Dog Sled Tours

The Fabulous Fun Run $125 per person

This is a great introduction to dog sledding, a suitable tour for almost anyone in reasonably good health between the age of 8 and 80! A description of the run is on the first page of this web site. This is our most popular tour and is a must for anyone visiting Inuvik and looking for an exciting experience in the north. The actual run is about an hour but you should allow about 2 ½ to 3 hours of time for the entire session.

The Scenic Delta Tour $225 per person

Enjoy exploring the Mackenzie Delta by dog team in the traditional traveling style. Compared to the Fun Run this is a longer, quieter and more relaxing tour where you can enjoy the scenery to its fullest. You will be following your guide's team down a beautiful creek to a little lake where you will have a light lunch before heading back on a different trail through the Boreal forest. If you have already experienced the Fabulous Fun Run and want to try a different route you will enjoy this one. Once you hit the trail the tour is about 2 to 2.5 hours.

The Combination Run $325 per person

This tour allows you to experience two tours in one. If your time in Inuvik is limited and you can’t do more than one dog sledding tour this is the tour for you! This combination run combines the Fabulous Fun Run with the Scenic Delta Tour. It is the best value for your money and is a delightful tour that includes lunch around a campfire along the way. After the briefing session which usually takes about 45 minutes, your actual dog sledding time is about 3 to 3.5 hours.

Overnight Dog Sled Trip to the Outpost Cabin

$500 per person (2-3 people). $450 per person (4-5 people)

We are now offering a tour by dog team to our outpost cabin located about 20 kilometers from Inuvik. This guided tour starts at 2PM from the Arctic Chalet husky kennels. We travel for about 3 hours on a scenic trail that ends at the Outpost Cabin nestled up in some beautiful hills overlooking a tranquil lake. At this wonderfully secluded retreat you can totally unwind and connect with nature.

The cabin is spacious and comfortable and has a loft that can sleep 4-5 people and it also has two small bedrooms with a bunk bed in each. In addition there is a large bedroom with a double bed and two singles and there is a separate room for the guides. Warm bedding is provided and the two wood stoves keep the cabin cozy. The cabin is equipped with a nice kitchen and an indoor toilet.

When you arrive at the cabin you can enjoy a hot evening meal and then relax around the wood stove with some of our big northern pictures books. Just before bedtime we will take a short walk up to a nearby cliff overlooking the lake to enjoy the view and hopefully see the spectacular lights of the Aurora Borealis. After breakfast the next morning your guide will take you snowshoeing through a “winter wonderland” to two little lakes about 20 minutes from the cabin. Then itʼs back to the cabin for lunch and preparing for the return trip with the dogs.

On this tour we can accommodate groups of up to 5 people with one dog team each, or for larger groups of 6-10 people we can combine dog sledding with snowmobiling. In this case half of the group would snowmobile one way and the other half would go out by dog team and then switch for the return trip. (For the quiet enjoyment of those driving dogs the two groups would not travel together.)

We have a good supply of warm winter gear that includes snowmobile boots, mukluks, parkas and anoraks, insulated snow pants and fur mitts available for our clients to use during our tours including this one. We usually run this trip from March to the end of April, Sunday-Friday. Saturday is not an option as it is our rest day.

Tour Description

If you are healthy and physically fit and want to experience an extra-ordinary Arctic adventure in the Northwest Territories of Canada we have a trip for you! Arctic Adventure Tours is offering an 8-day package that includes three nights stay at the Arctic Chalet in Inuvik, two at the start and one at the end of your six-day dog sledding trip with our White Huskies. This fabulous trip will take you from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk over land and lakes and out onto the Arctic Ocean. Tuk is an Inuvialuit community located at the top of the north American continent on the shores of the Beaufort Sea. We are planning two trips for 2011 in April during our beautiful Arctic spring season.

Trip Dates
1st Trip - April 3-9, 2011
2nd Trip - April 10-16, 2011

Package Price
$3800 per person (based on 3-4 people per trip) plus GST (5%)
$3999 per person for just two people

Package Description & Itinerary

Friday
Upon your arrival in Inuvik on Friday afternoon, you will be met at the airport and shuttled to the Arctic Chalet. After checking you in we will have a meeting and introduce you to the dogs and to dog mushing. You will then come with us out on our trails for about an hour of dog sledding on the Fabulous Fun Run. There will be a quick trip into town with one of our guides to pick up any special food items that you might desire above and beyond what we will be supplying on the trip. You will then spend the night in one of our full-service cabins.

Saturday
Enjoy a self-catered breakfast in your room. The cupboards are well stocked. Today you can spend time walking some dogs and visiting the town of Inuvik with one of our courtesy cars. Again you will spend the night in your cabin.

Sunday
After breakfast we will finish packing and leave on our cross-country trip. On this trip we will have four dog teams, two guides on two snowmobiles with trailers carrying the supplies and camping equipment. Each client will drive a team of 5 or 6 huskies. The sleds will be packed with your personal items and a few other essential supplies that we may need during the day. Initially we will follow the Mackenzie River until we reach the overland trail head at which time we will leave the river behind to take the route that will lead up into the barrens and across some beautiful, wild tundra to our first camping spot on Jimmy Lake.

Monday
After tending to the dogs, breaking camp and repacking the trailers, we will travel to the big Husky Lakes where you will have the opportunity to do some ice fishing for lake trout. We will camp on these lakes tonight.

Tuesday
Today we will continue on across the wide open spaces of the lakes and end the day traveling over land to a much smaller lake. In this area we will see our first little pingos. This is the last place we will camp before reaching the village of Tuktoyaktuk up on the Beaufort Sea.

Wednesday
From here it is a short distance to Tuk which will take us only 2-3 hours. Upon arriving in Tuk we will stake out the dog teams on the outskirts of town and then go into town by snowmobile to do a little shopping. You will be taken on a short tour of the village which includes a visit to the underground community ice house, where the permafrost layers can be clearly seen. We will then continue on with the dogs to the base of Ibyuk, the Pingo Canadian Landmark, which is the largest pingo in the world. After traveling past some smaller pingos we will set up camp on a little lake where we will spend the night.

Thursday
Following the morning routine of camp pack up and dog care, we will go out to the Arctic Ocean to look at the spectacular ocean ice and pressure ridges. We will then go back to the shoreline to visit an old whaling camp before heading in through some long narrow lakes to our last camping spot.

Friday
We will be traveling to the Mackenzie Delta today and down the river where we will all be picked up, and our journey by dog team will end. But the fun is not over! We will then drive back to Inuvik in our tour van on the longest ice road in the world, featured in the TV series “Ice Road Truckers.” On the way back we will do a short side trip to visit the Canadian Reindeer Herd, a herd of about 2500 animals. The Sami reindeer herder will meet us near his cabin and then escort us by snowmobile to where the reindeer are calving. We will arrive back in Inuvik that evening and you will spend the night again in one of our comfortable cabins.

Saturday
After breakfast you will pack up, check out and one of our staff members will take you to the airport for your flight around noon.

Food & Cooking

We will prepare and cook all of your meals. Olav and Judi are vegetarians, but not vegan. We will be planning vegetarian meals but if meat products are desired we can try to accommodate this. That is one of the reasons why we will give you the opportunity to go grocery shopping with one of our guides on the day you arrive. We want happy well-fed campers! Breakfast and supper will be eaten in the cook tent every day and we will eat lunch during our mid-day rest stop with the dogs resting in harness. Each person will have a thermos with a hot drink and another thermos with soup. Sandwiches, dried fruit and nut mixes will be included in the lunch bag. There will be no alcoholic beverages provided.

Camping Gear

We supply top quality tents, sleeping bags with liners, sleeping mats and cots, a toilet and an oil heater in each tent. There will be two or three people sharing a tent.

First Aid & Licensing

Arctic Adventure Tours meets all of the tour licensing requirements and our guides are well trained to look after our clients. For the safety of those participating in our tours we carry emergency gear with us, a cell phone and sat phone. Guides maintain current certification in Wilderness and Remote First Aid.

Winter Clothing

We supply boots, anoraks, windbreakers, fur mitts and insulated snow pants. Here is what you need to bring: heavy wool socks, lighter socks for layering, long underwear, fleece or wool shirts & pants, hats, face masks, neck warmers, work gloves for feeding dogs, other gloves to use as liners inside fur mitts, goggles, packets of hand and toe warmers (e.g. Grabber Warmers). Don’t forget your sun screen and sun glasses. Contacts are recommended if you are near-sighted. Eye glasses tend to fog up when the face is covered and this can be very frustrating while traveling in the cold.

Setting up Camp

Olav, who will be traveling ahead of the dog teams on his snowmobile, will choose the camping spots and start to set up camp. When the dog teams arrive he will have the stake-out chains screwed into the ice and ready for the dogs. Everyone who participates in the trip will be expected to work together to get the dogs sorted and the tents set up. This is a team effort and difficult for one person to do alone. Olav will then drill a hole in the ice to draw water for the dogs and for the rest of us. This is much quicker and more energy efficient than melting snow.

Caring for the dogs

Each person will be responsible for looking after his or her dog team. You will learn the names of your dogs. Morning and evening you will help prepare their food and feed them. You will scoop the poop into a garbage bag and make sure your dogs are comfortable and quiet. Our dogs are very well socialized and affectionate and are a joy to handle for the most part. The guides will provide help and support in everything you do.

Weather

Basically the weather rules up here in the Arctic. As long as the weather is reasonably good we can travel. It is possible that we might encounter blizzard conditions with very high winds and blowing snow but it is unlikely. In that case we would remain in our tents until the storm subsided. This could put us off schedule by a day or half a day so the itinerary is subject to change. On trips like this it is very important to be flexible and patient. Remember, the weather rules! In the past we have had some windy days and nights but nothing too drastic. We all ended up really enjoying the wind and found that it added to the Arctic experience! When you are prepared and have all the right gear it surely does make a difference.

The Schedule

The daily schedule could vary a bit so we all need to be flexible about that in general. There could be a break-down in equipment or we could end up with an injured dog. Although we have planned for these possible scenarios they could cause delays and a change in schedule. The total distance that we will travel by dog team is about 200 kilometers. Our traveling time each day will be 5-6 hours or less depending on conditions and weather. It usually takes about 2 hours to break camp in the morning, the dogs are fed first to allow time for them to digest fully before running. Lunch break is usually later in the day and about an hour, to allow the dogs sufficient rest time.

*Please note that the overnight tour price includes a guided snowshoe tour from the cabin, 3 meals, overnight lodging with bedding and two half-days of dog sledding.

* If you have a larger group of people that would like to go dog sledding together on any one of our tours we can combine dog sledding with snowmobiling and meet at the half-way point to switch around. This would allow each person to snowmobile and dog sled on a single tour for the same price as just dog sledding.

*Please note that 5% GST is extra on all prices quoted.

*Our dog sledding season begins in late October or early November, depending on snowfall, and goes to the end of April.