A Canadian in Sweden

Isabelle really wanted to go dogsledding. To be honest, I thought this was just another cheezy tourist thing to do, but hey, I am willing to try anything once (with the possible exception of intravenous street drugs).

Turns out, dogsledding is pretty cool. The dogs are awesome. We both had a team of 4 dogs, and we were out for 2 hours. Lars Eric, proprietor of Wild Adventures led us on a tour of the Vasterbotten backcountry trails, and it was really cool. I was always under the impression that sled dogs were really aggressive, but it isn't true. They are really nice dogs, who happen to really, really love running. Preferably in the snow, and preferably pulling something heavy. As a middling cross country skier, I humbly take my toque off to these dogs. When it comes to pure, sheer motivation and love for their chosen sport, they kick any human athlete's ass by a landslide. It is like running is like the best thing they have ever done, ever ever ever in their entire lives. It is like running for these dogs is better than chocolate cake, beer, skiing and high speed internet, combined. It is pretty awesome.

Only negative - being on a sled behind a team of hard working sled dogs puts you directly into the slipstream of serious, nuclear-powered dog farts. This is not a joke.