CHARLESTON, W.Va. — For the past couple of years, 13-year-old Sage Smith has headed west for her winter break to spend time with five dogs that are nearly as big as she is.

The seventh-grader at John Adams Middle School is a dog sled driver.

For the past two years, she and her parents have taken vacation time to traverse the frozen lakes and flat land of Ely, Minn., where she visits the Wintergreen DogSledding Lodge, a resort that offers lodge-to-lodge dog sledding vacations.

They got the idea because Sage's mom, Loren, had been dogsledding before and thought Sage, a dog lover, might enjoy it.

During the trips, Sage spends from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. outside. Temperatures hover around 15 degrees during the winter months. Despite the cold, memories of the trips and the dogs bring a big smile to Sage's face. Her first trip to Minnesota was two years ago with her mother. She was living in New Jersey at the time with her parents, Loren and Gardiner, and her older brother, Gardiner.

She went during her winter break, which for the New Jersey school system was in February.

She and her family moved to West Virginia in January 2007. She traveled to Minnesota with her father during winter break this year.

The trip started with Sage unpacking her clothes and dog sled equipment, which was thoroughly checked by guides who organize the trips. For example, warm synthetic fabrics are preferred over cotton because cotton will absorb sweat and freeze.

After that, she and the other dog sled drivers met the Canadian Inuit dogs.

Each day, Sage got up early and headed straight for the dogs. She fed them a high-fat dog food mixed with water before she had any breakfast herself.

That meal satisfied the dogs until evening when they went to sleep on their beds of straw.

After Sage ate her breakfast, she started her trip as a lead musher. Her responsibility was to keep the dogs from fighting over dominance. To keep the dogs from growling and attacking each other, Sage talked to them. If they did start to get violent, she threw snow on their snouts and the fighting usually stopped.

Her mother or father usually took on the duties of brake musher. They had to stop the sled if needed.

However, most sled brakes are not very effective because the dogs are too strong.

"The brake is just a suggestion to the dogs," her mother, Loren, said.

Throughout the day, Sage would sneak ahead of the dogs and race them.

"It's nice to help them," she said. "We didn't want to be sled potatoes."

Sage coined that phrase to describe people who let the dogs do all the work pulling the people in the sled.

The dogs responded to certain commands: "Whoa" meant stop; "hike" meant go; and "on-by" was an order to quit stopping and sniffing at an area.

The dogs don't travel very fast, especially in deep snow. Sage said that gave her time to look at her surroundings. She saw beaver lodges, wolf tracks and wolf droppings.

Sage and her father spent their days traveling alongside a father-daughter team and a team of two older people.

By the end of the trip, the group had traveled 34 miles: 10 miles on day one, 11 miles on day two and 13 miles on day three.

Even with all the time spent outdoors, Sage stayed warm.

"You're not that cold because it's so physical," she said. She also stays hydrated with plenty of water throughout the trip.

After a day's journey through the snow, Sage, her father, and their companions relaxed in three cabins.

Gardiner Smith is an executive with Paragon-IP, a medical device holding company.

They stayed warm in front of a fire and ate meals cooked by chef Bernard Hermann, who attended Le Cordon Bleu, a prestigious culinary school.

"We talk about the day and the funny stuff that happened," Sage said.

But it's the dogs that make the trip fun for her.

"I like getting to know them and getting to know their personalities," Sage said. "It's just fun getting to know them like you get to know your own dogs."

She still remembers each dog from her two trips, their names and their personalities.

Lightning was the smartest dog.

Hardy was always trying to get his back scratched.

Heinsy was a work horse.

"He was all business," Sage said.

Belle was a strong dog but didn't like to pull the sled. Instead, she let the others do the work.

Elwood would sniff on the side of the road and had a sense of humor.

Scooter seemed to be a happy dog.

"He smiled the whole time," Sage said.

Sage loves the trips so much one of her dreams is to attend the University of Minnesota and be a dog sled guide.

For now, she plans to go to Minnesota as often as she can, every other year or so.

Meanwhile, she spends her time in Charleston with her two huge dogs Beverly, a 9-month-old, 107-pound Newfoundland and Fred, a Great Dane mix.

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Information from: Charleston Daily Mail, http://www.dailymail.com