Every morning, Natalie Bradshaw ’21 takes a five-minute walk through the woods from her cabin to “the homestead” at Points Unknown, an off-grid wilderness adventure center in northern Minnesota.
There, she meets the owner, Linda Newman, and their 22 furry colleagues at the sled dog kennel Bradshaw manages. The team at this year-round business is always busy. During the summers, they lead guided hikes and mindful paddling trips. All the while, Bradshaw is caring for the Hedlund huskies—a rare, mild-mannered line that, she says, has fewer than 100 remaining.
But everything changes once the first snow flies and the cold-weather adventures begin.
The huskies, led by their musher or the drive of a sled dog team, enjoy running through miles of trails in the wooded, wintery wonderland located just seven miles from the Canadian Border and near the Boundary Waters.
“The trails we travel are up and down, windy, wavy, so it’s very physical to be a musher,” Bradshaw said. “I’m often hanging off the side of the sled, crouching down, taking the sled onto one runner, so I can swing it around the curve. It’s almost acrobatic sometimes. It’s just a wonderful pleasure working with the dogs. They are happy all year round, but once we get our first big snowfall, it’s like they all turn into puppies again.”
While Bradshaw never expected to have a career in dog sledding, she isn’t new to this area of the world. She discovered it while taking a writing class at Cornell.
“People always ask: How did you get from Iowa to here? They ask whether Cornell has a dog-sledding class? I’m like, ‘no!’ But I do credit Cornell with leading me to where I am now,” Bradshaw said.
The English and creative writing major, who minored in environmental studies, took a Nature Writing class with Professor of English Emerita Leslie Hankins. The off-campus course took place at a wilderness station near where she currently works. She says the class completed a lot of nature writing, learned wilderness skills, dabbled in photography, spent time canoeing, and focused on mindfulness.
“It was just lovely, and Professor Hankins was a great instructor,” Bradshaw said. “I really felt connected to the wilderness. That feeling was what I wanted to pursue in my career, which I thought was kind of a dream to have a career in an area that felt so serene. That’s the direction the class pointed me in, and I have been able to return to that, which is fantastic.”
Plus, she says it’s been a childhood dream to be out in the woods with dogsleds. When she found the job posting after graduation, it was destiny.
“I sent in my application, and got accepted, and it’s what I’ve been doing for the past four years now,” she said. “I was very lucky to have found it.”
Bradshaw says she puts her liberal arts education from Cornell to work each day as she manages the kennel and takes guests on three, six, or eight-mile trips through the heavily wooded trails.
“The job I have now is very interdisciplinary,” she said. “There are all sorts of things to do with veterinary science, science communication when you are with guests, animal husbandry, and the cultural anthropology of dog sledding. I think the most important thing is the storytelling aspect when you are talking with guests and sharing the history of dog sledding. People come in with different notions of what dog sledding is, so being able to tell that story when we're in a sled and going through wilderness trails is great.”
And she’s always surprised when she gets to meet someone with a Cornell connection, which happens more than she ever expected.
“I’m just amazed by how many Cornell connections I have had,” Bradshaw said. “It’s really kind of funny because I’m out right on the edge of the wilderness, and I always have people who know of Cornell or who went to Cornell, and it’s really fun.”
This past winter, Cornell Director of Strategic Enrollment Initiatives Marie Schofer stumbled upon Points Unknown, and the two connected over their love for the Hilltop.
“When I scheduled a family dog sledding adventure in northern Minnesota, I never expected that one of the dog mushers would be a Cornell alum. It was fun to meet Natalie and hear her describe her journey from Cornell to the North Woods,” Schofer said. “She introduced us to the dogs, showed us how to harness them and hook them to the sled, and mushed the sled on our ride through the forest. It was a magical experience, and I’m glad we got to share it with a member of the Ramily.”
Bradshaw says she’s looking forward to meeting more Cornellians as she continues with her career in a place where dog sledding is a big part of the culture. Those chance meetings always remind her of her connections with professors, friends she became close with, and classes where she got hands-on experience in the field.
“I really don’t think I would have found dog sledding if I hadn’t been to Cornell and had done all these things out in the field, out in nature,” Bradshaw said. “I miss Iowa a lot, even though I’m dog sledding, and this is my dream job. For me, Cornell’s One Course At A Time was the perfect program, because I was able to focus on one thing and get so in-depth, especially with the off-campus courses. It’s a fantastic opportunity to get out and explore.”
Just four years out of college, she’s living her dream while still finding ways to stay connected to Cornell, even at the edge of the wilderness.