Vince

I look forward to taking a pile of pics this year. Vince, you think that's a lot of snow? This year we have more than twice the ammount in those pics. The snow pack is at 138% of normal at this time compared to 64% last year. The one section of the trail, the guys couldn't get snowmobiles over it cause of the snow depth. They're going to try again on Thursday so they can pack the trail down some to make it easier on the dogs.

Dimitri, the animal rights people can go pound sand. All anyone has to do is look at how happy these dogs are while running and how excited they are to get going, that says it all.

I have never seen a happier dog then Dawg pulling kids across a frozen lake on sleds...I agree...Animal rights groupa haven't a clue...

Grant,

I know dogs like it. They don't and complain about it though.

Looking at thouse dogs it reminds me of the time I ran down and cornered a couple of them when I was living in a small town because they were loose and they looked like a friend of my moms dogs. Pretty neat, ran to catch them all over half the town, when I finally cornered them to a fence took a while for them to warm up to me and let me leash them when I noticed they had no collars or tags, dog treats managed to get them to warm up to me though, no idea how long they were lose, and they turned out not to be the person's dogs so I took care of them for the rest of the day till the dog catcher came and took them.

Dimitri

Great pics Grant, keep us updated with pics etc.

Do they still race the Iditarod?????? www.iditarod.com/

Dimitri, if you check there are many sled dog races still held annually, here's another big one. www.yukonquest.org/ser...arch&meta=

I believe they still run a 500 mile race in the Pas, Manitoba every year too, 1895, or they sure used to. It's during their trapper's festival in February.It used to be considered the world championship. All the little towns in northern Manitoba that hold winter festivals include dogsled races, I imagine Saskatchewan would be pretty much the same, yes?

there's a place in Canmore, Alberta where you can run a sled and they take people out on day treks or overnighters. Costs a few bucks I imagine. The sled dogs that I was around when I was a youngster up north were more wild than not, but today it's more like a professional sport and they're treated a lot better. Back in the old days when spring breakup was coming, trappers would take their dogs out to an island and leave them. Once the ice went out the dogs would just fend for themselves all summer and the trapper didn't have to worry about someone coming along and stealing them I guess, or worry about keeping them fed for that matter.

They still run the Iditarod. Actually they run a lot of races all across the north. This event isn't a race. The sled teams are very competitive with each other except at the mail run. Many of the teams say they really enjoy this event cause it isn't a race and they can just enjoy their sport without the pressures of racing. They say it's a nice break mid race season.

Sorry grant, I thought it was a race. I could certainly see why the participants would enjoy this mail run just for the sport and or fun of it. Keep us posted.

Cool pictures.

I wish we had that snow... we are running 40% of normal atm... the drought is going to be back with a vengance.


-DallanC

Huskies were bread to run, love that breed of dog, Ours used to choose to sleep out in the snow. They need to run, This old man couldn't keep up. LOL.. High Maintenance..

Well, it was an awesome event again this year!!!

Unfortunately, due to work obligations, was only able to get out for the last day of the mail run. Here are just a few of 70+ pictures I took today.

Morning view at the ghost town of Stanley



Canadians Enjoying Winter



Getting ready to go!!!!



Leaving Stanley.... Big Smiles all around!!!



Up the hill From Stanley



Future Sled Team lead Dog!!!



First team down the main street of Barkerville



Another team in Barkerville



Yet another team



Arriving at the final town of Wells. Canada Post post master waiting to get the mail off to the rest of the world



Not everyone can afford a sled or team, but had a great time just the same!!!!!



Last team into Wells. End of a wonderful day!!!

We normally have more snow here, snow to levels like that, but there is little snow on the ground. Seeing thouse pictures makes me miss the white stuff.

Thanks for the pictures of the run.

Dimitri