Original subtitles

I'm Gordon Buchanan. I've been filming wildlife for over 30 years, but my love of the natural

world began as a child. As a 10-year-old, I read The Call of the Wild by Jack London.

A book about gold rushes, the commanded dog teams while seeking their fortune in Canada's

Yukon.

A book ignited in me a lifelong fascination for these incredible huskies.

Bread over centuries to survive the harshest of conditions.

Geez!

Enabling people to live in and traverse these hostile lands.

How do I go with this?

Now, almost 40 years later, I'm heading to the Yukon.

Oh, it's exhausting.

To try and master a team of these powerful, intelligent dogs. To see if I too can conquer

the trails that the gold rushes used.

Easy!

Ahhh!

I'll be self-filming as much as possible.

Lights, camera.

This is pretty action.

I'll have just eight days to master the dog team.

You still have got absolutely no control.

Before taking on one of the toughest challenges of my life.

An ancient treacherous trail of sharp corners over hanging trees and dangerous obstacles

that would have beaten even the toughest of gold rushes.

The Burn Run.

The speed that these dogs can move is unbelievable.

What will I learn about the relationship between people, dogs, good boy?

And our place within the natural world.

Situated in the northwest corner of Canada, the Yukon is twice the size of the UK.

But with a population of just 45,000 people.

I'm not the first Scotsman to arrive in this unforgiving land.

Lured here by the call of the wild.

I was captivated by that boot.

The relationship that those people had with those dogs in this wild part of the world.

That was kind of the life that I wanted to lead.

Now I've got the opportunity to live that dream.

A dream that's kind of over 40 years old.

And to be here on the brink of an amazing adventure.

Heartling through the wild of the Yukon being pulled along by a pack of dogs.

How hard can it be?

Although long gone, the gold rushes establish trails that are still used today.

Over 100 years later.

Where dog teams are an essential means of transport in the most remote areas.

To have a fighting chance of tackling the Burn Run, I'll need an experienced team of Huskies.

Pierre-Luc Fortan has some of the best.

He's the man I need to meet.

Knock knock.

Hello.

Hey, hey. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.

Finally.

Why are you leaving your door open? It's freezing.

It's not cold.

We're just fine.

Huskies are a tough breed.

Known for the remarkable strength, speed and endurance.

Pierre-Luc has 29 loyal and trusted dogs in his care.

He's an Arling looking hound.

I'll show you your team members.

Some slightly nervous because it feels like a job interview.

And then you go.

The dogs are tied up to prevent fights.

Pierre-Luc has handpicked his strongest and most experienced dogs to make up my team.

So you got one right there?

That's Hero.

Come on, Hero.

Hero.

Try not to feel rejected at all.

So that's, uh, epic. epic.

There's a few slightly tense and nervous.

The other Huskies joining me on my team are Vicki, who's also not very interested in me.

She's on your hands for you at the moment.

Beautiful, lucky.

Super powerful.

She's got quite a strong personality.

So you don't want to put like a very, very, very shy male with her.

Exie.

She's like a fox.

She's really expressive.

Wookie, who's also the daughter of Blue Eyed Yukon.

Yukon is the alpha and leader of my pack.

He's the strongest and the most intelligent and the one I need to win over if I'm to master this team.

Is the king of the yard, just one ring below me.

As seven dogs and seven very different personalities.

Well, do you see Alaskan Huskies is a mix of everything that runs because at the, it's during the gold rush.

They were using dogs and there was not so many sled dogs around so they were breeding whatever they had.

Yeah, of course.

Yeah.

I only have today to learn everything I need to know before I head out into the wilderness.

There's only one speed on a dog team.

It's go.

Yeah.

If the dogs just did go without me on it.

That's the worst case scenario.

Right.

You run.

The important part of the sled.

The break.

Yeah.

Okay.

And your best friend here.

The math.

Okay.

So let's say you're ready to go.

This is when it really starts to concentrate.

It's pretty much going to be like that.

And then the break.

Okay.

Now I should not be able to pull you.

So, okay.

Keep fresh on the break.

Okay.

So the commands are very simple.

It's up, up.

When you want them to go and half is left.

G is right.

And G.

Yeah.

Here Luke thinks seven dogs will be too powerful for my first run.

So for today, I'll just have five.

It's quite stressful with all the noise.

And then I think I'm just kind of like the point of match of doing stuff that I've been

told.

And I'm forgetting.

My mind's gone completely blank.

God.

It's stressful.

Jesus.

Here we go.

He's dead.

He's dead.

God almighty.

Jesus.

Just the power.

He's taking me on a ten mile practice run.

I need to learn quickly how to command the dogs or mush.

A good musher won't let them run too fast and risk losing control of the sled.

My God.

No, no, no.

Okay.

I'm trying to use this.

Where?

Oh.

Oh.

I totally messed up there.

I didn't realize it.

Here Luke was stopping.

And my dogs are going through a pail and then it was too late to hit the bridge.

To the side fighting.

Yeah, well, try.

Dog over a lap.

Yeah, no.

Not even five minutes out of the yard and made a thunderman flare up.

I should be honest.

I can't see them enjoying this at the moment.

It's too stressful.

Up, up.

Jeez.

I just feel there's absolutely no control.

The only thing I have is a break.

The dogs are desperate to run flat out.

They've been bred for this and can run at speeds of over 30 kilometres an hour.

Oh.

Oh.

Oh.

Oh.

Oh.

Oh.

He's going to have to learn very quickly that mushing is a teamwork.

Well, there's a problem on the dog team.

That's the mushroom.

Oh, you're ****.

Oh.

Too hard.

Oh.

Oh.

Oh.

Oh.

Oh.

Oh.

Oh.

Oh.

Oh.

Oh.

Oh.

There's too many things to think about.

I'm just going to take a tight corner.

I'm just going to get decapitated by a tree.

OK.

I can hear the other dogs back at the yard, yoling and howling, so we're not far away.

Pab, pab, pab.

Yes, I've made it.

Oh.

In one piece.

More or less.

Oh.

Oh.

Oh, you did great.

You didn't really fall, right?

No, a couple of, a couple of wobbles.

It wasn't relaxing.

One bit.

At no point was I relaxed.

It kind of feels it was dangerous all around and mistakes just waiting to happen.

I'm miles away from having the dogs respond to my commands.

I don't know what I'm doing, and it feels like they know it.

I did my best to transfer all the knowledge I know about my dogs and my mushing.

He's now responsible for his dark team, and we'll see how he can handle that.

What am I doing?

I'm out camping.

I'm with dogs.

It's going to be cold.

It's going to be snowy.

It's not until when you get to this point, just before you head off into a wild place.

You realise what you really, really need.

One large knife.

Doing a bit chopping.

Monster boots.

One ten haggis.

I wonder if, kind of, back in the, the call of the wildies, the hoot-a-mid-do with just one knapsack.

And what would have been in there?

Just the essentials.

You know, this is a, of a lifelong dream that I've had to come to this place to lead a dog team out into the wilderness.

There's a lot to think about, and there's a lot to learn, and I'm throwing myself into a situation that is of, yeah, potentially dangerous.

I'm heading to the Rose Lake Plateau, 70 kilometres southwest of here.

I'll be following a trail first created by the pioneers on their way to the Klondike Gold Rush in the late 1800s.

Okay, so white water is here.

Starting point is here at Fish Lake.

Then you go up the hill in that tundra plateau here.

You're going to feel like you're on the moon.

Yeah, it's a pretty cool spot there.

Then here there's a big burn.

These sections you want to keep them for when you have built up your skill levels.

So what makes this run so difficult or so technical?

The trail is actually pretty narrow, and there's many sharp turns.

Sometimes it's kind of contour and twitted, but you need to let the brake go, pick up speed to be able to go around the corners.

So if I was to try the burn run on the first day, what would happen? How far would I get?

I would be more fearing for you than the dogs.

Just don't go there if you don't feel entirely ready.

Yeah, because that might just become a catastrophe.

I'm easing myself into the journey by starting at Fish Lake.

11 kilometres long and almost 40 metres deep.

It's completely frozen over for seven months of the year.

It provides a flat surface with no obstacles, so should get us off to a good start.

My instinct would be to lead the dogs around the edge, but the ice is thin as there.

So I need to take them straight down the middle.

Just setting up my camera rig.

I mean, there's hundreds, thousands of Scots that have travelled through the Yukon before me.

Some of them were travellers, explorers, writers, poets that have come to the Yukon.

And they recorded that experience with their words.

I think for me, I kind of want to record it in pictures.

I had five dogs on my taster day, and I'm going to have seven.

Seven. Yeah.

We're going to go.

When you're going on expeditions, you need a certain number of dogs.

And over the years, I figured out seven is the minimum.

I've come away from where Pierre Luca is, so I don't want him to see me lacking enthusiasm.

I'm thinking, God, I'm not ready for this. Not one bit.

This is not a time to be doubting your abilities.

Not they've got any abilities at the moment.

I think this is when the learning really begins.

Right, I'm going to get going.

You guys ready to go?

I'm not sure if I am.

I'm going to wish for some quick pictures.

It's the point where I guess I'm...

Guess a bit crazy.

Find this sort of quite stressful.

It was really peaceful, until all of this sort of excitement.

Oh, good.

Yeah.

I wish you good luck.

Hop, hop, hop, hop, hop, hop.

Hey, good lad.

I'm going exactly where I want him to go.

Gee!

Okay, we're all good. Here we go.

The dogs actually went left, and he probably had to tell them, like,

gee, gee, gee.

And it's working pretty good.

I'm...

I must say, I'm a little surprised.

Huskies are bred to respond to human instruction,

but they also have the intelligence to overrule the musher

and act on their own instinct if the team is in danger.

This relationship between humans and Huskies evolved over centuries

has allowed people to survive here.

It's easy now.

Since flat, there's no obstacles, there's no tight bends,

so I can't just look around.

Enjoy the scenery.

It's just a raw power of seven dogs pulling this ledge

without any effort whatsoever.

This team could easily pull about 500 kilos between them.

The power comes from their formation.

At the back is epic and Vicky, my wheel dogs,

who help pull the sled around the corners.

In the middle are my team dogs, lucky, hero and wookie.

They provide the strength.

But lucky runs alone, she's so dominant that she won't tolerate

another dog beside her.

Up front is Yukon, and is apprentice Xe.

As the lead dog and alpha in his hierarchy,

I need Yukon to respond to my command,

where Yukon goes, the other dogs fall.

It says, just...

Just...

Wonderful.

Oh, wow.

Life doesn't get better than this.

I mean, this is a way to travel.

The speed that these dogs can move is unbelievable.

Just as I start to build some confidence for the first time,

we leave the relative ease of fish lake behind

and begin climbing the steep forested part of the trail.

Where the weather takes a turn for the worse.

Things can change very quickly out here,

temperature, and plummet.

The blizzard can drift in.

The sled dogs have got this ability to squint,

and squint their eyes to stop the glare from the sun.

But also the stops are driving snow.

Good into their eyes.

They switch from using their eyes to see the trail

to their nose to sniff it out.

But heavy snow can quickly make the trails difficult to use.

We still have a long way to go, and we're tiring.

Ah, right, okay. It's a long journey.

Man.

This is exhausting.

I don't think that you're just along for the ride.

There's a lot of work to be done, especially when you're going uphill.

Hop, hop, come on.

Hi.

Keeps new. Come on. Come on, guys.

Whoa.

Whoa.

Stick on the track, guys.

Get that.

Stay on the track.

Hop, hop.

That's it.

That's more like it.

I don't know. I think just the more tired I'm getting,

the more mistakes I'm making.

Huskies are bred for endurance and running long distances.

They can cover over 140 kilometres a day,

but not with me as a novice mushroom.

Even you can't up the front. He's looking over his shoulder a little bit.

Wondering when we're going to stop.

The blizzard has passed, but we're all exhausted.

It's taken most of the day to reach Rose Lake Plateau,

and I need to set up camp before it gets dark.

Look at your beautiful blue eyes.

It's a stressful day.

Did you have a stressful day?

Yeah, I know.

I packed some straw for the bed, but it won't be enough.

So I'm topping it up using an old musher's trick.

A little bit of soft, spruce needles will keep the dogs nice and warm.

Their body heat warms the air between the needles,

creating a layer of insulation between them and the snow.

I kind of want them to know that I'm on their side.

If I started just looking after myself sorting out my tent and sorting out my bed,

eating a big hearty meal before attending to them,

tomorrow I can't imagine they're going to work particularly hard for me.

I mean, they're seriously hardcore.

Tonight I drop down to a bit minus 15, minus 20,

and these dogs can lie out just a little better straw and needles and be perfectly happy.

All right, I'm going to carry you over the threshold to your new home.

Here you go, right, this special princess.

Right, what do you make of this?

Nice bed, huh?

She's peeing on it.

Maybe that's sort of in the sled dog handbook.

That's a sign of kind of like a dog's approval.

If you actually urinate on the bed that you've just spent,

significant at my time preparing for them.

It's quite a long pee.

You finished.

And preferring not to go in the bed.

Certainly not the sign of approval that was expecting.

All of this before I've even made my own bed.

Come on then.

Good lad.

So, hero is very submissive.

He seems to be scared of everything,

but I think by getting down and actually kind of being smaller than him,

you're less intimidating.

There's this hierarchy.

So, he'll be looking at a dog like Yukon who is very dominant,

very much the boss, the leader.

So, in his mind, he's sort of way down the pecking order.

It's this hierarchy that allows Alaskan Huskies,

unlike most other dog breeds, to function as a team.

I like the fact that he's, you know, he's just a youngster

and he's got a lot to learn.

So, I kind of identify with part of that.

I'm certainly not a youngster, but when it comes to dog sledding,

I've got more to learn than him.

So, we're kind of in the same boat. We're both novices.

Like many Huskies, hero has been training for this

since he was about nine months old.

He'll be working for the next ten years, or until he gets too old to enjoy it anymore.

Let me scratch that. You, well, you should put that leg down.

You don't need it. Put it down.

And thank you for liking my bed.

You're the only one so far that's actually lying down.

You're glad.

Even with my modern equipment and clothing, it's a tough environment.

I can't imagine the hardships that gold rushers would have endured.

Many perished as they rushed here, often woefully unprepared for the extreme weather.

Even something as simple as getting some water at the time of year in the Yukon is not the easy one.

I'm not the least of tasks.

If you were to watch me doing this out of context and think,

what animal is this man looking after?

You might think, maybe a velociraptor, a saber to a tiger.

Not just seven dogs.

So there's two types of meat. There's grown beef and there's grown chicken.

So like a normal dog, we'd eat of 1,500 calories a day.

A sled dog can easily consume 10,000 calories a day.

That's making me hungry, to be honest.

I think.

Just give me a cat off for God's sake.

That's taking a good, a good hour.

I'm so tempted.

Come on, navel.

Turn your nose up at my bed and now you're turning your nose up at my dinner.

Hey, jumping Jack, there you go.

Hey, my boy.

There's your food.

It's your dinner.

Talk in.

Yuki, yuki, yuki.

There you go.

The golden rule is to always feed the lead dog first.

But I've made a mistake and said you can last.

This will not help me in my attempt to win him over.

I've got muscle-laking in places that have forgotten muscles.

I think I'm kind of getting the hang of certain aspects of it.

I think him, yeah, kind of underestimated.

How labor-intensive looking after the dogs was.

But yeah, as long as the dogs are happy, I'm happy.

And the dogs seem blissful.

Right.

I'll get some sleep before it all begins again.

Slid dogs wait for no man.

I'm sorry.

I can be on a walk.

It didn't quite appreciate how all-consuming it would be.

There's no downtime. There's no time to sit about.

This is less appetizing to do than it seemed last night.

They have to eat three hours before they run.

The reason is they can't run on a full stomach

and they need that time to digest.

If you run a dog on a full stomach,

you imagine that stomach just full of moisture,

full of water and meat,

and that's putting kind of weight on the stomach

and they're running and you get the thing called

a swung stomach, the stomach's actually swing

running itself and if that happens,

it's really bad news.

The dog will die.

I've fed the dogs in the wrong order again

and someone's in half.

The big boss, I forgot to give you yours first.

Listen, I'm sorry, I've just got a lot to think about.

You're in the mood now.

You're thinking, well, what's going on here?

I'm top dog.

I get it deep for us.

So why is he giving it to these other bosses

before I get mine?

At least, teaching me definitely,

he's not as friendly as engaged as he normally is.

It's because I messed up.

It will not happen again.

Shake on it.

Promise, promise.

Friends again?

We friends?

I'm so impressed.

The Yukon is a vast and varied landscape,

moving quickly from baron tundra to thick forested areas.

I'll need to master both if I'm to survive the burn run.

So today, I'm tackling a challenging forest trail

as I need to get much better at dodging tree after tree.

I'm kind of feeling a bit nervous,

a bit anxious about going out and exploring

because I know that there's risks.

My number one concern, top of the list,

is don't lose the dogs.

But that is something that really terrifies me,

is of being left all night here without the dogs.

It's a...

It's a...

It's a...

Up, up.

Easy now.

Being so close to the ground,

the dogs don't run the risk of hitting branches.

It's entirely up to me to be alert

and dodge any trees in my path.

So don't hit a tree I think I've done something right.

Loosen up.

The moment that I kind of like feel myself getting tense,

that's when things go wrong.

It's all about being relaxed, chilled, zen.

F***!

Up, up, guys. Come on.

Oh, yeah.

All right.

Oh, man, man, man, man, man, man, man.

Boy!

What?

Don't go anywhere.

Geez!

Stop!

Tying up the sled to catch my breath,

I get another indication of the power of these dogs.

You can't bark.

It's so perfect.

You can actually feel this, or your hand.

Let me stop you being serious.

Shush!

Damn.

There's a feeling like evaporating about summer.

Give me five minutes.

Let's see what happens.

One minute.

I might need a break,

but the dogs are desperate to go.

And as I walk back to the sled,

Yukon, an ex's sheer power snaps the game alone.

Yukon!

Yukon!

Yukon!

Yukon!

This is my worst nightmare.

Yukon!

I don't think I'm gonna stop.

I'm just gonna keep going.

Yukon!

Yukon!

Right.

The only hope that I have is that you go off the trail

and get snagged on a tree.

So,

ahh,

X-y and

Yukon have got a line between

their, their calling.

So if they go,

please,

if they go somewhere off,

off the trail,

ahh,

and one goes to one side of the tree,

the other goes out there.

Oh, God!

Oh, God!

Yukon!

That happens.

Turn around.

This little branch here,

they've obviously tried to take the corner

and got snagged on that.

Put on the brakes.

That, that could have been

a disaster.

These dogs are bred to keep running,

but it still lays me feeling

that they don't have any respect

for my commands.

You could tour a truck with that.

This is the head of the gang line.

So this is just two dogs.

That's a poem of two dogs.

New lanes.

Back up.

Back up.

Yukon!

That's the closest I want to get to losing a dog.

After a running repair,

we go again.

Okay.

Hop, hop.

Hop, hop in a gentle fashion.

No, no, no, no, not gentle.

Steady now.

There's not a ten meter stretch

that goes by that I'm not thinking.

The mistake's just around the corner.

It just feels a bit of a white knuckle ride.

I think that's it.

It's at every stage of the game.

Whatever goes wrong, it's ultimately

my error.

I'm losing my confidence

and the day is going from bad to worse.

I think I've lost it.

Everything that I've learned,

I've forgotten.

I have no control over the dogs

at all.

I'm failing miserably

and losing any of the trust

I may have built up with them.

Bye-bye.

As soon as they feel

a little bit of giving the sled,

they're like,

oh yeah, come on, let's go.

It doesn't matter.

They're so...

I care about them, deeply,

but really,

they don't care about me.

If only these dogs

had an off switch.

Right.

Easy now.

Easy, easy, easy, easy, easy, easy, easy, easy, easy...

Ready.

Far...

Today has been a disaster.

The team weren't following my command

and I've very nearly lost two dogs.

Tackling the burn run

feels like a pipe dream right now.

I need to rethink my approach.

I didn't think about the emotional connection

with the dogs.

I was viewing them as the engines

and you were just capitalising

on their ability to run.

This is actually a bit sort of joining

a kind of group of friends

and I'm the outsider and I'm the stranger.

I'm not doing this alone.

It's all about the dogs.

It's all about the relationship with them.

It's not a solo effort.

This is not me doing this.

This is us doing it as a team.

What I have to do is

emotionally connect with them.

You're on a journey together.

I'm going to do what I know best

and use my camera to get to know the dogs better.

Hey, you.

You're looking suspicious.

You're looking suspicious.

He's a little bit nervous.

Very hyper aware of everything

that's going on around him.

He's a beautiful looking dog, really unusual.

It's all about the badger nose.

Lucky.

Lucky, lucky lady.

Lucky lady.

She's amazing in front of the sled.

But yeah, she's just kind of like

engaged but sort of slightly disengaged.

It's almost as if there's something

going on in her mind that she's not letting you end on.

Like that noise.

I'm stuck in snow.

Help me out.

Vicky, vicky, vicky.

Vicky, vicky girl.

But the solemn look to her

with poppy-ish eyes.

The ultimate pose her.

Wookiee.

That's someone.

Keep looking.

And keep looking.

Wookiee's a bit of an enigma.

Times can be really engaged,

very friendly,

and that other times very aloof.

She's a very beautiful dog.

I think she knows it.

Now you, you pose her.

For once, she's actually sitting still.

She's kind of full of energy even after

the most arduous of runs.

She's the kind of dog that takes an hour

to cover a hundred yards

because everyone wants to stop and speak to her.

And a shy boy.

You, you.

The big man.

Just exactly as you are.

Strong, silent type.

Steely gay's Hollywood good looks.

Well, he's quite happy with me taking his photo.

Maybe this is a new start for us both.

Seven dogs doing a similar job

and they all look completely different

and their personalities are miles apart.

Yeah, they're just, they're adorable.

Not at all what I was expecting.

I think with a lot of working dogs,

they're only interested in the job

that they've been bred and trained to do.

And these dogs are so focused when they're

in the harness and ready to go.

But out with that, they're really, yeah,

engaging.

They're good people dogs.

This would not be as magical if it was just

seven clones.

They're all unique.

This is a good end to a day I'd like to forget.

It feels like getting to know them better

is the way forward.

The way to us becoming a team.

And with the burn run looming in just six days,

that connection will be vital.

I've woken early and I'm feeling far more positive.

Now that I've started to bond with the dogs.

Reading the Call of the Wild all those years ago,

that was about men dominating these dogs

and sort of breaking them and forcing them

to do what they want them to do.

But it's a lot more nuanced than that.

It's a kind of, it's a partnership.

The dogs need a fair bit of care and grooming.

It's another way for me to build my relationship with them.

Between the toes, you've got these long, long hairs.

And when they get too long, they can get these ice balls

stuck in those hairs.

It'd be like having a stone inside your boot.

Maybe I could get a job in a putch parlor.

Your nails are looking lovely.

I'm going to give X a little bit of a grim so much fluff.

Look at two types of hair.

They've got the guard hairs which helps kind of shed snow.

But then they've got this insulating layer underneath.

Really soft wool-like.

And it is so dense that if you part her coat,

you can't see the skin.

Last night I'm thinking maybe it's minus 15,

but even colder than that she can sleep out

and be perfectly comfortable.

You can't occasionally look at me with a little bit of kind of disdain.

But it is almost impossible to imagine that X here doesn't think

I'm just the best human on the planet right now.

Everyone likes a little.

A little bit of love.

Maybe that says more about me.

Today is about proving to the dogs,

most importantly Yukon, that I have what it takes to be part of this pack.

By the end of the day, he's going to have a newfound respect for me.

What do you think?

Is that right?

Do you think I'm rubbish?

Do you think I'm rubbish?

It's time to find out if all this love and pampering has peed off.

I'm going to try the forest trail again,

the trail that was so unsuccessful yesterday.

It starts, I've always found difficult because that's when you've got maximum amount of power.

You've got seven welfare well-rested dogs wanting to run and wanting to pool.

It's very much a flying start.

Too much power.

We'll wait on the brake just trying to slow them down.

She...

Okay, this is just too much.

Jesus!

Oh, guys, whoa, yeah!

F***!

Tight corner, off the brake.

Now, there are trees off the brake.

Off the hill.

A little bit of hub hub hub help you, hub hub!

As they settle into it, I feel the eye settling.

And that's the point, that look around, take it all in.

It's kind of easy to think that we're the only living things out here.

But during the gold rush, there was tens of thousands of people that flocked into the Yukon,

travelling through this area in search of gold.

I'm a long way off the scales of those hardy explorers,

but today's run was a lot better than yesterday.

Proof that relationship building is key to our success as a team.

I guess it's going to be ready, ready.

Either cooked to perfection or burnt to crisp.

Ah!

Oh, yes, sir!

That looks so good.

It is cooked to perfection, since it's gone a bit crispy, around the outside.

Right, I was going to just have a big mouthful, but...

The dog first.

He's given me a taste of the Yukon, I'll give him a taste of Scotland.

Scotland's national dish.

Oh, yeah.

Hey? Yeah, good boy.

Hey, good boy.

You ready for tomorrow?

I'm going to keep me on the straight and the narrow and the bend and the hills.

You're good health, dogs.

As I turn in for the night, Yukon gives me the ultimate seal of approval, and joins me in my taste.

This is a point that I didn't think I was going to get into with this dog.

Lots of room for improvement, but he seems to have accepted that I'm actually not a bad musher.

Hey, how you big fell up?

No snoring.

I'm going to get you a little bit of a

little bit of a good meal.

Now that I've got the hang of the forested areas, I want to try some new trails.

But the sun is causing added complications.

You've got this snow layer that has been melted by the sun and then refrozen.

So it's gone from this of powdered estate to being more icy.

So it's like an ice layer.

And it's that ice layer that's really bad for the dog's feet.

And if you're running on this stuff, I can feel that on my face.

It's just very abrasive.

And if you're running the dog's hard, you can get blisters on their feet.

If they get blisters on their feet, we're not going anywhere.

But to protect them with these changing conditions, I've got a little bit of additional doggy kit.

I just want to get any bits of clumpy snow off of these feet.

Here you go, pal.

One.

Maybe you're not used to these.

It's good for you. It's going to protect your feet.

Feel funny?

Super chilled today.

I made that decision this morning at this point just to kind of just chill out.

And I shouldn't be surprised that the dogs are feeling chilled.

We're done.

Up, up, up, up. Nice and gently, guys. Nice and gently. Slowly with the booties.

Hey, guys.

Slow it down. A bit of a steep one there. And off the brake. Up, up.

And then back on the brake.

These times it's having a confidence to build up a bit.

More aggressive with the sled.

Taking a corner.

It's about useless sled tilting. Here you go.

Good example.

I would have definitely pranked there a couple of days ago.

Snow dogs, snow dogs. Give me your answer, doo.

I'm half crazy over the love of you.

It won't be a stylish marriage.

I've got a sled, not a carriage.

But I look sweet upon my feet behind a sled dog team made of eight,

seven dogs and one man.

The more time I spend with the dogs, the calmer I become.

For you, for you.

They're beginning to accept me as part of the family.

And I'm becoming much more confident on the sled.

Hey, guys.

Up, up, up, up, up, up, up, up.

The life of the gold rusher that I dreamed of as a child is becoming a reality.

And I'm happy being out here in the wilderness was the dogs.

What it first felt like a constant list of chores has found a rhythm.

The dogs and I are looking out for one another.

Okay, let's have a look. You feel good? Nice.

You're good.

And I've even gotten the hang of dodging trees.

And a duck?

I'm giving Yukon his place and remembering to feed him first.

Which is helping build our relationship.

Yukon!

Up, up, up, up. Nice and gently, guys.

The dogs and I are becoming a team.

Everything seems to have clicked into place.

Feeling good. Feeling free.

With the bun run, it is one thing after the next.

The steep slopes, tight turns, up hills, down hills, blind summits.

But I think I'm up for it.

Good girls and boys.

I'm loving this.

There's a lot to love about it.

Ah, these dogs, this place, everything.

I'm getting there. I'm getting there.

I'm ready for the burn.

Yes, yes!

It's burn run day.

Can I take on this treacherous and dangerous run that would have no doubt bested even the hardiest of gold rushes?

This is the black run of dog sledding.

The first obstacle is just a tight bend, followed by steep incline.

It's on a tilt and it's down and up and then another steep slope.

And it's relentless obstacles like that for 10km.

Kind of best not to overthink it.

I'm making chicken out.

I have to be completely comfortable to be completely relaxed, regardless of the terrain.

To have that zen fusion with the sled, the dogs and the trail.

And we're off.

And we're off.

Slow it down, slow it down.

Oh man, man, man, man, man, man, man.

Oh, shit! Running, running, running. Oh, shit!

Don't let that line go slight and off the brake to take a corner.

Oh, my God, this is too steep.

Easy, guys. Easy and fast, fast, fast, fast, fast, fast, fast, fast.

That's how you do it. You can't.

Oh, it's super, super exciting, so exhilarating.

I'm going faster than ever, yet feel in total control.

GG, GG!

The dogs are reading the trail, and I am reading there.

I know when to brake, I know when to lean, and Yukon is responding to my calls.

GG, GG!

Finally, we have become a team.

And are running as one.

Oh, my God, I'm running as one.

Oh, my God, I'm running as one.

Oh, gee, wait, that was phenomenal.

Oh, my gee, that's freedom. That's like flying.

Good lad! That was awesome! That was awesome!

Ah, it's just... Get off me!

Being here and having these dogs, you know, open up this world to me,

I'm just so grateful to them.

You know, I've learned from them. They've kind of guided me,

and they've kind of let me join their gang. They've let me be part of their team.

So this isn't a team of seven dogs. It's a team of eight.

Seven on four legs. One on two legs, although not all the time.

Up, up, up!

Woo-hoo!

Having read the call of the wild all those years ago,

I began my expedition thinking I had to command the dogs to become the alpha of their pack.

But this book was from another era,

a time when sled dogs and nature were seen as something to be conquered, something to be dominated.

But these remarkable huskies have taught me that dog sledding and thriving together in nature

is about teamwork, respect and love.

It's clear to me that if we are to have a future on this earth,

we must listen to what the natural world has to tell us.

It's Christmas time and time to say thank you to the people that have gone above and beyond

in what has been another challenging year.

Join us for the celebration this Tuesday, eight over with their friends on BBC One Scotland.

Up next, we explore the oil machine here on BBC Scotland.