Pawsatch Mushing

This is awesome! Was totally the highlight of our trip! I’m looking forward to our next run this year. The dogs are adorable and our son loved every second of the ride. This is something everyone should try at least once. Thank you Neal for such a great time and great photos!

Not a cheap activity but well worth the money. They have true snow dogs like in the movies unlike their competitions who use a variety if dogs. Neil was so friendly and accommodating. Loved the experience. Once in a lifetime.

I believe in taking advantage of the unique offerings of our locale, so this year when my son’s birthday rolled around (the big 7!) we decided to have a dog sled party to celebrate. Over the summer William and I had seen the Pawsatch Dogs at Park Silly Market in old town. I gave them a call to see what we could set up for the outing. Neal, the owner, said they were booked up for the weekend of April 2 & 3 (which was probably a good thing — it was 65 degrees on April 1!) but he could do it on the 10^th. Despite 3 full days of snow April 7, 8, & 9 the local trails still were too far gone to take the sled out locally, so he had us head out to Weber Canyon, about 45 minutes from Park City.
We had the boys come to our house around 1:00 and got everyone loaded up in the truck and the Acrua — to include Anna (the baby sister; I couldn’t find a sitter) and headed out for our adventure. (One of the boy’s mom told me that her son had been very afraid of dogs, but was doing better with them. [!!!] Fortunately he did fine. Whew!)
Weber Canyon had a ton of snow! We had no trouble finding Neal and the dogs at the trail head. In addition to Neal and some twenty-​odd dogs were Nicole, a winner of the Junior Iditarod (WOW!) and who’s father was a twenty-​six time finisher of the Iditarod, and Morgan a transplant from Maine with a degree in Outdoor Adventures who did a two year internship in Mushing (I had no idea such a program existed!?) We were obviously with the pros!
Since we had Anna with us, Brad and I had assumed that one of us would stay back with her while the boys went out on the trail. As we were getting everyone loaded up Neal suggested that we bring Anna with us and just strap her car seat into one of the sled seats. We weren’t going to be setting any speed records so we were game for that. Neal said that he did the same thing with his own kids, and Nicole assured us that she was raised on the back of a dog sled — I’m sure!
The original set up had the boys in the main sled being pulled by the dogs, and the rest of us on a snow mobile towing an additional sled. I was to ride on the back of the snow mobile with Morgan driving, and Anna and Brad would ride in the sled with Nicole standing on the back. As they got the team hitched to the main sled, and everyone loaded up, we set off down the trail, but only made it a short way before the snowmobile began making an awful racket. The small sled was unhitched from the snowmobile and Nicole and Brad stayed back to see what the problem was. Anna and I were hitched on to the back of the main sled, and Morgan rode on the back to balance us on our journey. Finally we were off!
With all the fresh snow and two sleds to pull, we weren’t flying through the woods, but we did make steady progress. It was a beautiful ride and the boys had a blast! We rode along into the forest for about thirty minutes and then turned around at an open section of the trail. Neal and Morgan unhooked the small sled from the main one and we lifted it off the trail to the side. We turned the main sled a bit to aim it to turn, then Neal led the team back towards where we had come from and the sled quickly turned around. It was quite impressive! The small sled was hooked back to the main one and we were headed back to the start. The dogs moved out a bit more quickly on the return portion of the trip — I guess they smelled the ‘barn’!
When we got back to the trail head the boys piled into the trailer to get warmed up and have pizza, capri suns, and birthday cake. A wonderful time was had by all! It was certainly a birthday celebration to remember.

Looking for some fun activities aside from mountain sports? Pawsatch Snow Dogs offers AMAZING dog sledding experiences!
They accommodate large and small groups and its truly a once-​in-​a-​lifetime experience! Neil (owner) is so passionate, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic about his dogs and his company. It was wonderful just listening to him on our scenic drive out to the trail — I learned a lot!
Pawsatch has a wonderful program — and the CUTEST dogs ever. Its a very personal/​unique experience. You get to meet and play with the dogs before hand (and they are ecstatic to see you), harness the dogs, and off you go! The trail through Wasatch National Park is gorgeous as well.
I HIGHLY recommend Pawsatch for an unique and memorable experience in Park City!