If given the opportunity to visit the Sled Dog Discovery and Mushers’ Camp in Juneau Alaska, take it! It may well be the best Juneau day excursion for kids. This scenic camp deep in the Tongass National Rain Forest is a 30 minute bus ride from the Juneau cruise terminal (a camp driver will pick you up), and once there, visitors are treated to dog heaven. (Note: you should probably like dogs to enjoy this excursion!) The camp’s primary purpose (apart from tourism, of course) is as a summer training camp for sled dogs. Many Iditarod athletes are here, working out on dirt instead of snow during the summer months.
The Sled Dog Discovery experience:
We started our experience boarding a sled dog buggy (summertime sled) and meeting our musher. I was impressed that these staff members are more than just ‘drivers’: our musher had run several dog sled races, and was at the camp to exercise Iditarod dogs for their owner. We took a circuit through the rain forest of about a mile, and while this is not a long ride, and the dogs don’t go as quickly as they do on the snow, it’s still fun and scenic. Our musher said their pace is determined by the team and their training level; we had two seven-month-old pups in our team who were clearly still learning the ropes. This video below shows the experience well:
After our ride, we greeted the dogs, then met with another musher who talked with us about the racing lifestyle of the teams and owners, and allowed the kids to try on mushing jackets and other equipment. We then moved on to the highlight of our experience: meeting the puppies. The camp had two litters at the time of our visit and we were all able to hold and cuddle the weeks-old puppies. What fun!
While waiting for your bus ride back to Juneau, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and cider is available, and guests can warm up by a bonfire. The entire camp is beautiful; make sure to take the time to walk across the suspension bridge over a flowing creek!
Date last visited: July 2013
Cost: $129 for adults, $89 for kids
Directions: Meet at the Juneau cruise terminal directly off the ships.
We experienced the sled dog camp as part of our Alaskan Dream Cruise experience, for the purpose of review.
