Sled Dogs in Healy, AK

In 1988 the ancestors of the dogs in our kennels were members of an expedition sled dog kennel, that undertook a climb by dog team of Mt. Sanford in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park in Alaska.  The 16,237′ mountain is the sixth highest peak in Alaska.  Two dog teams with mushers and two climbers took the Sheep Glacier route up the mountain, traversing crevasse fields and ice-falls.  High camp on this expedition was 12,700′, and this is where our kennel name came from.  Our sled dogs participated in expeditions all over Alaska and Canada, traveling on tundra and taiga, ocean and glacier.

It was in 1985 that our dogs started guiding guests from all over the world on multi-day trips into Denali National Park.  Denali Dog Sled Expeditions is the sole park concessionaire, permitted to guide on park lands, and take people on trips from one hour to ten days.  Along with guiding guests on sleds, these dogs support extended cross-country ski trips in the park, and haul climbing gear for mountaineers climbing Denali from the north side.  Different from the racing dogs of Iditarod and Yukon Quest, our sled dogs are the “Sherpas” of the sled dog world, and offer people from Spain to Singapore the best way to see Denali.

Jon has retired from guiding sled dog trips into Denali in the winter, and our business Denali Dog Sled Expeditions has guides and their dogs from our immediate neighborhood.  With Jon’s removal from field work, his dogs are retired and gone from our kennel.  The sled dog kennel will now be a place with displays and equipment for our guests to see what we still do on our winter expeditions.  Hours will be daily, and to be announced at the beginning of the summer.