Last weekend, I went with a couple of my friends to a BOW (Becoming and Outdoors Woman) Workshop near Tomahawk, Wisconsin. My college friend from El Dorado, Arkansas, was the instigator of this adventure, and when I mentioned it to my friend Lori (the Mt Kilimanjaro climber), we were all over it.

So, the three of us made our way to the deep north woods of Wisconsin to join 86 other women to take on the challenges of dogsledding, ice fishing, snowshoeing, geo-cacheing, skijoring, snow cave building, and trapping. There were many other outdoor activities, but the 3 of us chose these particular adventures.

Being from El Dorado, Arkansas, Kelly had never seen that much snow – nor had she ever experienced that kind of cold, so the outdoor activities presented a totally new perspective for her. Already a outdoors woman – hunting, fishing, and trapping – Kelly took to the snow and cold with the zeal of a northerner. The two of us went ice fishing and dogsledding for the first time, and Kelly was instantly a master dog musher (See photo above).

Additionally, our ice fishing expedition was a real trip. We drove our cars out on to the frozen lake (3 feet of ice underneath us) where we bored holes in the ice and set up tip-ups and tip-downs. While we waited for the fish to bite and trip the lines, we jigged in a warming hut. Unfortunately, we caught no fish that day, but it was a total blast.

Sidenote: Although I had the heart of a dog musher, I was unable to “drive” the dogsled because I had had surgery on my hand just a couple of days before our trip to repair a torn ligament. I was slowed down a little by a huge cast on my hand. However, I was able to ride on the dogsled with the help of another “driver.” Neither was I able to bait the hooks for the fish, but I was ok with that.

While Kelly was off learning to trap (and skin a badger), I was learning how to survive in the cold wilderness and helping to build a snow cave. We built 5-foot dome shelters, then dug out the center so that 6 adventurous women could spend the night in the caves. Did you know that you can start a fire in the wilderness with steel wool and a 9-volt battery?

In the meantime, Lori was geo-cacheing. Using longitude and latitude coordinates, Lori was traipsing through the woods locating controls that had been placed by her instructor. Also, the experienced cross-country skier, Lori took “Adventures in Skijoring 101 and 102″: Being pulled by sled dogs while she is on cross-country skis! She didn’t even fall down once!

2nd Sidenote: I managed to tear the ligament in my hand while cross-country skiing – WITHOUT dogs pulling me. Can you imagine if I were being pulled by two sled dogs?

One of the highlights of the trip for me was the snowshoeing through the woods of Wisconsin. I have snowshoed on beautiful, groomed trail, but this was totally different. We went up and down hills, through trees, across leather-leaf bogs. With the knowledge of a skilled animal tracker, we saw lots of animal tracks – weasel, river otter, snowshoe hare, field mouse, grouse, deer, and coyote. It didn’t matter that I had a cast on my arm – I didn’t have to hold on to anything, so I was fully functional on snowshoes.

It was such a great experience. If you want to read more about BOW, you can check it out at http://www.uwsp.edu/CNR/bow/