Last weekend I got to travel to one of my favorite events of the year. The CopperDog 150 is an approximately 150 mile dog sled race that is hosted in Calumet, Michigan in the Keweenaw Peninsula. This year was the 11th year of the race and my 5th race I have volunteered at. In addition to the CopperDog 150 there is also an 80 mile and 25 mile race that happen throughout the weekend as well. Come along as I share some of the stories from this year and some of my favorite photos! If you want to check out last years videos I made head over to this post!
Getting to Calumet
The first part of the adventure for CopperDog is to get to Calumet, Michigan. For me that consisted of 2 flights and a 4 hour drive. My weekend started early on Thursday while I waited in the MCO airport for my first flight. While waiting I took advantage of one of my credit card perks, Priority Pass, which gets me access to the airport lounge. I enjoyed a nice breakfast and a mimosa before boarding my flight. My trip took me from Florida to Michigan and then Wisconsin before driving 4 hours north from Green Bay to get to Calumet. Now there is an airport in Hancock, Michigan but in the winter almost half the flights are canceled so I thought it would be safer to fly into Wisconsin and then finish the journey via truck to make it up in time for the start of the race.
Friday Night Start
After arriving in Calumet Thursday night it was time to rest up before Friday night’s start. All three races start on Friday night in historic downtown Calumet. They block off the main road and fill it with snow so that the sled teams have a good surface to start the race on before heading out onto the trails. There is always something electric about being by the starting line as they send the teams off every 2 minutes into the dark of night to begin their races.
The first teams to go out are the 150 mile race teams which consist of 10 dogs and the musher. The next group of teams are for the 80 mile race which are made up of 8 dog teams and a musher. Lastly the 25 mile race teams head out with 6 dog teams and the musher. The 25 mile race will end Friday night while the other two races have additional legs through the rest of the weekend. Find the Friday night photos here!
CopperDog 25 Finish
As I mentioned before the 25 mile teams finish on Friday night. After racing for close to 25 miles the teams ended in Gay, Michigan which is nestled on the shore of Lake Superior. This year the top 3 mushers from the 25 mile race were Ben Thompson in 1st averaging 15.4 MPH, Geri Minard in 2nd averaging 13.5 MPH and Gerhardt Thiart in 3rd averaging 13.2 MPH.
Saturday 2nd Leg
After resting up from Friday night’s leg, the 150 teams head back out on the trails for the 2nd leg of the CopperDog 150. The teams started in Eagle Harbor Michigan and raced to Copper Harbor. After eating some breakfast we headed out to one of the road crossings to grab photos of the teams part way through the leg. Timing is everything when trying to follow the teams. We made it in time to see all the teams at this crossing. We stopped for about a half hour to photograph and then got back on the road.
After photographing the teams near Lac La Belle we headed up to Copper Harbor. We wanted to get there early to hike out on the trail and find a perfect spot to photograph. It’s more fun to be in the woods with the teams than in town. We hiked over a mile out the trail and found a nice spot. There was plenty of time before teams showed up to get comfortable.
It was a blast chilling in the snow as the teams rounded the corner for the last mile of the 2nd leg. I dug a hole and laid close to the ground to get some cool shots. Check out some of my favorite photos below from Saturday. If you want to see more from Saturday head over here!
Overall CopperDog weekend is always one of my favorites. This year due to flight times I didn’t get to see the finish on Sunday. But the teams raced back to Calumet to finish Sunday around noon. If you have the chance to check out this event definitely do it! If you want to learn more about CopperDog 150 you can find their site here! As always keep Seeking Discovery and Explore Every Day. We will talk to you in the next adventure.
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