Our guides are your partners in this adventure. They will see to all your needs and ensure that the trip runs smoothly and safely. They are all first-aid trained and know the dogs and north woods well. You will enjoy your trip with us in no small part due to your guides. Their continued excitement at running the trips is one of the reasons our program is successful.

Theo has been running dogs for six seasons - jumping in head first on an arctic training expedition in Canada. The hook was set, and dog sledding became the thing to wedge in during every spare moment and vacation. Theo has led outdoor trips throughout the US and Canada for the past 20 years. She spent 16 years directing programs for Cornell University's Outdoor Education program - one of the largest collegiate outdoor programs in the country.

Minnesota's northwoods has always held a particular fondness, and is now considered home year round. She relishes seeing more moose than traffic lights in a given month. (12 moose, 8 traffic lights last December, but who's counting?)

This year marks her fourth season guiding trips for White Wilderness. She is often the voice on the phone when you call, as she juggles the office details as well as guiding trips. Known for her adventurous spirit and quest for the trail less taken, Theo is equally at home in the backcountry kitchen as on the sled runners. In the off-season, she's a senior instructor for Outward Bound, leading sea kayak and canoe expeditions. Spare time??...wood working, biking, skiing and pouring over maps, searching for the next trail that beckons to be explored with her trusty black lab, Emma.

Some kids beg to go to Disney World, some beg for a pony; as a kid, Heather Jeske Pharr begged to go winter camping (actually, she begged for a pony, too, but that's a whole other story). For years she pestered her dad to let her go with on the yearly trip to the woods outside of Ely, and when he finally gave in and took her, she was hooked. Together, she and her friend Princess (the family dog), explored frozen swamps, built fires in waist deep snow, bombed down hills that weren't really meant to be skied on cross country skies, shared frozen snicker bars, and at night, enjoyed howling wolves and homemade chili back at camp with dad.

Back at home in Hudson, Wisconsin, Heather constructed elaborate harnesses out of dog leashes and rope, and a very tolerant Princess let herself be led around the yard towing an orange toboggan loaded with snow.

Not much has changed since Heather was a kid. She still prefers frozen swamps to wet ones (she has a knack for falling in the wet ones), and it's no surprise to anyone who knows her when she comes home with stories of questionable skiing activities. She'd like to say that her fire building skills have improved since she was 12, but to keep from being mocked by her co-workers, she'll let that skill speak for itself. She still enjoys a bowl of homemade chili and a good howl at night, and there's usually a snicker bar or two in her pocket all winter. As for those homemade harnesses, to save time, Heather agrees to use the prefabricated ones on her trips with White Wilderness, but if the need arose, she is confident that she could still whip up a harness using whatever materials she had on hand at the time.

Christina Jeske grew up outside of St Paul, MN and left for the Caribbean just as soon as she had a chance. She spent several years there working in restaurants, souvenir shops and (her most glamorous job) as day sail crew on Hinckley yachts. Remembering days spent hiking jungle trails, snorkeling among sea turtles, rays and nurse sharks and lounging for countless hours on white sand beaches, she's still not quite sure why she decided to leave. However, Christina must have learned to enjoy cold weather for she finds herself living in Ely for the third time (no one knows where she goes when she moves away), having most recently moved up in the fall of 2006 to guide trips for White Wilderness Sled Dog Adventures. Along with running dogs, Christina enjoys kayaking, camping, playing guitar and penny whistle, solving the New York Times crossword puzzles, and participating in competitive gunny sack races.

While studying the bag pipes in Glasgow, Scotland, Shawn McCarty suffered the misfortune of losing a peculiar bet at the greyhound track, the result of which will make him the first person to circumnavigate the globe totally under the power of dogs. He crossed from Galway Ireland to Maine in 2000 in a catamaran pulled by a team of 16 yellow labs (the team originally included 4 chocolate labs but they were eaten by sharks bef ore the first day was over). When he arrived in Maine he traded his labs for huskies and headed for the Bearing strait. However it turned out to be rough going. Running dogs is much different than swimming them so progress was slow. Worse yet Shawn had not bought a new compass when he arrived in America, so he was navigating with his old metric compass for Europe, and being unaware of this fairly serious problem he found himself in MN instead of Alaska. He has been working at White Wilderness since 2006 to save money to resupply (the first thing he will buy is a new compass) and continue on. He hopes to complete his circumnavigation by 2010.

Liz is a recent graduate of Macalester College in St. Paul, MN. While attending Macalester, she was introduced to mushing during a class on winter ecology. Pursuing her interest in field biology, Liz spent the past summer on St. Lazaria Island in southeastern Alaska studying colonial seabirds with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. She looks forward to spending this winter in Ely.

While not a guide, yet, Morgan McClelland helps out in many ways. Including giving the dogs "tune ups" when needed and training the puppies during the summer.

To make your next adventure come true call today! 1-800-701-6238 or e-mail us.