A Look Back at Dog Sledding

It's time for more winter memories! In 2018 our midcoast Passages students visited the Damariscotta River Association (now Coastal Rivers) to try dogsledding with Coastal Rivers Education Director Sarah Gladu. What a thrill! You can read more about their experiences below!

Dog Sledding
By Jamie Thurman
February 20, 2018

When we went to the Damariscotta River Association to go dog sledding, Sarah Gladu explained to us what the DRA is and what they do. The DRA works on preserving the habitats in Damariscotta and provides educational programs to the public.

We got to witness the two cutest Elkhounds, and I actually went dog sledding for the first time. It was a very cool and entertaining experience. Watching Sarah control her dogs the way she did was awesome, and looked like it took a lot of teaching and hard work to get them to run with a sled. It takes the dogs working together or the lines get all tangled and messed up. It seemed like the dogs just did it for the cookies (fancy treats). Speaking of cookies, we got to eat the best cookies I’ve ever had.

Afterwards, we went sledding without the dogs and it made me feel like I was twelve again. Smiling ear to ear, heart racing from the adrenaline of going 15 mph down a hill. It was a thrill, and I definitely want to go there again to sled again this winter.

Sledding with the Elkhound
By Dakota Bekim- Arnold

Dog sledding is something that I have always wanted to do. When I was told that we were going to be doing it for a workshop, all I could picture was 6 huskies pulling us on a big sled just like in the movies and it got me very excited. Even though it was just two dogs, and they weren’t huskies, it was very fun and the dogs were just as cute.

Watching Nicki and Jamie from out the window go on the first run was really cool, you could see that they were really having a lot of fun! It made me excited to get out there and try it. It was pretty nice out, but the wind was definitely brisk and cold! When it was my turn, I was very nervous because what if the dogs didn’t stop!? Once a lot of people had gone, I finally decided that I would do it. I’m really glad that I did, because it was definitely a new experience! You feel like you’re going so fast.

After we were done learning about the Elkhounds we all went upstairs and ate some amazing cookies that Cindy had made for us. We relaxed and got warmed up, and then some of us went out sledding on this really big hill. A couple people went back inside, but Cindy, Becca and I stayed out and continued sledding. It was a lot of fun! Especially where I’ve known Becca for so long and we used to be best friends, so it was nice to catch up and do something fun with her and Cindy.

We attended this at the Damariscotta River Association. All the land that is purchased is for conservation so people aren’t allowed to cut down any trees that are on the property or build on it. They teach all kinds of different things. I remember going there in third grade for the Wabanaki Tribe class. We learned about Native American History, and we learned about different animals that were in the water such as horseshoe crabs. Being able to ride the dog sleds was lots of fun and I’m thankful we were allowed to do it, it was definitely on my bucket list! I would love to do it again next year, maybe with my family, and Kaiyah since she will be old enough to do it.