Denali National Park’s assistant kennel manager, Carmen Adamyk, gives us a glimpse inside her unconventional life.
My main responsibilities in the winter are to lead the backcountry and teach volunteers how to run dogs. We usually have right around 30 sled dogs at a time. That’s enough to run three dog teams, which is ideal for our longest patrols in the spring months. Backcountry patrols range from day trips of around 16 miles to our longest trip of the season, which can last up to five weeks. Mechanized equipment is prohibited [in the park], therefore our dog teams are a prime means of transport for researchers and their equipment, as well as for supplies or other equipment needed to be transported by other park entities to areas that are not accessible by road. We also act as a presence in the backcountry, helping law enforcement rangers protect the resources by patrolling the park for people poaching the land with snow machines.
Carmen and her team (credit: Jessica O'Connor)
There are a lot of women involved in backcountry patrols. This winter it happens that we are all women. It all depends on the applicants and whom we believe will work well with the dogs as well as with each other in very demanding, high-stress situations. My job in the winter is very field orientated, being out on the trail with the dogs for the majority of the winter. The summer is spent in the kennel yard, keeping the dogs healthy and happy as well as facilitating the summer demonstrations, which helps educate the 40,000-plus visitors about how we use the dogs.
There are definitely exhilarating moments on the trail—dropping down wind-packed chutes; trying to keep your sled upright as you wind around an open hole, which your dogs cut short and you end up upside down in an open-water stream; dark nights trying to find shelter in an area you have never been; skidding around and bouncing off willows as you use your sled as a shield as your dogs speed down a steep, icy creek; and cold, north winds on top of temperatures of 30 below zero day after day of mushing— all these things get the adrenaline going.
Mushing is a wonderful way to spend the winters in Alaska. I remember while growing up, getting to school in the dark, watching the short days of daylight pass by out the window, and heading back home in the dark. I believe that the key to living in a place where your daylight hours are limited is to be out in that light when it’s around. This job requires you to be outside and physically active during those hours—and there’s no better way to spend a day outside in the winter than running with these dogs in this park.
