Following A Dream: An Alaska Adventure

A dream inspired by a book. A fantasy adventure that’s lived inside your mind for three decades. Would you have what it takes to leave your home, your friends, your family, and all your belongings to trek to a remote area in Alaska? Could you live in a one-room cabin with no electricity, no running water, and the only bathroom is an outhouse? Lets see if I can further entice you. Temperatures in this beautiful corner of the world dip to -40F and your source of meat for the winter is whatever you manage to shoot and kill, such as moose and caribou. Oh, and to top it off, for heat, you must split wood and haul it to the wood-burning barrel inside your cabin. And, in exchange for your accommodations you must care for 60 sled dogs—water, feeding (which includes chopping frozen salmon with a hatchet), making sure their houses are insulated with plenty of straw, play time and exercise (at least two teams must run each day), and giving the dogs lots of love. Of course, all this takes place outdoors!

Sound a little too rugged for you? Yeah, me too. But not so for our friend, Monica, who purchased a ton of winter gear, packed her bags, and left everything behind, including sunny California, to follow her lifelong dream of a Great Alaskan Adventure. So, as time and internet allow, she’s keeping us posted via photos and a written journal of her activities while working as a dog handler for a very well-known, champion Iditarod race team (we’ll feature the team next week). And believe me, it’s exciting. Cold, but very exciting.