Fantasy Caravan Day 19 - Whitehorse, Muktuk Adventures

On Wednesday, we drove our vehicles a little north of Whitehorse to visit Muktuk Adventures (https://muktuk.com/), "a premier dog sledding and wilderness experience provider nestled in the heart of the magnificent Yukon Territory."

Carl decided that another day of rest and recuperation was in order, so I went by myself with the rest of the group.

On the way, we passed "the world's largest weather vane" -- I looked up information and found that there may be other claimants to this title, but here's the info for the one in Whitehorse: "According to the explore north website a challenger for the title of world's largest weather vane is located in Whitehorse, Yukon. The weather vane is a retired Douglas DC-3 atop a swiveling support. Located beside the Whitehorse airport the weather vane is used mainly by pilots to determine wind direction. This weather vane only requires a 5 km/hour wind to rotate."

When we got to Muktuk, we were parked alongside some of the dog pens --

This sweet one greeted me as soon as I got out of the car.

A sled (with a 16-dog harness on the front) was in the yard.

Manuela spoke with us for over an hour, sharing about what they do here, and answering questions.

There are a few dogs that are loose, and this one believes it is a lap dog.

Meanwhile, others were getting attention from the Fantasy guests...

... who can resist?

So much love in a doggy package!

The ones that are loose in the yard are generally retired sled dogs who will continue to live out their lives here.

After Manuela had given us lots of information, she invited us to go interact with the dogs...

... they are out in a large area, kept safe from each other...

... each had its own house -- some of them stayed in their house (introverts), but some wanted all the attention we could give them!

Many of us enjoyed wandering around and petting the dogs!

A picture of most of the area

Another picture of some of the area -- the dogs on the chains are let off to run, in an enclosed area or loose, at least once a day.

One thing she cautioned is that the dogs are predators, and if they hear weakness (a dog that whines), they can attack in a heartbeat.

This spring's puppies (about 4 months old, I think) were in another kennel.

Check out information about the facility here: https://muktuk.com/about-us/

She shared information with us about the Yukon Quest, a 1000 mile sled dog race from Fairbanks to Whitehorse. The original owner of Muktuk, Frank Turner participated in this race from 1984 (inaugural race) to 2008, winning in 1995. The more well known race is the Iditarod, but from what Manuela told us, the Yukon Quest is probably a more challenging race, going up and down three mountains, and with fewer checkpoints.

They mostly do recreational activities now -- bringing guests to their lodge to enjoy dog sledding in a non-competitive manner.

An example of a racing sled.

We ended our visit with Bison Burgers for lunch. We had a great time visiting.

And... to follow up on our visit to the glassblowing shop, here are pictures of my completed paperweight:

I wasn't sure how the different molding techniques would impact the finished product -- so it is interesting to see it. I'm glad I did it, but I don't think there's any fear from professional glassblowers that they are going to be losing their jobs to me!