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As temps reached 84.6°F last week, summer at Arctic Hive is reaching a fiery crescendo... hopefully not literally. Fires are raging a few hours south of here, and every day brings thunderstorms with potential for lightning and ... inevitably, forest fires in the Brooks Range. No one likes a forest fire in their backyard ... but it’s a totally different ballgame when you’re 7 hours from the nearest fire station, in a village that sits outside any Alaskan borough jurisdiction. If fires start here, it could be a loooooooong time before help arrives, if we needed it. Nothing to be sorry for, or scared about — remember, we choose to live here. This is just one of the many trade-offs we make living in an incredible part of the world. Fire is a natural part of any forest ecosystem... and we’re just living in it. You’re welcome to send good vibes though — we’ll take all we can get! Other than “what if” fire-evacuation plans and the logistics of getting 18 dogs and 2 humans off the property in an emergency… what else have we been up to? We’ve been building an addition to our home/lodge: Phase 1 is a 14x16 expansion to the north, which will include an arctic entry, spare bedroom, and storage space.  We got nearly all our materials up via snowmachine back in April… but there are always stragglers that need to be hiked in — like two 62-lb rolls of Grace Ice & Water Shield.   The metal roof went on this past week (after these photos were taken) and now we’ve got plenty of interior buttoning up to do before the snow falls. An interesting complication of this project has been the strategy involved. We planned on building our lodge in phases, but there are so many things to think through — one being the slope of the terrain. A guest said to me this season, “I’ve seen your photos a million times but I didn’t realize you literally built everything on a mountainside!” Yep, we did. Views like these don’t happen on flat ground. And this simple truth made building this addition UPHILL from our house a “fun” adventure. It’s a good thing I love math, because there was a lot involved! Phase 2 will be a 24 x 24 dining and lounge space, attached on the east side of the lodge. Imagine big windows, Brooks Range vistas, and tons of space to spread out, enjoy a meal, snuggle a sleddog, and play games with fellow guests. We hope to start construction on this phase soon, but a lot depends on weather. Stay tuned! *You’ll see in the photo below there’s no roof overhang on this side of the addition… this is because the roofline of Phase 2 will butt-up to the edge, so it’s one long continuous wall.  Mother nature is hard at work around here, too. Below is a photo Sean snapped at the beaver pond at midnight the other night. Two beavers were busy at work building a dam.  As our dog team expands to accommodate the exciting new learn-to-mush retreats we launched for 2025, we’ve got lots of updates to the dog yard happening this summer, too. Eclipse (Yara’s singleton puppy) is growing fast and nearly 12 weeks old. She sticks close to us on walks just like her loyal momma and Auntie Sansa. Her favorite game is roaming the dog yard and giving kisses to all her furry family members.  We also think she’s growing some blonde-ish eyebrows like some of her relatives… wouldn’t that be adorable?  When we’re not building or dodging thunder and lightning, you can find us romping on all the public lands behind Arctic Hive with the dogs. They love bounding over the tundra and finding water holes between the tussocks — there are endless things to sniff, and plenty of mud, creeks and rivers to roll in.  Summer for a sleddog is a more relaxing time where we’re focusing on bonding with the team and giving everyone daily opportunities to free run. Below, lucky girls Darla (left) and her niece Gilly enjoying some chill time on the couch.  The last exciting thing is a community garden! Some of you might have seen our raised garden boxes at Arctic Hive — perfect for planting with permafrost underfoot. For root veggies, we are reviving a garden plot in the village next the Wiseman sign, about a mile from our house. This plot hasn’t been used in years and sits on great soil, sans permafrost. Sean, myself and Steve (our neighbor, friend and fellow dog musher) decided to tackle it together and plant with carrots, beets and turnips. There has been A LOT of weeding to manage, so we’ll see how things go this first summer as we attempt to regain control.  If growing weeds was a spot, we'd be pros...  That’s a full update on life in the arctic. Thanks for reading along — happy 4th of July, everyone! Mollie (and Sean) 
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You’ve just taken the deepest breath of fresh air you’ve had in a long time. You smile as you look around — you’re surrounded by wilderness, on a vast, frozen river, surrounded by the ancient, towering mountains of Alaska’s Brooks Range. You chuckle as you feel a bead of sweat trickle down your back... how in the hell you’re sweating in below-freezing weather, you’ll never understand... but this you know for sure: All your effort has been worth it. You’ve learned to drive your own dogsled with a team of Alaska Huskies in the arctic. You’ve journeyed to the far north to become a dog musher + experience the thrill of living off-grid in remote arctic of Alaska. Your friends thought you were crazy wanting to “get pulled around by dogs” for a week, but you knew better. You’ve always dreamed of mushing your own dog team, and you expected it’d be hard work. But something you didn’t expect? This experience may have changed your outlook on life itself. Arctic Awakening is truly a one-of-a-kind retreat. You’re fully immersed in the dogsledding lifestyle with us — your guides, Sean and Mollie Busby. We live and breathe this arctic lifestyle, as this is also our home.   We hand-built Arctic Hive Wilderness Lodge on 15 acres of boreal forest with sweeping views of the Brooks Range in all directions. The property backs up to hundreds of miles of public lands. Our retreat facility is a 1-mile hike outside the historic mining village of Wiseman, population 12 -- which includes us! When it comes to the dogsled trails in the area, you’re getting an authentic bush experience on trails that aren’t made by machines; they’re made by dogs and the humans that love them. For 4 nights at Arctic Hive, and 3 full days on the trail, you become one of us.  You learn how to harness your dogs, feed them two meals a day, and you learn to watch them as they run, anticipating their moods and their needs before they have to glance back. You run up hills behind the sled to assist your 4-legged teammates, and you ride down hills, managing your weight on the brake system to keep the line tight. The only sounds out there are the whoosh of your runners underfoot and the pitter patter of paws on the snow-covered tundra. You learn to lean this way and that, call out commands, and steer your sled through miles of tight Black Spruce trees on narrow bush trails. You journey along frozen rivers and creeks, climb mountains, and if conditions allow, you get to mush into one of the most remote and least-visited National Parks in the country: Gates of the Arctic National Park*. You take occasional spills, toppling over into the deep snow while still following Rule #1: Never let go! You laugh at yourself as your dogs look back, wondering why you stopped. You praise them for their prowess, untangle the lines, and return countless slobbery kisses with belly rubs. You even choose to be initiated into the sacred art of scooping dog shit in the dog yard, morning and night. (This is what authenticity actually looks like!) Most of all, you become part of a team.  *photo credit above: Alec Sills-Trausch Whenever you and your fellow mushers stop for a break, the dogs roll around in the snow to cool off, tails wagging and tongues lolling — the picture of pure joy. Sure, their joy is contagious... but you don’t need any help mustering joy this week. You’re absolutely bursting with it. Looking around at your small group of fellow retreat-goers, you know without a doubt that they, too, are having the best day ever. The steep learning curve has taught you well -- and the sweat equity you’ve invested has come back tenfold in the serenity you feel. Evenings are spent enjoying hearty home-cooked meals, laughing and sharing stories and photos from the trail. We prepare for the next day of mushing, play a card game or two before folks head off to bed. You end the day, snuggled up in a comfortable bed in your toasty warm cabin — and stay up to watch the aurora borealis dance in the polar sky out your cabin window.   *photo credit above: Alec Sills-Trausch This is just a snapshot of a typical day at Arctic Hive's signature Arctic Awakening Learn-to-Mush Retreat. Every day, we adapt to changing conditions with the group, the dogs and Mother Nature. As you will see, this is the way of things in the far north! The group size is intentionally small — a maximum of 4 guests — to keep the experience intimate and organized. This is our home and our backyard and we are excited to share it with you in a sustainable way. You’ll participate in the day-to-day care of working dogs and experience in some of our daily activities such as gathering water from the river — learning the true meaning of “working as a team” on and off the trail.   And there’s no better way to take care of a team than taking care of yourself — first and foremost. You’ll have ample time to relax, a healthy dose of outdoor mushing adventures, cultural immersions in the village, and daily mindfulness + stretching designed to meet you where you're at. No experience with any of these things is necessary to attend except a good attitude, willingness to learn, be physically and mentally fit, and a strong sense of adventure. Bumps and bruises from falls, running into trees, and other unexpected situations are not uncommon. You're provided an extensive packing list and one-on-one guidance from us to assure you have the outdoor gear you need, and you’re prepared each day for the activities that await. This is your Arctic Awakening and we look forward to welcoming you into our home and lifestyle. Let’s break some trail together and travel some beautiful country!  Join us in 2025? You have two sets of dates to choose from, and each retreat has only 3 spots available.
Click here for the full details, pricing and links to register now! Happy Solstice, everyone. Mollie and Sean *Arctic Hive holds a commercial use permit to operate in Gates of the Arctic National Park. Our wilderness lodge is situated right on the outskirts of the Park boundary and we have a goal to build your mushing skills up to possibly mush into the Park, where few humans get the chance to visit. However, all daily plans will be determined by arctic weather, trail conditions, and dog/human wellbeing. While the Park is an incredibly special place it should be remembered that all trails and areas we travel are just as special with only an invisible line determining what is “National Park” and what isn’t. We aim to foster a culture where everyday out on the trail, no matter where we go, we are grateful and honored to enjoy these sacred and traditional Koyukon lands. It was the morning of April 5th — smack in the middle of SHEWild, four days before the solar eclipse. Time to feed the dogs. My favorite half hour of every morning goes like this: I put on my gloves, walk outside and yell, “Gooooooooooooooood morning doooooooooogs!” They ERUPT. Our pack of sleddogs start barking, howling, and running circles around their houses — leaping in all directions as they anticipate their breakfast. If you’ve never been in a dog yard, the sound is weirdly harmonious and chaotic at the same time. While I can pick out each dog’s voice, I also love how they sound together — losing their minds with excitement, at the same level of intensity they did the meal before. As each one is fed, the chorus dies down — which is followed by me, scooping poo and giving “morning love” to each dog. On this morning in particular, I knew something wasn’t right. We’d acquired three 2-year-old sleddogs a few days earlier, and Yara was still tucked inside her house. In the few days I’d known her, she’d never miss mealtime.  I knelt down to get a better look, and — ope! She was protectively curled around a small black lump… and the lump was moving. It took me a few seconds to process... It’s a puppy. OMG. YARA HAD A PUPPY. According to Sean, this is the part where I “scream-cried” for him to get to the dog yard, quick!  We had no idea Yara was pregnant, but Sean and I held that little lump-of-a-puppy with massive grins and tears in our eyes — like we’d just given birth ourselves. I guess she truly is our “first-born” because neither of us had ever experienced newborn puppies before! Funny enough, I had commented to Sean a few days earlier that Yara looked chubby — we chalked it up to muscle from all her training. I laughed and joked, “Maybe she’s pregnant!” I didn’t give it a second thought until I found the puppy. Call it a woman’s intuition, I guess! Yara didn’t have any more pups after the first — so we named her Eclipse, in honor of the cosmic timing of her arrival.  Welcome to the fam, Eclipse. Have a great week! Mollie  |
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