A piece of canine-powered paradise
Marla BB's business in Chesterfield offers get-aways in a dogsled
Saturday, January 9, 2010
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CHESTERFIELD - Marla "BB" Brodsky of Chesterfield steps onto the runners of her dogsled, shouting "Hike!" to the five Alaskan huskies harnessed in front. They lurch forward, harnesses taut, and the sled I'm sitting in slides ahead, speeding up as the dogs gain momentum. With a "gee" command, BB's lead dog, Rosie, angles into the already broken trail and the rest of the team follows, all trotting with apparent ease.
From her stance on the runners behind me, BB clarifies that "real mushers" say "hike," not "mush" as a go-ahead command and explains how she is using the brakes and drag pad to keep the sled on the trail when the dogs whip around the corners. Then she is purposefully silent, and the only sound is the crunching of snow under the runners and the padding of paws.
I expected BB's team to be serious, working dogs, but instead I had to struggle to help her harness them because I was overwhelmed with wet kisses from the friendly pups. The team, BB's first, are 15-month-old huskies, bred from two Iditarod champions. BB said teams are often named around a common theme; in this case, she chose to use names that start with the letter "R": Rosie, Roxy, Raz Ma Taz, Rollo Pollo and Runt the Grunt.
Dogsledding is a new service that BB offers as part of her local guide business, Hilltown Wilderness Adventures. The last week in December was the official opening of the business's winter season, which includes dogsledding for the first time this year.
BB believes that the wintry woods of the Hilltowns is the perfect place for people, local and visiting, to reconnect with nature and escape via dogsled.
"It's a great community for outdoor adventure and healing," she said. "The best that the Hilltowns has to offer is the sound of the river, the greenery and the wild animals. When you're moving more at the pace of the animal, you take in more than when you're inside the box of a car, going faster than humans were meant to go."
A piece of wilderness
When she is not mushing - a sport and mode of transport in which one or more dogs pull a sled or passenger - BB is a touring blues singer, martial artist and mother.
BB - she adopted the moniker as her surname - opened Hilltown Wilderness Adventures in 2007 to share her love for and knowledge of the outdoors with people who are eager to explore them.
"It was like, let's see if I can make a living doing the things I love," BB said. Since then, BB estimates she has led well over 100 visitors from the Hilltowns and beyond as they hiked, biked, kayaked, canoed, fished and skijored, a sport in which a person is pulled by a harnessed dog or two while on cross-country skis. This year, with the addition of mushing lessons and dogsled rides, BB hopes to expand the business range of activities, as well as the clientele.
BB, who operates the business alone, said in the past the business was not her main source of income, but this year plans to make a living as a full-time guide.
Hilltown Wilderness Adventures grew to include dogsled rides because BB fell in love with the sport and wanted to share it.
"I wanted to be outside and honor the outdoor integration that can get us back to our roots with animals and the earth," she explained.
BB was first introduced to dogsledding at a friend's home in the Adirondacks, and since then has traveled to Alaska five times from 2007 to 2009, sometimes apprenticing at large dog sled operations, and other times working as a handler for friends' teams as they prepare for their races.
BB said that growing up in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania gave her an appreciation for the type of beautiful, diverse mountainous terrain that she now finds in the Hilltowns.
"There are so many great places in the Hilltowns that people don't even know are here. A lot of it is in my backyard," BB said of the Cummington Road home she shares with her partner, Nancy Rothenberg, and their 5-year-old daughter, Ruby.
In an effort to share some of her beloved Hilltown wilderness with customers, BB bought a piece of it. This year marks the opening of Hilltown Wilderness Adventures's new digs - an 18-acre plot of land on Mount Road in Chesterfield. BB, who used to take clients to the DAR State Forest or Notchview Reservation in Windsor, now has acres of hilly, wooded trails to offer skijoring or dogsledding trips on, a camp with a large bonfire and dog kennel, all against a backdrop of an unequaled view of the Berkshires, including Smith's Pyramid Mountain and others beyond.
"It's a much more thrilling ride here because it's not flat," BB said as she hiked up one of the many well-used trails. "It's more work and fun for the dogs because it's all up and down, and sometimes pretty steep."
The taste of escape
Although being whisked away by the canines is probably the most exciting part of a trip to Hilltown Wilderness Adventure, BB hopes to give visitors a whole day of immersion in nature and dogsledding.
"It's about the whole experience. You get to meet and pet the dogs and help harness them. We'll talk about the difference between malamutes and huskies as sled dogs. While you're waiting for your turn to go out you can sit by the bonfire with some cocoa. And next year, you can wait in the eco-cabin, too," BB said, motioning to the bare bones of the environmentally-friendly cabin that is being built on the new land.
The cabin, which will be finished by next winter, will be completely powered by energy from solar panels, and will even have a composting toilet. She hopes that the two-story cabin, built into the side of the hill with huge windows to take in the view, will host guests overnight as a kind of Hilltown retreat space.
Other than BB's business, the Hilltowns also offers a few other options for those seeking outdoor adventure in the hills. Tim Vogel's Chesterfield business, Tekoa Mountain Outdoors, provides outdoor education and recreation around the Hilltowns and beyond, including rock climbing, mountaineering, kayaking, canoeing, fishing, caving, cross-country skiing, tracking and survival skills. And Frank Grindrod of Williamsburg owns EarthWork Programs, a nature-based education program that allows adults and children to learn about survival skills, tracking and nature awareness.
Seth Isman, economic development director at the Hilltown Community Development Corporation in Chesterfield, said that outdoor adventure businesses offer a unique taste of Hilltown charm.
"The more we can bring people into the Hiltowns, the stronger our communities will be. Whether we bring them in for a craft fair, bed and breakfast or wilderness adventure, it's all good," Isman said. "We have to use what we have, and what we have is many, many thousands of acres of wilderness."
For now, thought, Hilltown Wilderness Adventures remains the only local business that offers dogsled rides. BB offered to take me dogsledding to sell me on her belief that it is a matchless way to experience the Hilltowns.
While we glide along behind the team, BB's 8-year-old Alaskan malamute, Lightening, flanks the sled for fun, keeping up with the smaller dogs with an easy loping gate. All I see is snow and the five bouncing white tails of my happy guides. BB said that dogsledding helps her feel close to nature and animals, and from where I sit in the creaking sled, I am certainly physically close to both. This is the side of the Hilltowns she wants to show people.
"You can feel like you've totally escaped on only 18 acres," BB said. "That's all I want, if I can give a little taste of that to people, I'm happy."
Rebecca Everett can be reached at reverett@gazettenet.com.
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