DULUTH — While many Northlanders are just getting into the swing of warm, midsummer days, flip-flops and swimsuits, Emily Ford is already thinking ahead to two weeks of brutal cold and snow next March in the wilds of Alaska.
And she can’t wait for it to come.
Ford — Duluth’s now well-known cold-weather adventurer, hiker, skier, musher and role model for people of color in the outdoors — is readying herself and a dog team to run in the nearly 1,000-mile 2025 Idiatrod Sled Dog race from Anchorage to Nome.
Contributed / Emily Ford
You might see her on the streets of Duluth behind three or four sled dogs she brought home for the summer. They include Diggins, her four-legged companion on her previous adventures, like
hiking the entire Wisconsin Ice Age Trail
in winter, solo, and
skiing solo across the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
“Diggins would be great to have for the race. … But she has developed an issue with strangers, including the vets that do the dog checks, so we’re working on that,” Ford said. “Hopefully, she comes around.”
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Ford, 31, is back this summer at her day job as head gardener at the
in Duluth. But she’s also trying to raise the big bucks necessary to be competitive in a sport that offers rewards that are often more intangible than financial.
The entry fee alone for the Iditarod is $4,000, and then there’s the food required: $10,000 or more for a year’s worth of kibble, dry dog food, and even more for supplemental meat. Just buying the hundreds of booties needed for 16 dogs for a 1,000-mile race could hit $3,000 or more. Throw in vet bills, gas and travel expenses and the cost can seem formidable.
“I’m also in need of a real racing sled,’’ Ford said.
That will be another $5,000.
This year’s Iditarod winner, Dallas Seavey, won $56,000. But mushers have to finish in the top 20 to make enough money just to pay the entry fee. That’s why Ford is selling sponsorships on her website,
hoping to encourage her fans and supporters (23,000 on Instagram alone) to contribute. You can sponsor a pair of booties for a dog for as little as $2.50 or sponsor a full Iditarod checkpoint stop for $250.

Contributed / Anna Hennessy
“Everything will help,’’ Ford said.
The Iditarod is a tribute to Alaska’s sled dog history, with its roots as a mail and supply route and its role in a life-saving 1925 mission during a diphtheria epidemic.
After snowmobiles replaced most sled dogs across Alaska in the mid-20th century, supporters of mushing organized the first Iditarod race from Anchorage to Nome in 1973. At that point, mushers still had to break much of their own trail and take care of their own supplies.
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The winner of the first Iditarod, Dick Wilmarth, took almost three weeks to reach Nome. Now, mushers are resupplied at checkpoints along the route, and the winner usually finishes in about nine days.
Ford’s growing-season job at Glensheen gives her winters off to pursue her love of cold-weather outdoor action. Her partner, Anna Hennessy, is with her in Duluth for the summer and offering advice after Hennessy competed in her rookie Iditarod race this year. (Hennessy finished in just over 11 days, in a respectable 24th place, and took home $2,000.)

Contributed / Emily Ford
Both women spent the past two winters near Willow, Alaska, working at Shameless Huskies Kennel, owned by Kathleen Frederick, a well-known Alaska musher who competed in six Iditarod races, most recently in 2022. Frederick has a kennel of 36 or so dogs, with more pups on the way, and is known for producing a sought-after bloodline of the leaner, tougher Alaska sled dogs that do well in long races.
Ford and Hennessy have been learning the ropes (or, “lines” in mushing) and getting the training they need to be competitive. Last winter, Ford completed three shorter races to qualify for the Iditarod.
A love of cold and dogs
Mushing combines not just Ford’s love for cold-weather outdoor endeavors, but also her love for dogs. She first rode on a dog sled at Duluth’s Positive Endeavors Outdoors camp nearly a decade ago, and then during a winter stint working at
Paul Schurke’s Wintergreen sled dog camp
near Ely.
“I really fell in love with it,” Ford said.
Hennessy provides moral support for Ford’s quest and has the experience to help Ford plan for the physical and mental challenges of nearly two weeks on the grueling Alaska trail.
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Contributed / Anna Hennessy
“Emily saw first-hand the sleep deprivation and mental exhaustion that race brings. So I think not only can I offer a little advice, but she’s already seen what it takes,’’ Hennessy told the News Tribune.
Ford will likely use many of the same dogs that Hennessy did to finish the Iditarod.
“I had a very young team, a lot of them were only two this year, and they should be prime time for Emily’s race when they get to 3 years old,” Hennessy said. “We have a lot of dogs to choose from, but some really rise to the top.
“We also have a real close bond with a lot of the dogs. … I think it really helps to have that. The better you know your dogs, the better the relationship on the trail.”

Contributed / Anna Hennessy
A native of Red Wing, Minnesota, Hennessy is kindred to Ford in her love of winter and the outdoors. An emergency room nurse in Two Harbors this summer for her day job, and a former wilderness guide, Hennessy raced and trained from 2018-2021 with Sawtooth Racing, a kennel owned by Grand Marais mushing couple
and Matt Schmidt. (Altemus also competed in this year’s Iditarod.)
Hennessy completed her Iditarod qualifying races in 2023. She and Ford met when Hennessey volunteered to help resupply Ford on her cross-country ski trek across the BWCAW in 2022. Hennessy picked up Ford when warm temperatures and open water on the Pigeon River forced Ford to walk out of the wilderness rather than ski all the way to Lake Superior.
Ford said they are happy with their dual residencies — summers in Minnesota, winters in Alaska — and their shared focus on making outdoor recreation, especially in winter, more accessible to more people.
“My job (at Glensheen) has really enabled me to try new things during winter,’’ Ford told the News Tribune. “If I would have had an office job that required me to be on all year, I would never have found out how much I love winter outdoors.”
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Steve Kuchera / File / Duluth Media Group
But Ford said she also sees a day when she turns her BIPOC outdoors credentials into a longer-term, full-time gig, maybe motivational speaking and promoting outdoor access and adventure.
Whatever path she takes, Ford said that outdoor adventures and relationships with dogs will remain critical elements in her life.
“My dream is to show that the outdoors is for everyone,’’ she said. “No matter your background, you deserve to feel comfortable and successful in outdoor spaces.”

Steve Kuchera / Duluth News Tribune
Ford notes that she will be the second Black woman to attempt the Iditarod, following Becca Moore in 2015.
“My hope is that more and more people of color start to fall in love with the cold and cold adventures,’’ Ford said on her website. “My trip across Wisconsin opened my eyes to the lack of people of color at the forefront of the outdoor industry, even though there are plenty of social media accounts to follow.
“With an understanding and drive to show that anyone can hike and everyone deserves to discover the outdoors, regardless of race, gender identity, or upbringing, I want to continue to seek adventure and represent the underrepresented in outdoor spaces.”

Gary Meader / Duluth News Tribune
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