---

Five years ago I went dog sledding in the Haliburton Forest with my aunt, sister and mother. When we went we had an adventure and it was fun… for them at least. Me, on the other hand, didn’t have so much fun. We went on one of the coldest days of the year. All of us were wearing two pairs of socks each. Sadly, that wasn’t enough for me. My feet were frozen and they were covered with bumps. I didn’t get to have the experience of actually dog sledding. But thankfully there was an experienced dog sledder with us so I rode in the basket of his sled instead of riding with my mother so she wouldn’t get hurt. I enjoyed looking at the dogs and the snow. The dogs ran as they were supposed to and I enjoyed the ride. The dogs were fast and sometimes it felt like you would hit the trees because the trail was so narrow. And the dogs were always trying to bump the off the sled drivers so that they could run back to their barn. White fluffy snow covered the trees and the ground. I remember that the air smelt fresh. At one point the trail ended and we rode out onto a frozen lake with nothing around us. Here the dogs ran even faster. Even though the day was super cold, everything felt warm with my pink snow pants and coat on. Well everything except my feet! After we we’re finished dog sledding, we went and saw the dogs in the barn. The dogs were noisy and barked a lot. They used Alaskan malamutes to pull the sleds. Most of their coat colors we’re brown, fawn, raw umber and dark but mostly light shades of grey. We learned that after a time, the dogs are retired and are adopted by families to live lives as pets, relaxing in new homes throughout Ontario. Even though I never really had the full solo sledding experience I still had a great time and I’d love to do it again.