By my second day in Sri Lanka, I began to notice the considerable number of dogs lying around next to roads or scavenging for scraps of foods. In most cases these dogs are not a pretty sight. Most are thin, many are mangy and flea-ridden. While the more fortunate animals have caring owners, by far the majority of the dogs I saw were feral.

The feral dog problem is interesting. In past years the government has tried dog control programs, none of them very successful. More successful are its rabies control …

(Part of a series on Finland)
One of the activities I looked forward to the most while in Finland was a two-day dog-sledding adventure, taking off from the Harriniva Holiday Centre, about 45 minutes out of Kittela. In turn, Kittela is a 90-minute plane ride from Helsinki, so it’s a fair bit of effort to get to this region, located well inside the Arctic Circle.
Harraniva
Harraniva is a multi-purpose, multi-season resort run by the grandchildren of the family that founded it in 1973. As such, it boasts a true home-style atmosphere. At …

Dawson City, Yukon, is like an itch under your skin. No matter how much you scratch, it’s always there. That’s how Dawson City is for me. I love this whacky, unpaved, raw hole in the wilderness, where the people are real and the frontier mentality is alive and well. When I’m gone for any appreciable time, I think of it and its zany character.

Dawson City was built nearly overnight, at the height of the Klondike Gold Rush. During its heyday in 1898, Dawson had more than 40,000 people, every one …

To call the Yukon Quest merely a dogsled race is akin to calling the Superbowl just another football game. The Quest is the penultimate showdown, a grueling match of dogs and man (or woman) against whatever nature can conjure up on its worst day. It is a 1,000 mile long endurance test of man and beast.
Make no mistake about it; every musher and every dog is a finely tuned athlete, melded into a team that, if all goes well, functions seamlessly. These are working dogs in every sense of the …

Okay, I’m hooked. After spending the afternoon at Sky High Wilderness Ranch in Whitehorse, Yukon, there’s no doubt in my mind I’ll be back, this time for a sled dog wilderness camping adventure. Few times have I had more fun as a travel photographer than I did today.
Mushing is as endemic to the Yukon as ice hockey is to the rest of Canada. There are scads of outfitters, lodges and guides who will happily arrange a dogsledding adventure for individuals and families. Two of the best are Sky High and …