Duluthian Emily Ford tackles another adventure: Dog sledding

[MUSIC PLAYING] INTERVIEWER: Our favorite Duluth outdoors woman is on a new adventure this winter. You may remember Emily Ford from her journey over 100 miles on Wisconsin's Ice Age Trail in the dead of winter a couple of years ago. She's the first woman, first person of color, and first openly queer person to complete that impressive feat. And she's done, of course, a lot of adventuring since then.

Well, now she's diving into a longtime dream of hers-- dog sledding. She's made her way to Alaska to do it. Emily joins us right now for an update. It is so nice to hear from you. How have you been?

EMILY FORD: I am driving. Hello. How are you doing?

INTERVIEWER: You're driving? Oh, my gosh.

EMILY FORD: Sorry about that.

INTERVIEWER: Be careful.

EMILY FORD: Is it OK? Yeah, is it OK? Does it sound OK? I can pull over for a minute.

INTERVIEWER: You know what? Emily, you sound great. It's all good. It's all good. So you're spending time in Alaska this winter and not Duluth?

EMILY FORD: Yeah, I got-- I'm super stoked to get it. It is like, a lot of people ask like, oh, what is it like up there? It's like Minnesota, but if Minnesota had mountains, where I live here.

INTERVIEWER: I could only imagine. And it's maybe a little bit colder, perhaps?

EMILY FORD: You know, it's not-- so living in-- I live in Duluth and spend lots of time-- and I lived in Ely last winter. And I lived in the Boundary Waters last winter. And the temperatures are pretty similar, honestly.

INTERVIEWER: Now what led you to do this? I know that you've had this on your radar for a while. But what are you doing with the dogs?

EMILY FORD: Yeah, so I'm helping with some qualifiers. My partner wants to do Iditarod next year or the year after. And to do Iditarod, you have to have qualifiers in your belt. They're not just going to let any old person run dogs 1,000 miles. And so she has to do several races-- three in particular, or three that are 200 miles or more to qualify for Iditarod. So I'm out here handling for the kennel that she's at and helping with the dogs and making sure that she's fed during her races so she can get her qualifiers done.

INTERVIEWER: It's a lot of work, isn't it?

EMILY FORD: Yeah, but it's-- I like it. It's really fun. We just got back from a race yesterday. And you know, I spend-- when she's sleeping in the car, I get to be out with the dogs with the other handler that I work with. And you know, I get my sleep with the dogs, just kind of on the straw with them out there. It's pretty fun. It's like a dream come true.

INTERVIEWER: What does a regular dog sled training day look like?

EMILY FORD: So today is a little irregular. I'm taking one of our dogs to the vet. They're kind of prone to injury when they're racing a lot. So that's one of the things we do, is we do a lot of dog health care. And when we wake up and feed, we make sure everybody is doing well. If there's any injuries, we're always tending to those injuries.

And then we feed ourselves. And then we hook up as many teams as we need. The three of us that work there-- me and Anna and another Anna, which is kind of fun-- we bring the dogs out to the swamp, and we run them for anywhere between 30 and 50 miles for their training races.

INTERVIEWER: Oh, wow. That is really, really long. And they seem to really thrive on it.

EMILY FORD: They love it. They-- a lot of people-- I get a lot of questions about are the dogs doing well, do we treat the dogs well? And the answer to that question is always, through [INAUDIBLE], absolutely. They love to pull. I wish I could capture their energy and excitement when they know that they're getting chosen. As I'm walking towards one of them with their harness, they're like, oh, that's me! That's me! Oh, she's choosing me! It's like-- it's so much fun, yeah.

INTERVIEWER: I've only had one experience with dog sledding. It was a blast. And it was outside of Duluth, if I recall correctly. And I got to feed the dogs, which was just this-- oh, my gosh. It was just chaotic. It was fun. The dogs were singing because it's like, we get to eat, yes! So what do you feed your dogs?

EMILY FORD: It is a delicious-- you're going to be jealous of their meal. It's a delicious slurry of raw beef, beef fat, kibble, and water with hot water. It's pretty delicious. It's like a slurry we mix together and feed them twice a day.

INTERVIEWER: Oh, my gosh. And of course, it's high calorie because they're putting out the effort, obviously.

EMILY FORD: It is remarkable. So Anna just got done running a 300-- we just got back. She just got done running a 300-mile race. And so these dogs are pulling up and down these mountains for 300 miles. I don't know if people can conceptualize. If you live in Duluth, that's like going from Grand Marais to the Twin Cities by foot-- by dog.

INTERVIEWER: Ay. And actually, they move along. I was kind of surprised by that. They don't just plod along. They kind of zip along at a fairly decent clip.

EMILY FORD: Yeah. Yeah, we call that trotting. You want to have a dog that has a nice trot. If you're loping, kind of looks like they're running, more so. But you want a dog that just consistently has a nice smooth pattern just trotting along.

INTERVIEWER: So talk about the relationship with the dogs. And I recall when I first met you, you were on the Ice Age Trail, and you had borrowed your friend's dog who was just a real sweetheart. So you're no stranger to hanging out with dogs. What's the relationship like? Is it all business? Or do you get to play with them? Is it kind of a bond?

EMILY FORD: In this kennel, it is not all business. In this kennel, I love every single one of them. So when I hang out with them in the morning after we're done feeding, there's maybe five dogs I go up to and I make sure that I dance with almost every morning. And they know that it's coming. And we just do a little dance and lots of really good ear rubs, lots of good butt scratches.

And knowing their name, knowing their personality is super huge, because I don't know if you know, but people may not know-- and there's different positions on a sled team. You have your lead dog from the front, your swings which are right behind them. So they can do both or they can be in a team. And then the team, which is kind of the cluster, the center of the pack, which is the powerhouse. And then you have the wheel dogs, which are like pulling power. They're at the back closest to the sled.

And each dog has their own different personalities. And each dog likes to be in a different position. We have one dog here called Nala, and I had her in the wheel-- so closest to the sled-- last week while we were out running and doing a practice run. And she was so mad at me. She just stopped pulling the sled, and she just sat down as we were running.

INTERVIEWER: [LAUGHS] And what do you do? Do you try to-- do you talk to her?

EMILY FORD: Oh, she does that. She looks at me and she says, I know you're not my musher. And so I tried to coax her along, get her to go along. I ended up putting her in the sled bag. And we ended up carrying her for the rest of the route. I let Anna take care of her if she's getting cranky. She respects Anna way more than she respects me.

INTERVIEWER: Oh, my gosh. Yes, they all have personalities. They really do. Now beyond the hard work that goes into this, I know there's probably some really cool things you've seen along the way. Did you get to see-- this is something I have yet to do. This is on my bucket list before I die. Have you had an opportunity to see an aurora yet?

EMILY FORD: OK, so here's the biggest difference between here and Minnesota, is that the aurora is out. I have the Aurora app on my phone. And every night, I get a notification for like, if the sky is clear, you may see an aurora. And I'm like, you're telling me this every day.

So we saw it during the race. It was striking. I mean, it was just ripping across the sky. We were out doing a training run on the Denali Highway, which is a 56-mile run. And we were in the mountains, in just like the most remote mountains. We had seen a herd of moose, and then the aurora came out. And we just stopped the entire dog team. And it was like the most blissful, quiet moment, perhaps, of my life. And I've had a lot of those. And you know I've had a lot of those quiet, blissful moments.

INTERVIEWER: Right. And this was even beyond that. Oh, my gosh. I can only imagine. I can only imagine. With about a minute left here, Emily, what's next with this race? And then you coming back to Duluth?

EMILY FORD: Yep, what's next is we have one more race that I'm helping handle for Anna. And then I had the opportunity to do my own race. I'll be doing the Goose Bay 150. So wish me luck during that. And Digging, the dog I borrowed two years ago, she'll be running that with me, which is really, really exciting, kind of coming full circle for her story. And then I'll be heading back to Duluth. I'll be back at Glensheen for the summer. So if you miss me, I'll be there.

INTERVIEWER: I was going to say, we would miss you at Glensheen if you didn't come back and do the gardens. Because of course, for people who don't remember, you were one of the very first people I talked to for this show. And we went out and talked about the trips you've taken, but also just your role at Glensheen as head gardener. And it was a blast.

I wish you all the best. Take care. I think you're just-- I love your adventurous spirit.

EMILY FORD: Thank you so much. It's so good to talk to you again.

INTERVIEWER: Likewise, Emily. Take care of yourself. I'll talk to you later. Thank you.

EMILY FORD: OK, bye bye.

INTERVIEWER: Emily Ford is an outdoors enthusiast from Duluth, of course. And as I mentioned, she's the head gardener at Glensheen mansion in Duluth. And she is fantastic.